Two stocks of doors in one small town
In the old village, solid timber leaves usually carry a rim lock, sometimes a model that left the catalogue decades ago. The fixing centres match nothing current, the keep is bedded into stone, and the original mortice limits what can go back in its place. Measurements are taken on site before anything is announced. Something close almost always exists, but adapting the fixings is part of the job.
At Rocheville, at Aubarède and in everything built since the 1960s, you find standard-size European cylinders and multi-point locks still in production. Replacing the cylinder alone is enough in the great majority of cases: keys lost, a move, a copy in circulation somewhere, a tenant moving out.
Up at Serra and Les Bréguières the question runs wider than the front door. A house there is entered through a gate, a side door, a garage, sometimes a plant room. Changing one cylinder without looking at the rest of the key ring leaves keys in circulation that still open half the property. A key ring is dealt with as a whole, never door by door.
Condominium, tenancy, key ring: who decides what
The flat door is normally private property and you may change its lock. In the buildings of Rocheville and boulevard Sadi Carnot, the condominium rules sometimes require the landing doors to match, or forbid any change visible from the communal parts. Reading those rules before ordering saves fitting the door twice.
If your key also opens the hall, the cellar or the bike store, the replacement has to preserve that. This is a master-key scheme, and it goes through the building manager or the supplier who holds the scheme for the block. Many small blocks in Le Cannet still work that way, with one key for the whole building. Say so when you call: it avoids ordering a cylinder you cannot use.
As a tenant you may replace a faulty lock, but the flat has to be handed back as it was, or a set of keys given to the landlord. Put it in writing. Le Cannet sees a lot of turnover tied to work in Cannes, so changing the cylinder when you move in remains the simplest precaution there is.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our lock and cylinder replacement page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Le Cannet.