In the third quarter of 2024, 74 homes changed hands in Ibi. Seventy-three of them were second-hand; one was new. That is the normal picture here. The town more than tripled between 1960 and 1981, when the toy factories were hiring, and about a third of its built floor area dates from the 1960s and 70s. If you are buying in Ibi, you are almost certainly buying a home that other people have lived in, and locked, before you.
Who might still have a key
Nobody hands over every key, and nobody remembers every copy. A home that has passed through several owners may have keys with:
- the previous owners and their families;
- a cleaner, a carer or a neighbour who watered the plants;
- an estate agent who showed the flat;
- builders who worked on it at some point.
None of them need be dishonest for this to matter. Keys get lost with an address label on them.
What to look at on the door
- The cylinder. Does it stick out from the door or the plate? A protruding cylinder is the easiest to snap.
- How the key feels. Rough, loose or only working at the second try means wear.
- The frame and the strike plate. Old screws in soft wood, or marks from an earlier forcing.
- Every lock, not just the front door. A storage room, a garage, a back door onto a patio.
What to change, and when
Change the cylinder of the front door on the day you get the keys. It is quick, it leaves the rest of the lock in place, and from that moment only your keys open your home. Cylinders and lock changes for homes.
The street door of a block is a different matter: it belongs to the community of owners, and its lock is changed when the community decides.
If the door shows signs of having been forced, or you want more than a straightforward swap, the break-in and security page explains guard plates and stronger cylinders. And if the flat came with a safe, or you want one fitted, where a safe can be anchored in a flat of that age.