Tradesman lost my front door key

I've just had someone in doing some work on my house. I found him online and have been impressed by the work he has done, which has taken 2 days. Tomorrow however he is due to call round to be paid and give me back my front door key which he was using...but he just rang me to say he simply can't find the key. I've checked the house from top to bottom but nothing.

My main worry is that he could have left it in the front door and, as some leaflets were dropped in during the day, some opportunist might have taken it with a view to paying a trip later.

Ideally I want to get a locksmith ASAP so that I don't always have to now use my mortice at all times for security. I am also going to have to replace the 3 other copies of this key that my family and partner hold.

Am I within my rights to say that I need to hold back some money to pay for this or is is just 'one of those things' that i should shell out for myself? cheers, worried female.

lemonaid said:

Ideally I want to get a locksmith ASAP so that I don't always have to now use my mortice at all times for security. I am also going to have to replace the 3 other copies of this key that my family and partner hold.

Am I within my rights to say that I need to hold back some money to pay for this or is is just 'one of those things' that i should shell out for myself? cheers, worried female.

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If he did a good reasonable job I wouldn't try to hold back any money as it seems petty.

You should be using your mortice at all times. A tradesman told me some years ago that the lighter lock can be picked and this is why it is so important to have the mortice also.

As far as I know you can just take out the barrel of the lock, bring it to a locksmiths and buy a similar one which should have the new keys with it so you should only suffer the cost of this.

Can you not just replace the cylinder? - I don't think you need a locksmith to do that.
(post crossed with Sue Ellen)

cheers, since posting i've realised that as its not technically an emergency as i still have the mortice, then i can just replace the barrel myself over the next couple of days. i'll let your man off the hook so!