New Home Security First Day | What to Change First

You've got the keys. The removal van is blocking the street somewhere near Brownlow Fold or you're trying to squeeze past parked cars on one of the older terraced rows off Lee Lane. Everyone's excited, everyone's knackered, and nobody's thinking about the front door lock.

That's the problem. Most people don't think about it for weeks. Some never do.

Here's the thing: you have absolutely no idea who else has a key to your new home. The previous owners, obviously. But also: their estate agent, their cleaner, their grown-up kids, the neighbour who fed the cat in 2019, the builder who did the kitchen extension and probably left a key with the plumber. You didn't get those back. You never will. You don't even know they exist.

This guide runs through exactly what to do on day one, in a sensible order, starting with what matters most and working outward to the bits people routinely forget. It's aimed at Horwich homeowners, but it applies equally if you're a landlord turning a property around between tenants in Westhoughton, Adlington or Blackrod. Same problem, same fixes.

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The First Hour Matters More Than the First Week

Burglars don't always force entry. A fair chunk of residential break-ins in Greater Manchester happen through unlocked or compromised access points, and a non-trivial number involve someone who simply had a key. You can't know the history of who's held a set. Even a conscientious vendor might have forgotten about a spare.

You don't need to spend a fortune on day one. You do need to work through a checklist before your head hits the pillow.

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Step 1: Front Door Cylinder, First, No Exceptions

Before a single box is unpacked, the front door cylinder needs assessing.

If the door is uPVC or composite with a euro-profile cylinder, you can usually swap it yourself in ten minutes with a screwdriver. One central screw on the faceplate, turn the key slightly to release the cam, slide it out. Measure the old one: the distance from the centre of the screw hole to each end (e.g. 35/45 or 40/40) and match that when you buy a replacement.

The question is what to buy. If the existing cylinder is an unknown brand or a basic Yale-branded cylinder with no star rating, replace it. A TS007 3-star cylinder, or a Sold Secure Diamond-rated equivalent, is the standard worth hitting. Avocet ABS, Ultion, and Mul-T-Lock's MT5+ all sit in that tier. Expect to pay £30 to £80 for the cylinder itself depending on the brand and size, or £80 to £130 fitted if you want a locksmith to do it and confirm the fit is right.

For a standard timber door with a mortice lock, check the lock body. BS3621 is the minimum worth having. Insurers often specify it. If the existing lock is a five-lever mortice marked BS3621, it's probably fine mechanically. The issue is the keys that are out there. Getting the lock rekeyed by a locksmith (around £40 to £60) is an option if the lock is in good nick and the right standard. Replacing the whole lock gives you fresh peace of mind for £60 to £150 fitted.

Don't inherit a three-lever mortice. They're easier to pick than most people think, and they won't satisfy most home insurance policies either.

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Step 2: Back Door

People remember the front. They forget the back.

Back doors on properties around Horwich vary a lot. Older semis in Wallsuches or the Ridgmont area often have a timber back door with an ageing mortice that hasn't been touched in years. Newer builds near Middlebrook or Lostock tend to have uPVC with a multipoint locking mechanism.

For uPVC back doors, the cylinder is the weak point, same as the front. Replace it. The multipoint mechanism itself (gear box, hooks, rollers) is worth checking while you're at it: lift the handle firmly and turn the key, making sure all points are engaging. If anything feels loose, sloppy or fails to engage, note it down. You don't have to fix it today but you should know about it.

For timber back doors, check for a bolt at the top and bottom in addition to the main lock. A five-lever mortice with no top and bottom bolts on a timber door is better than nothing, but not by much if someone shoulders it. A pair of surface-mounted rack bolts adds about £15 to £25 in materials and half an hour's work.

If the back door has a cat flap large enough to get an arm through and operate a handle or thumb-turn, that needs fixing too. Either a locksmith-fitted cylinder with no thumb-turn on the inside, or a dead-bolt that can't be reached through the flap.

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Step 3: The Garage (Overlooked Every Single Time)

If there's an integral garage, meaning it connects directly to the house, the door between the garage and the interior is a security door in everything but name. Most of the time it's treated as a fire door and nothing else, so it gets a basic lever handle and maybe a light-duty mortice. Nobody treats it as a potential entry point.

But the garage itself is often easier to access than the front door. Up-and-over garage doors have rudimentary locking. Roller and sectional doors vary. A padlock hasp that looks substantial can have a backplate held on by four short wood screws. Someone with a crowbar and two seconds of patience doesn't care.

Check the integral door: - Does it have a five-lever mortice or a multipoint lock? It should. - Is the door solid core? Hollow-core fire doors exist. They're not security doors. - Does the frame look like it would survive a kick? If the garage is poorly lit and enclosed from the street, a forced entry here won't be heard or seen from outside.

For the garage door itself, if it's an older up-and-over on a manual spring, add a ground anchor and a closed shackle padlock (Sold Secure Gold or Diamond rated). If it's an electric roller, make sure the manual release cord is not accessible from outside by fishing through the bottom seal. It happens.

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Step 4: Windows

Window locks on uPVC windows fail in three main ways: the handle lock is worn and doesn't actually engage the mechanism, the shoot bolt has dropped off its channel inside the frame, or the restrictor is missing entirely.

Go through every accessible ground-floor window and any first-floor windows accessible from a flat roof, bay roof, extension or a fence you could realistically climb:

• Close the window fully and push it outward. It shouldn't move more than a few millimetres.
• Engage the handle lock and try again. Still shouldn't budge.
• Check for a secondary restrictor or stay. Not essential but useful, especially for windows you want to leave ajar in summer.

For timber sash windows, the original fitch catch is not a lock. It's a visual deterrent and a determined person with a penknife can pop it. Dual screws or sash stops are the proper fix and they cost about £5 each.

Window lock replacement is cheap. A locksmith can rekey or replace uPVC window handles and shootbolts in a fairly short visit if you've got several to do. Worth grouping them rather than doing one at a time.

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Step 5: Side Gate

The side gate is how most of the garden burglaries around here work. It doesn't get broken. It gets opened, because it has a basic thumb-latch or a bolt that isn't padlocked.

A few checks:

• Can you reach over or through the gate to operate the latch from the outside? If yes, that's a problem.
• Is the gate at least 1.8 metres high? Lower gates are borderline useless as a deterrent.
• Is the hinge side reinforced? A gate hung on lightweight hinges can be lifted off its pins if they're not fitted with hinge bolts.
• Is there a padlock? If yes, what standard? An open-shackle padlock from a hardware shop is not suitable for an external gate. A closed-shackle padlock rated Sold Secure Gold is.

Add a bolt on the inside at top and bottom if the gate is primarily used as a pedestrian access from the front. Lock it with a padlock when you're out. It's a £20 to £30 fix that closes off the most common route to the back of the house.

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Step 6: Key Control From Day One

Decide now, not later, how many key sets exist and who has them.

Cut the number of keys to the minimum you actually need. For most households that's two sets, maybe three. A landlord will need one set per legitimate occupant plus one master set kept securely by the landlord, not floating around with a managing agent's general key ring.

If you're going to use a key safe, get one rated SS312 Diamond. The cheap one from a DIY chain is not suitable for regular use by anyone other than emergency carers in controlled circumstances. The post on key safe security covers this in more detail.

Don't hide a spare key outside. Not under a plant pot, not behind the meter box, not on a hook inside the garage that can be reached through the cat flap. If you genuinely need external key access, fit the right rated key safe properly, screwed into solid masonry.

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Step 7: Smart Locks and Video Doorbells (Do These Last)

A lot of people want to set up a Ring doorbell or a Yale smart lock on moving day. There's nothing wrong with that but do the physical security first.

A video doorbell that shows you someone breaking in is not the same as a lock that stops them. Footage is great for insurance claims. It doesn't save your laptop.

For smart locks: if you're fitting a Yale Conexis L2 or a similar smart cylinder on a door that currently has a cheap unrated cylinder, you're adding technology on top of a weak foundation. The smart lock won't make a snappable cylinder harder to snap.

Fit the physical security to standard first. Then layer smart access on top if you want it.

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Step 8: The Bits That Keep Getting Forgotten

Run this list once you think you're done:

Internal door from garage to house. Covered above but worth a second look once you've seen how the garage sits relative to the street.

Outbuildings. Shed with a cheap padlock and a hasp mounted with short wood screws. Garden tools inside, especially a ladder. Replace the hasp with one that covers the screws when closed, and use a Sold Secure Gold closed-shackle padlock. Move the ladder inside.

Letterbox. A large letterbox on a timber door can let someone fish for keys on a hook in the hall, or use a rod to operate a thumb-turn deadbolt. A letterbox cage or restrictor plate costs about £15 and takes twenty minutes to fit.

Loft hatch. Rarely locked. Rarely even bolted. If your loft connects to a neighbour's loft on a terrace (common on older stock in Horwich town centre and parts of Blackrod), that's a genuine vulnerability. A bolt on the hatch takes five minutes.

French doors and patio doors. The lock in the handle is usually not enough on its own. An anti-lift block or a security bar in the track adds a physical barrier against lifting the door out of its frame or forcing it sideways.

Alarm panel. If the property has an existing alarm, the code may be the default or the previous owner's date of birth. Change the code on day one. If you don't have the master code and can't change it, either have the system serviced and reset or disconnect it until you can. An alarm you don't control is noise at best, a liability at worst.

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What to Actually Spend on Day One

You don't have to do everything in a single day, but some things can't wait:

These aren't the only costs moving day brings. They are the ones that matter most to whether you sleep soundly on night one.

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One Last Thought

Most new homeowners spend more time choosing curtains in the first week than thinking about whether the locks are adequate. That's understandable. It's also the assumption that anyone who targets houses on changeover day is counting on.

Do the cylinder first. Do the rest in order. Then unpack the kettle.

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If you'd rather have a locksmith run through all of this in one visit, Locks Local covers Horwich and the BL postcodes. We're usually under thirty minutes from a call for non-emergency work in the area. Pricing is given honestly on the phone before anyone turns up. Ring us when you're ready, or use the contact form to book a moving-day security check in advance.