Lock Repairs Across LondonThat Fix The Cause,Not Just The Symptom.

Stiffness is friction, and friction is wear. Every turn of a key in a strained mechanism removes material from the components that are already carrying too much load. The lock does not stabilise; it degrades until something breaks, and the break happens under force — which is why so many seized locks end their life with a snapped key still in the cylinder.

The knock-on costs are the real problem. A misaligned uPVC door does not just make the key stiff, it grinds the gearbox until the handle goes slack and nothing throws at all. At that point you are buying a multipoint mechanism and paying for the labour to fit it, when a hinge adjustment and a keep realignment months earlier would have prevented the whole thing.

There is a security cost as well. Many people stop deadlocking a door that is hard to lock and rely on the latch alone. An insurer will take a dim view of that after a break-in, and a latch-only door is significantly easier to defeat than a properly thrown deadbolt or multipoint.

Common mistakes

• Spraying WD-40 or oil into a lock — it attracts grit and accelerates wear rather than curing it
• Forcing a key that has started to bind, which is how keys snap inside cylinders
• Treating a lifting-and-slamming ritual as normal instead of the alignment warning it is
• Replacing the cylinder when the actual fault is the door dropping in its hinges
• Leaving a door on the latch because deadlocking has become too stiff to bother with

01

Inspection of lock, door and frame together

We check the key in the cylinder off the door as well as on it, look at hinge condition, gaps down the closing edge, keep alignment and weather seal compression. The fault is often not where the symptom is.

02

Diagnosis and a priced decision

You are told what has failed, whether it is repairable, and what each route costs. Repair from £48 where the mechanism is sound; replacement only where repair will not hold.

03

Repair or component replacement

Hinge and keep adjustment, follower, spindle, spring or lever replacement, gearbox or cylinder swap where needed, and correct lubrication with the right product rather than whatever is under the sink.

04

Verification on the closed door

Locked and unlocked from both sides, with the door shut, checking that the bolt travels fully and the handle returns cleanly. A lock that only works with the door open is not repaired.

05

Sign-off, warranty and keys handed over

You get every key that works the lock, a clear price with no surprise additions, and our 3-year warranty on the work and the locks we fitted. All payment types are accepted at the door.

Cheaper than replacement

Where the mechanism is sound, a repair from £48 avoids the cost of new hardware and the disruption of changing every key.

Prevents the 2am lockout

Repairing a mechanism before it seizes removes the emergency call-out, the broken key and the entry charge that follow it.

Protects the door itself

Correcting alignment stops the multipoint grinding and stops the slab and hinges taking loads they were never designed to carry.

Restores full security

A door that deadlocks easily gets deadlocked. That alone puts most homes back inside their insurance conditions.

Right diagnosis, first time

25 years of London door hardware means we recognise the difference between a worn cylinder and a dropped door in minutes.

Warranted for three years

The repair and any parts we fit are covered for 3 years, so a fault that returns is ours to put right.

Sticking and stiff cylinders

A key that catches on the way in or out usually means debris, a worn key, or pin wear inside the cylinder. Worn keys are a genuinely common cause in London flats where the same original key has been copied from a copy for years, each generation losing a little more definition.

Repair is cleaning, correct dry lubrication and, where the key profile has degraded, cutting fresh keys to the original code rather than copying the worn one. Oil-based sprays are avoided because they bind with dust into a paste that wears the pins faster than no lubrication at all.

Multipoint mechanisms and gearbox failure

On uPVC and composite doors, the classic sequence is: the door needs a firm lift to lock, then it needs a harder lift, then the handle goes limp and the hooks stay put. That is a gearbox failing under load created by misalignment, not by age alone.

Repair means correcting the cause and replacing the failed component: adjusting hinges and keeps so the door sits square, then fitting a matching gearbox or full multipoint strip where the original is beyond saving. Getting the alignment right is what makes the new mechanism last rather than repeating the same failure.

Mortice locks, levers and followers

Mortice locks fail in recognisable ways. Levers seize when moisture reaches the lock case in an exposed door; springs break so the handle droops; the follower wears oval so the spindle has play and the latch stops retracting cleanly; the bolt binds against a keep that has moved as the timber has swelled.

Depending on the case, repair can mean stripping and servicing the lever pack, replacing springs and followers, easing and repositioning the keep, or fitting a new lock case of the same size so no new joinery is needed in the door edge.

Residential versus commercial repair priorities

In homes, the priority is a door that locks easily enough to be locked properly every time, and the fix usually pays for itself against a single avoided lockout. Weather-exposed front doors and rarely used back doors are the two places faults hide.

In commercial premises, the driver is footfall. An entrance used hundreds of times a day wears followers, closers and latches on a completely different timescale, and a failed lock can mean a door that cannot be secured at closing time. For managed and let properties we handle repairs as scheduled work wherever possible, which is exactly why letting agents and property maintenance companies keep us on contract.

How much does a lock repair cost?

From £48, with the exact price confirmed after diagnosis and before any work begins. Parts such as a gearbox or lock case are quoted separately and clearly.

Is it worth repairing or should I just replace the lock?

If the mechanism is sound and the fault is alignment or a single worn component, repair is cheaper and lasts. If the lock is worn out, forced or below the standard your insurer expects, replacement is the honest answer and we will say so.

How long does a repair take?

Most repairs and adjustments are completed within an hour. Multipoint gearbox replacement takes longer, and we carry common parts so many are still finished on the first visit.

My uPVC door needs lifting before it locks. Is that a lock problem?

Usually not — that is the door out of alignment loading the mechanism. Left alone it destroys the gearbox. Adjusting hinges and keeps early is the cheap version of this job.

Can you repair a lock with a key broken inside it?

Yes. We extract the broken key, check whether the cylinder survived the break, and either service it or replace it. Cut replacement keys can be supplied at the same visit.

Do you guarantee repairs?

Yes — 3 years on the work and on any parts we fit.

Can you come out at night or at the weekend?

Yes. We work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with a typical 30-minute response across London.

How long should a repaired lock last?

A properly diagnosed repair on a correctly aligned door should give years of normal service. The limiting factor is nearly always whether the underlying alignment was fixed, which is why we treat it as part of the repair rather than an extra.

Do you repair locks for landlords and managing agents in London?

Yes, routinely, including planned repairs across managed portfolios. We are the only London locksmith company contracted to major letting agents and property maintenance companies.