The Padlock the Marshal Places Is Temporary. This Is Not.
After a legal eviction, your property isn’t truly secured until every lock your former tenant touched has been changed. We coordinate that process — same day, legally compliant, across all five boroughs.
What Makes This Office Different
Mayoral Appointment, Badge Number 14
We are an officially appointed public office of the City of New York — not a private company. That accountability is built into everything we do.
Multi-Generational Marshal Experience
Edward F. Guida Jr. built his practice under his father’s guidance. Our staff has worked in this office across both generations — decades of institutional knowledge, not a startup operation.
All Five Boroughs, One Office
From the Grand Concourse in the Bronx to Staten Island’s North Shore, we execute and coordinate post-eviction property securing across every borough in New York City.
Technology-Equipped for Full Compliance
Our office uses current technology to manage documentation, scheduling, and the legal requirements that come with every eviction execution — including the 2024 online notice posting law.
Marshal Lock Change NYC
What Actually Happens to Your Property After Eviction
When a NYC Marshal executes an eviction or legal possession, the first thing that goes on the door is a padlock. It’s a necessary step — but it’s a temporary one. The padlock secures the unit long enough for the real work to happen: changing every lock cylinder the former tenant had access to, with a licensed locksmith, under marshal supervision.
That distinction matters more than most landlords realize. In NYC, you cannot legally change your own locks after an eviction — not even after a court order. The lock change must happen as part of the marshal’s execution, coordinated by the marshal’s office, using a properly licensed locksmith whose work complies with NYC building and fire codes. Skipping this step, or doing it wrong, opens you up to illegal lockout claims that can cost you far more than the eviction itself.
We handle this coordination directly. You don’t need to find a locksmith, schedule separately, or manage the timing yourself. When we execute, the lock change is part of the process.
Secure Property After Eviction NYC
What You Actually Get When This Is Done Right
A legally compliant lock change isn’t just about security — it’s what allows you to move forward, re-let the unit, and stop losing income.
- Every lock your former tenant had access to is changed — not just the front door, but every point of entry they may have used.
- You receive new keys immediately after the lock change, so you can access and show the unit the same day.
- The lock change is documented as part of the official eviction record, protecting you if the former tenant later claims illegal lockout.
- You’re not coordinating a locksmith on your own while managing a tense eviction — we handle the scheduling so you don’t have to.
- The locks installed comply with NYC building and fire codes, so you’re not creating a new liability while closing an old one.
- A properly secured unit can be shown to prospective tenants immediately — cutting the gap between eviction and your next lease.
Change Locks Eviction NYC — The Legal Reality
Why Landlords Cannot Do This on Their Own
This comes up constantly. A landlord wins in court, the marshal executes the eviction, and the landlord’s first instinct is to call a locksmith directly — or worse, to change the locks themselves that evening. Both are mistakes.
Under NYC law, a landlord who changes locks without proper marshal supervision — even after a valid court order — can face illegal lockout claims under NYC Administrative Code 26-521. The penalties aren’t minor. We’ve seen situations where landlords who used unlicensed handymen for a lock change faced fines of $5,000 or more, in addition to the legal exposure from the tenant’s emergency access claim.
The reason the law is structured this way is straightforward: the eviction process is a civil court function, and the marshal is the court’s agent for executing it. The lock change is part of that execution — not a separate task you handle on your own afterward. When we coordinate the lock change, it’s done under the authority of this office, properly documented, and legally defensible.
Duplicate Key Risk After Eviction
Your Former Tenant Probably Isn’t the Only One With a Key
In NYC’s dense rental environment, this is one of the most overlooked risks after an eviction. Former tenants routinely share keys — with family members, subtenants, overnight guests, people who helped them move in. By the time you’ve gone through months of housing court proceedings, you have no way of knowing how many copies of your keys are in circulation.
A padlock on the front door doesn’t solve this. It secures the unit from the outside while the eviction is in progress, but once it comes off and the original cylinders remain, anyone with a copy of the old key can walk in.
This is especially relevant in the Bronx and Brooklyn, where multi-family buildings with high tenant turnover are the norm. A properly coordinated post-eviction lock change replaces every cylinder the former tenant had access to — eliminating the duplicate key problem entirely, not just patching it. That’s the difference between a property that’s legally vacated and one that’s actually secure.
Property Securing Eviction Process NYC
How We Handle the Lock Change From Start to Finish
Warrant of Eviction Received
Once the court issues a Warrant of Eviction, our office schedules the execution and coordinates the licensed locksmith for the same visit.
Marshal Executes and Secures
On execution day, we arrive at the property, carry out the legal possession or eviction, and place a temporary padlock while the permanent lock change is completed.
New Keys in Your Hands
The licensed locksmith changes all relevant cylinders under marshal supervision. You receive new keys before we leave — property secured, process documented.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I change the locks myself after the marshal completes the eviction?
No — and this is one of the most important things to understand before your eviction date. In New York City, a landlord cannot independently change the locks on a property, even after a valid court order and a completed marshal execution. The lock change must be performed under marshal supervision as part of the official eviction process, using a licensed locksmith. If you change the locks on your own — even the same evening after the marshal leaves — you risk an illegal lockout claim under NYC Administrative Code 26-521. That claim can result in significant fines and emergency court orders requiring you to restore the tenant’s access. We coordinate the lock change as part of our execution so you’re never in that position.
Does the marshal’s padlock mean the property is fully secured after eviction?
The padlock we place on the door is a temporary measure — it’s used to secure the unit during the eviction process, not as a permanent solution. Once the padlock comes off and the original lock cylinders are still in place, anyone with a copy of the old key can access the property. In the Bronx, Brooklyn, and other boroughs where tenant turnover is high and multi-family buildings are dense, it’s common for former tenants to have given copies of their keys to family members, subtenants, or others. A full post-eviction lock change replaces every cylinder the former tenant had access to, eliminating that risk entirely. That’s the step that actually closes the security gap — and it’s what we coordinate as part of every execution.
What is the difference between a legal possession and a full eviction in NYC?
These are two distinct types of marshal action, and the difference matters for how your property is handled afterward. In a legal possession, the marshal orders the tenant to vacate and changes the locks, but the tenant’s belongings remain inside the unit under the landlord’s care. The tenant is not physically removed along with their property. In a full eviction, the marshal physically removes the tenant and their belongings from the premises. A bonded moving company licensed by the NYS Department of Transportation must transport those belongings to a warehouse licensed by the Department of Consumer Affairs. In both cases, the lock change is a required part of the process — but the logistics around the tenant’s property are handled differently. Our office will walk you through which applies to your situation before the execution date.
How quickly can the lock change happen after the eviction is executed?
When we coordinate the lock change as part of the eviction execution, it happens the same day — typically within the same visit. We schedule the licensed locksmith to be present at the property when we arrive to execute, so there’s no gap between the marshal leaving and the permanent lock change being completed. This matters because the window between execution and a completed lock change is when re-entry risk is highest. Evictions in NYC can only be conducted between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays, so same-day completion within that window is the standard we work toward. The goal is to hand you new keys before we leave the property.
Do you handle post-eviction lock changes in all five NYC boroughs?
Yes. Our office serves the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. This matters practically because the five boroughs have meaningfully different eviction landscapes. The Bronx has the highest eviction filing rate in the city — 104.1 per 1,000 rental units as of 2024, with neighborhoods like Morrisania and Crotona reaching 159.7 per 1,000 — meaning Bronx landlords deal with this process more frequently than anywhere else in New York. Brooklyn saw a dramatic post-moratorium surge in evictions beginning in 2023. Upper Manhattan, particularly Harlem and Washington Heights, has concentrated eviction activity despite Manhattan’s lower overall rate. Our office is based in Corona, Queens, giving us deep local familiarity with the borough. Wherever your property is, we know the area and the process.
What happens if my former tenant tries to come back after the locks are changed?
Once we have executed the eviction and the locks have been properly changed under marshal supervision, the former tenant has no legal right to re-enter the property. If they attempt to do so, that is a matter for law enforcement — not a situation you need to manage on your own. The documentation generated during the marshal execution, including the lock change, is part of the official court record and establishes clearly when and how the property was secured. This is one of the reasons proper documentation matters: if a former tenant later claims they were illegally locked out or that their belongings were mishandled, you have a complete, legally defensible record of exactly what happened and when. Our office maintains that documentation as part of every execution we carry out.
Call us at (718) 779-2134 or email us at guidajr@nycmarshal14.com to see how we can help you.