The single most useful thing to know before you ask for a price. The body of the lock sits inside the door and rarely fails; the part that decides which key works is a separate barrel that slides out when one screw is removed.
Change it and every old key stops working, which is the whole point after a break-in, a separation, a former cleaner or a set of keys that never came back. It is quick, it is the cheap end of the range, and the door is untouched.
A mechanism that grinds, a bolt that no longer throws or a hundred-year-old lever lock with no parts left in the world. That is a bigger job because the door has to be cut or adapted, and it belongs at the top of the published range.
A painted wooden door in Graça, an aluminium door onto a terrace and a reinforced door with a three-point mechanism take three different products. Say which one you have, ideally with a photo of the door edge, and the quote stops being a guess.
Not a sales list. These are the situations where the money buys you something real, and everything else can usually wait.
Replacement sits in the middle of this trade's price range: more than slipping a latch, far less than a security door. The spread comes from the product, not from the labour, so ask what is going in rather than only what the total is.
Typical range according to public listings and price pages — indication, not a quote. Sources: an OLX locksmith listing for Algés, the published Bricovitor call-out reference, Zaask's lock-replacement guide and Fixando's page for fitting locks and safes, all read in August 2026. See also the full price page.
One question worth asking about the new cylinder. Ask what protection it actually offers against the two attacks that matter — snapping and bumping — and whether the key can be copied at any kiosk or only against a card. A cheap barrel and a good one look identical once they are in the door, and the difference in price is smaller than most people expect.
Replacing a lock is reported at €60–250. Typical range according to public listings and price pages — indication, not a quote. Sources: an OLX locksmith listing for Algés, the published Bricovitor call-out reference, Zaask's lock-replacement guide and Fixando's page for fitting locks and safes, all read in August 2026.
A lock change is booked, not raced to, which means the map stretches back out. Somebody willing to cross the bridge for a scheduled morning would never do it for a lockout at midnight, so the outer municipalities are far better served for this kind of job than for an urgent one.
Related: Locked outEmergency locksmithPricesHosts & key handovers Esta página em portuguêsSerralheiro Lisboa
Physically, often yes: one screw in the edge of the door, slide the old barrel out, slide the new one in. The part that catches people is measuring it, because a cylinder that sticks out even a few millimetres is exactly the one that gets snapped. Measure from the screw hole to each face and write both numbers down.
Read the contract before you do anything. A Portuguese lease normally leaves the tenant in quiet possession, but the owner is entitled to access on notice and usually to hold a key. The practical route is to change it and hand over a copy the same week.
It means several locks share one key, so the street door and the flat door open with the same thing. Convenient, and no weaker than the weakest lock in the set — which is the catch. It is a good idea when the locks are of similar quality and a poor one when they are not.
They can, particularly where keys change hands often. The honest caveats are that the mechanical part underneath still has to be sound, that most models still want a physical key override, and that a building's shared street door usually is not yours to modify.
Fifteen minutes if the size is known and the part is on the van, an hour if it has to be measured and fetched. The slow version is a lock body replacement on an old wooden door, where the housing has to be cut to fit the new mechanism.
Usually not. Doors move with the seasons and old Lisbon buildings settle; more often the fix is adjusting the strike plate or the hinges rather than replacing anything. Get that checked before you buy a lock you may not need.
The lock body, the bolt and the cylinder sticking out of the edge — that one photo answers almost every question a locksmith would ask.
Send a photo of the door and the lock. You will get a price for the part that actually needs replacing.