Moving to Jacksonville on Military Orders: A Lock and Key Checklist

Who this checklist is for, and where Navy families live

This is for families reporting to Naval Air Station Jacksonville on the west bank of the St. Johns River, Naval Station Mayport at the river mouth near Atlantic Beach, and Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island. It also fits Kings Bay families on the Florida side. The submarine base sits beside St. Marys, Georgia, just north of the Florida line, and Military OneSource notes that some Kings Bay families live in Nassau County, Florida: Yulee, Fernandina Beach and Amelia Island. The Florida law below applies to Florida addresses only.

Around NAS Jacksonville, our calls from service families come from the Westside and, just south in Clay County, from Orange Park, Fleming Island and Oakleaf, many of them newer subdivisions with builder-grade deadbolts, keypad locks and gated entries. Around Mayport, they come from the housing along Mayport Rd and Wonderwood Dr and the cottages and apartments of Atlantic Beach, where salt air wears out cheap hardware fast.

Privatized base housing: the locks belong to the housing company

Navy family housing at NAS Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport is privatized, run as a public-private venture. The Navy's housing pages for both bases say the privatized property management company is the one to contact for maintenance and resident matters, and that includes locks and keys. If a problem is not handled, the Housing Service Center is your advocate.

So do not rekey, add a deadbolt or fit a smart lock there on your own. It is not your hardware, and maintenance has to be able to get in. A lost key, a sticking lock or a lockout goes to the management office first. At move-in, ask how many keys you get and whether copies are allowed.

The simple test is who your lease is with. If it is with the privatized housing company, the locks are theirs and so is the call. If it is with a private landlord or property manager in town, the next section is yours.

An off-base rental: what Florida law says, and what your lease says

Florida's residential landlord and tenant law, Chapter 83, Part II, does not give tenants a general right to change the locks, and it has no section banning it either. Your lease decides. Many leases forbid changing or adding locks without written permission and require you to hand over a copy of any new key.

Three sections shape the conversation. Section 83.53 says a tenant shall not unreasonably withhold consent for the landlord to enter for inspections and repairs. Section 83.67 bars a landlord from changing the locks to keep a tenant out. And in a unit other than a single-family home or duplex, section 83.51 lists locks and keys among the things the landlord must make reasonable provision for, unless the parties agree otherwise in writing.

In practice, ask whether the locks were rekeyed after the last tenant. If not, ask the landlord to do it, or get written permission to have it done yourself, by text or email so there is a record, and give them a copy of the new key. A lock rekey is quick, and the Housing Service Center at either base offers lease reviews if you want the lock clause checked before you sign.

A home you bought: rekey everything on day one

If you bought, there is nobody to ask, and every key the sellers, their relatives, their contractors and their agent ever held is now your problem. Rekey every exterior lock before the first night, and keep the closing paperwork handy for the technician.

Whether each lock should be rekeyed or replaced depends on its condition, and our guide on rekey or replace: how to decide covers that. The short version for a military buyer: rekey what works, replace what is worn, and key every door alike. If you may rent the house out on your next orders, a keypad lock installed now makes the handover to a property manager simpler, and the house should be rekeyed again before the first tenant moves in.

The move-in checklist: everything that opens your home

Rekeying handles the lock cylinders. Everything below keeps working for whoever had it last until someone resets it, so go through it in the first week. In a rental, ask the landlord to handle what belongs to them.

• Every exterior door: front, back, side, the door from the garage into the house and any garage side door. Count them before you call.
• Garage door remotes and the outside keypad. Clear every remote paired to the opener, pair your own again, and set a new keypad code.
• Smart lock users. Delete every code and user you did not create, and move the admin account to your own email.
• Alarm codes. Change the panel code and the passphrase the monitoring company uses to verify you.
• The sliding glass door. Most slider latches have no cylinder to rekey, so add a secondary lock or a bar in the track.
• The mailbox. If it is a cluster box, read the next section before anyone touches the lock.
• Gate and pool fobs. The HOA or management office keeps the list of active fobs, so ask them to cancel the previous resident's and register yours.

Cluster mailboxes: who changes the lock

Newer subdivisions and apartment complexes often use cluster mailboxes. Who replaces the lock depends on who owns the box, and the answer is usually not a locksmith.

If the Postal Service owns the box, the local Post Office handles it. USPS says it changes the lock before reissuing a compartment to a new customer, without charging for that first lock and keys. It keeps no duplicate keys, so if you lose every key, the new lock is at your expense.

If an apartment complex, condo association or HOA owns the box, the owner or manager handles the lock and may keep a duplicate. A locking mailbox at the curb of a house you bought is yours, and its lock can be replaced like any other.

Before a deployment: spare keys, a smart lock and a power of attorney

Deployment turns small key problems into big ones. Put a spare house key with your spouse and a second with someone nearby you trust, not under the mat or in a fake rock. Key duplication for house keys is quick at our shop counter at 8727 Old Kings Rd S.

A smart lock earns its place in a deployment household. Pick one that connects over Wi-Fi or a hub, since many Bluetooth-only models need a phone near the door to make changes. Then either of you can add a code for a pet sitter or visiting family from anywhere, delete it afterward, and get an alert when the door unlocks.

Military OneSource notes that a special or limited power of attorney can cover a specific vehicle, and that installation legal offices prepare powers of attorney for service members free of charge. If a car or a lease is only in the deployed member's name, that document saves the spouse real trouble.

The car that sits for months

The car left home during a deployment produces a familiar call: the only key deployed in a seabag, or the battery died and the fob does nothing. Both are cheaper to prevent than to fix.

Get a second key made now. A spare made while you still have a working key costs far less than one made from nothing. If the car is not in the spouse's name, a key made later needs proof of authorization, so add the spouse to the registration or cover the car in a power of attorney.

A parked car slowly drains its 12-volt battery, and once it is flat, keyless entry stops working. Show your spouse the metal key inside the fob and the driver's door keyhole, often under a small cap on the handle. Fit fresh fob batteries before you leave and keep spares in the house. If a fob quits anyway, a replacement fob can be programmed at the car.

Storage units during a PCS or a deployment

A storage unit between houses holds a lot of what you own behind one padlock. Keep one key and give the other to your spouse or whoever will check on the unit. If it is a combination lock, make sure your spouse knows the combination.

Ask the facility to add your spouse or another trusted person as an authorized contact on the rental agreement. If every key is lost, the facility's rules decide who may have the lock cut and how they prove it, so settle that before the renter leaves town. Once the facility agrees, a locksmith can remove the padlock.

Leaving on your next orders: return every key and fob

When the next orders come, the keys go back: every house key, garage remote, mailbox key and gate or pool fob you were issued or had made. Photograph them together and hand them over against a dated list the landlord or property manager signs. That list answers any later charge for a missing fob. The Housing Service Center also does move-out inspections on request.

Florida gives servicemembers a way out of a lease. Under section 83.682, you can end a rental agreement with written notice that takes effect on a date at least 30 days after the landlord receives it. Attach a copy of your official orders or a written verification signed by your commanding officer. You owe rent prorated to the termination date and nothing more for ending early, terminating 14 or more days before moving in carries no damages or penalties at all, and a lease cannot waive any of this.

The notice only works when your situation fits one of the cases the statute lists. For most families on the move, that means one of these:

• Permanent change of station orders that move you 35 miles or more from the rental.
• Temporary duty or similar orders to an area 35 miles or more away for more than 60 days.
• Orders to move into government quarters, or becoming eligible for them and choosing to move. The statute counts privatized military housing as government quarters.
• A change of orders to an area 35 miles or more away before you take possession of the rental.
• A premature or involuntary discharge or release from active duty.

Shipping a car overseas: two complete sets of keys

When your overseas orders include shipping a car, it goes through a vehicle processing center. The Defense Transportation Regulation's guide to shipping your POV says to have a complete set of keys at turn-in, including gas cap and wheel lock keys, and to keep a second complete set of duplicates with you for pickup at the other end. Valet keys are not accepted.

If you have one key for that car, get a second made well before turn-in, since some fobs have to be ordered. The same guide says to turn off or disconnect any installed alarm or anti-theft device, and anyone turning the car in for you needs a power of attorney or letter of authorization, unless they are a spouse named on your orders.

The military discount covers every job on this list

Every service in this guide comes with our military discount: rekeys, lock changes, smart locks, key copies, car keys and fobs, and lockouts. It covers active duty, reservists and National Guard, retirees and veterans, and spouses and dependents. Mention it when you call, and show a military ID, VA card or DD-214 to the technician.

The estimate on the phone is free and already includes the discount, and the technician goes over the price with you before any work starts. Technicians arrive in marked We Do Locksmith vans with photo ID, and we are insured and bonded. Tell the dispatcher how many doors and whether you rent or own, so one visit covers the whole house.