Best Locksmiths in Melbourne

How we ranked Melbourne's locksmiths

Locksmithing is a small trade in this city. Our search surfaced 49 locksmith businesses, and 22 of them cleared the bar: 50 or more Google reviews and a working website they run themselves. That review minimum is harder to reach here than in most home services, because a lockout or a rekey is an occasional job, not a regular booking. The qualifiers average 4.81 stars between them.

Position on the page is set by a score, never by a bare star figure. A locksmith's Google rating is averaged with a cautious 4.5, and the fewer reviews support the rating, the heavier that 4.5 weighs, so a spotless rating with a brief history sits below one earned over years. A group with several shops appears once, under whichever Melbourne location has the strongest reviews. The 10 span 4.81 to 4.70, and payment plays no part.

How the score works →

How much does a locksmith cost in Melbourne?

A locksmith's bill has two parts: a callout fee for getting the van to you and a price for the job itself. National price guides for 2026 put the daytime callout at $110. The job comes on top: $160 to $225 to get you back into a house, $70 to $130 to rekey a lock and $70 to $200 to change one, with hardware extra if new locks are fitted.

Timing changes everything. The same guides show the callout rising to $150 to $200 on weekends and on weeknights between 9pm and midnight, and to $300 after midnight. So a lockout that is a modest bill at lunchtime can cost far more in the small hours, before any lock is replaced. If a housemate, the agent or a neighbour holds a spare key, waiting is the cheaper option.

On the phone, ask for the total: callout, labour, parts and GST, and the most it could reach if the lock cannot be picked and has to be drilled out. Describe the door and the lock as precisely as you can, because the answer depends on both. Car lockouts are priced separately; the guides list automotive lock work at $80 to $185, and a plain key cut at $5 to $20.

Do locksmiths need a licence in Victoria?

Victoria has no licence called locksmith, and the title is not protected in Australia, so anyone can advertise as one. What the state does regulate is security equipment. Under the Private Security Act 2004, a person employed or retained to install, repair, service or maintain security equipment needs a private security licence from Victoria Police with the security equipment installer activity on it.

The regulations spell out what counts: safes, vaults, security alarms, camera systems, intrusion detectors, and electric, electromechanical, magnetic or biometric access control devices. Ordinary mechanical locks and keys are not named in that list. So when a job involves a keypad or swipe card entry system, an alarm or a safe, ask whoever quotes for their Victoria Police licence number and look it up before they start.

The system changed on 19 June 2025, when private security registrations were replaced by licences, and since 19 December 2025 sole traders have needed both an individual and a business licence. You can look anyone up on Victoria Police's Register of Licence, Registration and Permit Holders, which shows the licence number, authorised activities and expiry date. Membership of the Master Locksmiths Association is voluntary, but it requires locksmiths with a trade qualification, police checks and insurance.

How do you spot a fake emergency locksmith?

The lockout scam is well documented in Australia. Operators with little or no training buy search ads and build websites that look local, quote a fee as low as $30 to $120, then charge hundreds or thousands once the door is open. A 2026 warning from South Australia's consumer regulator describes locks and doors damaged without need and customers pressured or threatened into paying. The trade association has been raising the alarm since 2024.

The defence is to choose before you are desperate. Save the number of a locksmith with a real street address near you. If you are already locked out, skip the top ad and look for a business whose name, address and reviews line up. A genuine quote names a total. An opening price that sounds too cheap to cover a van and a tradesperson's hour is the bait.

• Does the website show a Melbourne street address you can find on a map, and business details you can verify?
• Will they give a total price range on the phone, and a proper invoice once the job is done?
• Is the business in the Master Locksmiths Association's member directory, or on the Victoria Police register if the job involves a safe or electronic access control?
• Before anything is drilled, has the locksmith explained why the lock cannot be opened without damage and what the replacement will cost?

Renting in Victoria: who is responsible for locks and keys?

If you rent, some lock costs are not yours. The rental provider must fit every external door with a working deadlatch and every external window that opens with a working lock, or failing that a latch that secures it against entry from outside. There are exceptions, such as a door that cannot take a deadlatch or an apartment door behind a locked building entry. Each renter on the agreement gets a free set of keys.

Renters who want a lock changed need the rental provider's consent first and pay for it themselves, though consent cannot be unreasonably refused, and copies of the new keys go to the provider as soon as possible. The exception is family violence: a renter protected by an intervention order or safety notice can change external door and window locks without asking, and the excluded person must not be given a key.

A broken lock is different from a wanted upgrade. Any fault or damage that makes a rental unsafe or insecure counts as an urgent repair, which the provider has to deal with immediately. When the agent cannot be reached, the renter is allowed to arrange a fix costing $2,500 or less, then request repayment in writing within seven days of the repair. Keep the locksmith's invoice and photograph the damage first.

Should you rekey or replace the locks when you move in?

Rekeying means rearranging the pins inside the existing lock so the old keys stop working. You keep the hardware and pay for labour only, which is why it is generally the cheaper route and the usual choice after moving into a new place, when nobody can say how many keys earlier occupants handed out. Replacement makes sense when a lock is worn or damaged, or when you want a different type of lock altogether.

Whichever you choose, the Australian Consumer Law applies to the work. Services must be carried out with an acceptable level of care and skill and be fit for the purpose you described, and those guarantees are automatic. If a new lock sticks or a door is damaged during fitting, go back to the locksmith and ask for a repair. Where that fails, the law also provides for cancellation, a refund or compensation.