Find a trusted locksmith in Melbourne

Rental locks and Victoria’s minimum standards

Victoria’s rental minimum standards spell out what a rental home needs. With a few exceptions, each external entry door must have a working deadlatch, a lock that catches automatically when the door closes, with at least one key cylinder. Every external window that opens must have a working lock, or at least a latch that stops anyone getting in from outside. If you own a rental with tired or missing locks, a locksmith can bring the doors and windows up to standard in one visit.

Renters are covered too. You need the rental provider’s consent before changing a lock, and you pay for it, but consent can’t be unreasonably refused. Family violence is the exception: if an order protects you, the outside door and window locks can be changed without asking first.

Period doors, new keys and apartment towers

Melbourne’s Victorian and Edwardian homes often still have their original timber front doors, sometimes with leadlight panels, and old rim night latches that offer little real security. A careful locksmith can fit a modern deadlock or deadlatch without splitting the door or cracking the glass, and can add key-operated locks to old sash windows.

Bought a place? After settlement you have no idea how many keys the agents, tradies and previous owners still hold. Rekeying the cylinders costs less than new locks, and having them keyed alike means one key for the front door, back door and garage.

At the other end of the scale, apartment towers in Southbank, Docklands and the CBD commonly run restricted key systems alongside electronic fobs. Extra keys for those systems come only from the locksmith who manages them, and usually only with the owners corporation’s written go-ahead, so ask your building manager first.

Licences: what Victoria checks and what it doesn’t

Victoria doesn’t license locksmiths for lockouts, rekeys or mechanical locks, so check the business on ABN Lookup, ask about insurance and get the price in writing. Electronic security work is different. Installers of alarms, CCTV, safes and electronic access control need a Victoria Police private security licence, which you can check on the Register of Licence, Registration and Permit Holders. Our Victorian licence checks page lists every lookup in the state.

Locksmith prices across Melbourne

Prices here track Sydney’s closely. A daytime house lockout is typically $100 to $250, rising to $180 to $350 after hours. Rekeys cost roughly $50 to $120 a cylinder, less per lock when several are keyed alike, and a smart lock supplied and fitted $300 to $900. The locksmith price guide covers car keys and more; it’s a guide, not a quote.

How needatradie matches you

We don’t sell your job to a list of locksmiths. Say what’s locked, lost or worn and roughly which part of Melbourne it’s in. Our match is a single local locksmith, with their ABN, insurance and reviews checked, plus a security licence where the job needs one. Read about locksmith work, see other trades in Melbourne, or get a free quote.