Your home is your sanctuary, and its security starts with the locks on your doors. Whether you have been locked out of your apartment, need to rekey after moving into a new place, or want to upgrade to high-security locks, our residential locksmith team delivers expert service tailored to NYC living — from studio apartments to brownstones.
Home lockout services start at $75. Lock rekey starts at $25 per lock. Deadbolt installation starts at $120 including hardware. We provide free security assessments.
Want to go beyond basic locks? Read our guide on how to improve your apartment door security with deadbolts, smart locks, and reinforcement hardware.
New York City homes and apartments present unique lock and security considerations that differ from the rest of the country. Our residential locksmith team handles the specific hardware and building types found across the five boroughs:
Common situations that call for a licensed residential locksmith in NYC include:
Our residential locksmith team serves homeowners and tenants across Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Licensed under NYC DCA #1362785-DCA. For apartment-specific lockout emergencies, see our dedicated apartment lockout and house lockout pages.
Most residential locksmith work in New York City happens on an apartment door, and an apartment door here is not the single-deadbolt slab most of the country has. It is usually a heavy door in an old frame carrying more than one lock, often of different types and different ages, sometimes tied into the building's entry system. That is the door we work on every day.
If you are standing outside your apartment right now, go to apartment lockout service for the situation-specific page, or call (718) 412-1332. Typical response is 15 to 20 minutes across all five boroughs. For hardware upgrades, how to improve apartment door security and the best lock type for a NYC apartment are the places to start.
A house is a different problem from an apartment: more entry points, more hardware, and far more variation in how well it has been maintained. A typical Brooklyn or Queens brownstone has a parlor-level front door, a garden-level entrance, a rear or yard door, and sometimes a basement hatch or garage side door. Each is a way in, and the weakest one sets the standard for the whole house.
Locked out of a house rather than an apartment? House lockout service covers it, and locked out with no spare key explains the options when there is no backup key anywhere.
Lock installation is often treated as scheduled work, and most of the time it is. But some of it genuinely cannot wait: a key lost with an address attached, a door that will no longer lock at the end of the day, an attempted forced entry, a tenant handover happening tomorrow morning.
We install the same day, including nights and weekends, across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. Typical response is 15 to 20 minutes. There is no after-hours surcharge - a lock fitted at 11pm is quoted the same way as one fitted at 11am, and you get a firm price before the work starts.
No surprises, in this order:
You describe the door and the problem. We tell you what it is likely to involve and roughly what it should cost before anyone is dispatched.
The nearest technician is sent. Typical arrival is 15 to 20 minutes, longer in heavy traffic or on the outer edges of the boroughs.
The technician identifies themselves and can give the company's NYC license number, 1362785-DCA. You should be asked to show that you live there.
The price is confirmed in front of you, after the technician has seen the actual door. You decide with that number in hand.
Done on site. Keys are cut on site. If something unexpected turns up in the door or frame, you hear about it before it is acted on, not after.
Every lock is cycled with every new key, from both sides, with the door open and shut, before the technician leaves.
A locksmith who will open or rekey any door for anyone who asks is a locksmith you should not want near yours. We ask for identification and something that connects you to the address - a lease, a utility bill, mail in your name, a building staff member who can vouch for you, or a driver's license matching the address.
It is the same standard a legitimate locksmith applies anywhere. How to avoid locksmith scams in NYC covers the warning signs worth knowing before you call anyone.
Rekeying is typically sufficient and more cost-effective. It makes all existing keys useless while keeping the same lock hardware. We recommend full replacement if your locks are old, worn, or low-security.
We recommend Medeco or Mul-T-Lock high-security deadbolts for maximum protection. These are pick-resistant, bump-resistant, and drill-resistant. We can assess your specific situation and recommend the best option.
Yes. We install and configure smart locks from leading brands like August, Yale, Schlage, and Kwikset. We ensure they integrate with your existing door hardware and provide training on the app and features.
Yes, and most NYC apartment doors have more than one. A mortise lock plus a separate deadbolt is the common pattern, and Fox or police locks are still in service across the boroughs. We service all of them, and we can rekey every lock on the door to a single key so you are not carrying two or three.
In the great majority of cases, yes. The standard approach is non-destructive: picking or decoding the cylinder so the lock keeps working afterward. Drilling is a last resort for a seized, damaged or high-security cylinder that cannot be opened any other way, and if it is the only option you are told before anything is touched.
Typical response is 15 to 20 minutes in Manhattan, and the same across Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. Daytime gridlock in Midtown and Lower Manhattan can add a few minutes. Call (718) 412-1332 and the nearest available technician is dispatched.
Yes. Residential lock installation is available same day, including nights, weekends and holidays, with no after-hours surcharge. A new deadbolt on a door that was never bored for one takes 45 to 60 minutes; replacing an existing lock is usually faster.
Identification and something that ties you to the address - a lease, a utility bill, mail in your name, a matching driver's license, or a building staff member who can vouch for you. A locksmith who does not ask is a reason for concern rather than convenience.
Yes. Houses, brownstones and townhouses are a significant part of our residential work. Multi-story homes usually have several entry points at different levels, and we assess all of them rather than only the door you called about, because the weakest entry sets the standard for the whole house.
Yes. Emergency Locksmith NY holds NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection license 1362785-DCA, which every locksmith operating legally in New York City is required to hold. Our technicians are licensed, bonded and insured, and you can ask for the number.
Looking for other locksmith services? We offer 24-hour emergency lockout assistance, lock replacement and rekeying, commercial lock systems, and safe and vault opening. Our residential locksmiths serve every NYC borough including Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island.
If you are locked out of your home right now, visit our dedicated apartment lockout or house lockout pages for situation-specific guidance. Our 24-hour locksmith service means help is always available, and if your key broke in the lock, we can extract it and cut a replacement on the same visit.