More than six in ten dwellings in postcode 5000 are rented. If you have just signed a lease for an apartment in the city — perhaps in one of the newer towers along Waymouth Street, near the Central Market on Gouger Street, or in one of the converted terrace buildings along Hindley Street — you are joining a neighbourhood where tenant turnover is consistently high. That turnover is precisely why your locks deserve serious attention from day one.
A lot of new tenants assume they can simply call a locksmith on moving day and get the place rekeyed. Under South Australian law, it is not that straightforward. Getting the details right from the outset saves you friction with your landlord or property manager later — and it genuinely improves your security.
What South Australian Law Says About Locks and Tenants
The starting point for any conversation about locks in a rental property is the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA). Section 66 of that Act places a duty on landlords to provide and maintain locks and other security devices necessary to ensure the premises are reasonably secure. That is not just a courtesy — it is a legal obligation.
The flip side is equally important: neither the landlord nor the tenant can alter or add to the locks on a property without the other party’s written consent. This mutual consent requirement applies in both directions. Your landlord cannot install a new lock on your front door to restrict your access without asking you first. And you cannot rekey the apartment without your landlord’s approval, regardless of how reasonable your reasons might be.
What happens if your landlord unreasonably refuses? Under section 66B of the Act, you can apply to the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT) for an order that consent is not required. The Tribunal has the power to grant that order if it is satisfied the refusal is unreasonable.
There is one important exception introduced in 2024: tenants who hold a current intervention order for protection from domestic violence may change the locks without first obtaining consent. They are required to provide the landlord or agent with a copy of the order and a new key promptly after the change. This exception exists to protect safety where urgency matters most.
Why Rekeying Matters Even When the Property Looks Secure
Here is the reality of how rental keys circulate. By the time you collect your keys on settlement day, those same keys may have been held by the previous tenant, their partner, their flatmate, the tradesperson who did repairs during the tenancy, the property manager’s office, a cleaner, and occasionally a previous property manager who was not meticulous about key registers.
You have no way of knowing how many copies were cut. You have no way of knowing whether all of them were returned. Most property managers make a genuine effort to account for keys at the end of a tenancy, but this is not a foolproof system.
Rekeying does not replace the lock hardware — it involves a locksmith removing the cylinder and re-pinning it so that all previously cut keys become useless. It is typically cheaper than a full lock replacement and provides the same outcome: the only working keys in existence are the new ones cut that day.
Pro Tip: Always ask your property manager for the key register before or on your move-in date — if they cannot produce one, that is a reason to request consent to rekey as part of your induction process.
Your Pre-Move-In Security Inspection
Before you even unpack a single box, do a slow walk around the property with these checks in mind.
Test every lock on the property
Every external door — front door, rear door, laundry door, balcony sliding door — should be tested with the key and without. Deadbolts should engage cleanly without resistance. If a bolt drags against the strike plate, that is a sign of either door frame movement or a worn lock. Either can compromise security.
Check the condition of the strike plate
The strike plate is the metal fitting recessed into the door frame that the bolt slides into. Loose strike plates — those held in by one or two short screws — are a common weakness in apartment entry doors. A properly installed deadbolt strike plate should be secured with screws at least 75mm long, long enough to bite into the structural timber of the frame behind the jamb. Many apartments have strike plates installed with basic 25mm screws. This is a legitimate security issue your landlord is obliged to address under their duty to provide “reasonably secure” premises.
Examine every window latch
In older CBD buildings — particularly the converted Victorian-era terrace buildings you find on parts of Sturt Street, Gouger Street, and the back lanes of the city grid — window latches are frequently original or near-original hardware. Test each one. Windows accessible from a balcony, laneway, or adjacent structure deserve particular attention.
Count the keys and document everything
Count exactly how many keys you receive for each lock. Note it on the condition report. If the landlord says there are two keys and you only receive one, document the discrepancy before signing anything. If you are told a previous spare was “lost,” that is an argument in favour of rekeying — and documentation of the admission strengthens your case for seeking consent.
Photograph the entry door hardware
Take dated photographs of every external lock cylinder, including close-ups that capture the brand and model visible on the face of the cylinder. This gives you a baseline record. If a lock is later found to be faulty and the landlord disputes when it was reported, your photographs establish the condition at lease commencement.
What to Check in an Apartment Building’s Common Areas
If you are moving into a strata-titled apartment — which describes the vast majority of residential stock in Adelaide CBD — the security of the building does not begin and end at your front door. The foyer entry, car park access, stairwells, and lifts are all common property managed by the strata corporation (equivalent to a body corporate in other states).
Ask the building manager or your real estate agent for the following before or shortly after moving in:
How many fobs or access cards are issued for this apartment, and what is the replacement cost? In the newer buildings along North Terrace and the Austin Street precinct, fobs for car park and building access can cost anywhere from $40 to $150 per unit to replace through the strata manager.
What is the process for a lost fob? In most well-managed Adelaide CBD buildings, a lost fob needs to be deactivated through the building management system and a new one programmed and issued. This is not a locksmith job — it is an access control administrator’s job — but knowing the process in advance saves panic when it happens at 11pm on a Sunday.
What is the intercom code for your apartment? Some buildings still use a numeric dial pad to ring individual apartments from the street-level intercom. Others have digital directories. Either way, confirm your apartment is correctly listed so deliveries and visitors can actually reach you.
A Real Job on Waymouth Street
A few months back I took a call from a woman who had just moved into a mid-floor apartment on Waymouth Street — one of the buildings in the stretch between the Central Market end and the city grid proper. She had collected her keys three days earlier and was calling because she had just discovered that the key for her front door also opened the apartment two floors directly below hers.
It happens. Not often, but it happens — particularly in older buildings where cylinders have been replaced over the years by different locksmiths, and the original keying schedule has been lost. The building in question had been through at least two changes in strata management and the key records were, charitably, incomplete.
We rekeyed both apartments that afternoon, issued new keys to each tenant, and provided a written report to the strata manager documenting what we found and what we changed. The strata manager then commissioned an audit of the remaining units to check for any other conflicts. Three more were found in a building of 22.
The woman on Waymouth Street had done nothing wrong. But if she had done a proper key audit on move-in day — tested the key, noticed it turned in both apartments — it could have been caught within 72 hours of her arrival rather than three days later when she happened to try a neighbour’s door by accident.
The Formal Steps for Requesting a Rekey
If you want to rekey your apartment and you are a tenant — which, statistically, is the situation for more than 63 per cent of people in Adelaide’s postcode 5000 — here is the correct process.
Write to your landlord or property manager by email. Email creates a timestamped record. In your request, note the reason: previous key holder unknown, multiple key cuts suspected, lost key reported by landlord. Request their written consent to engage a locksmith to rekey the property at your cost, with a new key to be provided to them within 24 hours.
Most reasonable property managers will approve this promptly. A professional property manager understands that a tenant who is security-conscious is unlikely to be a problematic tenant. If they refuse, or do not respond within a reasonable period (14 days is a defensible benchmark), you have the right to escalate to SACAT.
If consent is given verbally, follow up by email to confirm it in writing. The Act does not specify the form of consent, but written confirmation protects you.
Pro Tip: Phrase your rekey request as a security improvement for the landlord’s property — not as a demand. Most approvals come through within a day when framed that way.
When the Existing Locks Are Not Up to Standard
Sometimes the issue is not just who has a copy of the key. Sometimes the lock itself is inadequate. Common problems I see in Adelaide CBD apartments:
A knob lock or lever set on an external door with no deadbolt above it. A knob lock can be defeated in seconds. Any external door that a person relies on for security should have a Grade 1 deadbolt as the primary fastening.
A deadbolt with a very short throw. A quality deadbolt extends the bolt at least 25mm into the strike plate. Budget hardware often throws only 12–15mm, which is meaningfully easier to force.
A keyed entry on one side and a thumb turn on the other — a standard arrangement — but with glass panels in the door or sidelights adjacent to the door that would allow an intruder to reach through and operate the thumb turn. In that configuration, a double-cylinder deadbolt (keyed on both sides) is the more secure choice, though it requires that a key be accessible for exit in an emergency.
If any of these conditions apply to your apartment, document them, raise them formally with your landlord or property manager, and cite the RTA 1995 section 66 obligation to provide reasonably secure premises. In most cases, the property manager will arrange rectification without the need for any further escalation.
Checklist Summary
The following covers the core actions for a new tenant in Adelaide CBD:
- Count all keys on receipt and document the number on your condition report.
- Photograph all external lock hardware on the day you collect keys.
- Test every lock and window latch before the condition report is submitted.
- Check the condition of strike plates on all external doors.
- Obtain the building access fob/card count and replacement procedure from the strata manager.
- If rekeying: write to your landlord requesting written consent, citing security reasons.
- If existing locks are inadequate: write to your landlord citing RTA 1995 s 66, requesting rectification.
- If consent is refused unreasonably: SACAT is the escalation path.