Smart locks
House lockouts
Re-keying
Deadbolt upgrades
Schlage
Kwikset
Car keys & fobsNon-destructive entry first, always - and we re-key Schlage, Kwikset, and Baldwin locks on the spot while you watch
You get a price before we start. It does not change when we arrive. No surprises.
Get your free estimateFast, Reliable Emergency Locksmith Across Van Nuys
If you’re locked out of your apartment off Van Nuys Blvd or your key just snapped in the ignition near Sepulveda, here’s the short version: we arrive at Van Nuys addresses in about 30 minutes, we open most residential doors without drilling, and you’ll get the full price on the phone before anyone is dispatched. That price is what you pay. No arrival surcharge, no bait-and-switch. Glendale Lock & Key runs a dedicated Emergency Locksmith team that handles the specific lock problems Van Nuys throws at people, from heat-swollen doors in garden apartments to worn-out mortise locks in postwar ranch homes. Call (855) 791-2710 and you’ll speak with someone who can tell you exactly what to expect.
Why Glendale Lock & Key Is Van Nuys’s Preferred Emergency Locksmith Company
Van Nuys is a specific kind of place. It’s not a suburb of single-family homes with identical front doors. It’s a dense patchwork of 1940s-1960s garden apartments, stucco ranches, and commercial buildings along Van Nuys Blvd and Sepulveda that see heavy daily use. Our techs know that a lockout at a two-story apartment complex near the Van Nuys Airport means navigating a property manager, a tenant, and a door the freeholder owns. That changes how we work. No drilling unless there’s genuinely no other way. No generic key blanks on restricted keyways. And no treating a heat-swollen strike plate like a mechanical failure. We’re led by Noel Tarkanian, who has built the company around competence with real hardware rather than quick-fix promises. Customers in Van Nuys call us back because the door opens, the lock works, and the property manager doesn’t get a bill for a destroyed door frame.
Response time to Van Nuys is a real commitment, not marketing. From our base in Glendale, we reach most Van Nuys addresses within 30 to 40 minutes, including the residential streets around the Civic Center, the apartment corridors off Victory and Vanowen, and the industrial blocks near the airport. For a lockout in the 91470 or 91482 zip code, you’re not waiting on a tech from Santa Clarita. You’re waiting on someone who already knows the building type.
Styles & brands we work with
Our Emergency Locksmith Services in Van Nuys
24/7 Emergency Lockout
Locked out of your apartment on Vanowen Street at midnight? Your toddler turned the deadbolt from the inside of your house near the Van Nuys Civic Center? We respond around the clock. A typical residential lockout in Van Nuys runs $95-$165, depending on the lock type and whether it’s a standard knob or a high-security deadbolt. Most open in under 20 minutes once we’re on site. We carry non-destructive entry tools specifically for the knob locksets and single-cylinder deadbolts common in Van Nuys’s postwar housing stock.
Broken Key Extraction
Keys snap in Van Nuys locks more often than people expect, usually because the original wore down over years of daily use in a multi-tenant building. We extract broken keys from Schlage, Kwikset, Medeco, and Yale cylinders without damaging the lock itself. On Van Nuys Blvd, where older commercial storefronts still have original mortise cylinders, extraction often means saving a lock that would cost hundreds to replace. A broken key extraction in Van Nuys typically runs $85-$140, and we can usually cut a fresh key on the spot.
Safe Opening
We open residential and small commercial safes in Van Nuys. The older homes near the airport and the Civic Center often have floor safes or wall safes that haven’t been opened in years, with combinations lost in a move or an estate sale. We open them without destroying the safe where possible, using manipulation first and drilling only as a last resort. Safe opening in Van Nuys starts around $180 and goes up based on the safe type and locking mechanism. We’ll give you a firm range before we start work.
Eviction Lock Change
Property managers across Van Nuys deal with unit turnover constantly, especially in the large apartment complexes along Van Nuys Blvd and the garden courts near the airport. We handle eviction lock changes the same day the writ is served, with written documentation for your files. For a standard apartment door with a Kwikset or Schlage deadbolt, an eviction lock change in Van Nuys runs $65-$110, including the new lock or rekey. If you manage multiple units, we rekey master-keyed systems so your master still works while the former tenant’s key doesn’t.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees — you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Van Nuys
The hardware in Van Nuys runs the full span: original Kwikset and Schlage knobsets in 1950s ranch homes, Medeco deadbolts on apartment entries where a property manager insisted on something better, and the occasional Yale mortise lock in a downtown Van Nuys storefront. We’re trained across all eight brands we carry parts for, which means we don’t show up and tell you to replace your Medeco with a cheap import because we don’t have the right pins. We stock Schlage, Kwikset, and Medeco parts on our vans, and we can rekey a restricted keyway without breaking the building’s key control. That matters in Van Nuys, where a copied key in the wrong hands is a building-wide problem, not just one unit.
Common Emergency Locksmith Problems We See in Van Nuys Homes
- Deadbolts that won’t latch in August. Van Nuys summers push past 100°F, and the Valley’s intense dry heat warps hollow-core and slab doors in garden apartments. A strike plate that was perfectly aligned in January sits a quarter-inch off by July. The lock isn’t broken. The door moved. We realign the strike plate and lubricate the cylinder rather than selling you a new deadbolt you don’t need.
- Restricted keys copied at the wrong kiosk. Multi-tenant buildings around the Van Nuys Airport and on Sherman Circle use restricted keyways, often Medeco or Mul-T-Lock. A tenant takes the key to a big-box kiosk, gets a generic blank jammed in, and the copy either doesn’t turn or damages the cylinder. We restore those locks and reissue the correct restricted blanks.
- Undersized hardware on high-traffic entry doors. The main entry to many Van Nuys apartment buildings gets hundreds of cycles daily. A builder-grade Kwikset knob set on that door fails fast. We replace it with an ANSI Grade 1 lock, typically a commercial Schlage or a Medeco deadbolt, and the problem stops recurring.
- Drilled locks on apartment doors. In Van Nuys, the door and frame usually belong to the landlord, not the tenant. A tech who drills a deadbolt on a garden apartment door off Vanowen has just created a bill for a new door and frame. We use non-destructive entry first. Drilling is the exception, not the routine.
Pricing for Emergency Locksmith in Van Nuys, CA
Here’s what you can actually expect to pay in Van Nuys, because vague pricing helps no one. A standard residential lockout runs $95-$165. Broken key extraction: $85-$140. Lock picking for a basic pin-tumbler knob: $75-$125. Eviction lock change on a standard apartment door: $65-$110 including the new lock. Safe opening starts at $180 and depends entirely on the safe. Rekeying a restricted keyway or a high-security Medeco cylinder runs $35-$65 per cylinder. The price you hear on the phone is the price on the invoice. We don’t add a dispatch fee when the tech arrives, and we don’t inflate the number after we see the lock. Call (855) 791-2710 and you’ll get a firm quote before anyone rolls.
We Also Serve Cities Near Van Nuys
Our Emergency Locksmith in Van Nuys coverage extends naturally into the surrounding San Fernando Valley. We run calls in Valley Glen, Sherman Oaks, Encino, and North Hills daily. If you’re on the border between Van Nuys and Sherman Oaks along Burbank Blvd, or in Valley Glen near the 170, you’re still in our regular response area. Call (855) 791-2710 and we’ll tell you exactly when we can arrive.
Serving Van Nuys, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Van Nuys area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs – Emergency Locksmith in Van Nuys
Probably not. In Van Nuys, the San Fernando Valley’s dry summer heat regularly pushes past 100°F, and that heat warps hollow-core and slab doors in the garden apartment complexes near the Van Nuys Airport and along Van Nuys Blvd. The deadbolt’s internal mechanism is usually fine. The door has swollen and shifted, so the bolt no longer aligns with the strike plate. We fix this by realigning the strike plate and, when needed, shaving the plate pocket slightly. It’s a $75-$125 call, not a full lock replacement. Call (855) 791-2710 and we’ll diagnose it on the phone.
Yes. We’re trained on restricted keyways including Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, and Abloy, which are common in the larger managed properties throughout Van Nuys. Rekeying a restricted system in an apartment building off Victory Blvd or Vanowen requires the proper sidebars, pins, and key blanks, and we carry them on our vans. We do not cut corners with generic blanks that defeat the building’s key control. Per-cylinder pricing for a restricted rekey in Van Nuys runs $35-$65, and we provide a new key schedule for the property manager. Call (855) 791-2710 for a written quote.
We typically reach apartment complexes near the Van Nuys Airport in 25 to 35 minutes. That covers the garden courts off Sherman Way, the two-story buildings along Sepulveda, and the managed properties near the airport’s north side. You’ll get a call from the tech with an ETA once dispatched. The full quoted price is given on the phone before anyone leaves, and there’s no additional fee for after-hours response in Van Nuys. Call (855) 791-2710.
Yes. We handle eviction lock changes for property managers and landlords throughout Van Nuys, including the apartment corridors around the Civic Center, the garden complexes near the airport, and the rental streets east of the 405. A standard eviction lock change on a unit door runs $65-$110, and we can rekey the cylinder to the building’s master system on the spot. We provide dated written confirmation for your eviction file. Call (855) 791-2710 to schedule, and we’ll coordinate directly with the deputy or process server if needed.
The most effective step is having your strike plates realigned once a year, ideally in early summer before the first major heat wave. In Van Nuys’s postwar garden apartments, where exterior doors face direct west sun on streets like Vanowen and Sherman Way, the wooden frames dry and shift every season. We also recommend switching high-traffic entry doors to ANSI Grade 1 hardware, typically a commercial Schlage or Medeco deadbolt, because the budget knobsets installed in the 1960s can’t handle a hundred cycles a day. A yearly maintenance visit for a multi-unit Van Nuys building runs $150-$250 for realignment and lubrication across all entry doors. Call (855) 791-2710 and we’ll set up a schedule.
Call Glendale Lock & Key for Emergency Locksmith Service in Van Nuys
When you’re locked out on a hot August night off Van Nuys Blvd, or your building’s restricted keyway has been jammed by a bad copy, you need someone who knows Van Nuys doors. We do. From the garden apartments by the airport to the ranch homes behind the Civic Center, our techs see the same hardware, the same heat warping, and the same key control issues every week. We recently responded to a lockout at a two-story garden apartment complex off Van Nuys Blvd near the airport. The tenant’s door had swelled in the summer heat and the Schlage deadbolt wouldn’t retract fully. Instead of drilling, our tech used non-destructive entry to open the door, then realigned the strike plate and lubricated the cylinder, restoring function without damaging the freeholder’s door. That’s how we work in Van Nuys. Call (855) 791-2710 for a free estimate, and you’ll get the real price before we dispatch. From the ignition to the deadbolt, we handle the hardware you already have.
Written by Noel Tarkanian, Owner at Glendale Lock & Key, serving Van Nuys and the San Fernando Valley since day one.