North Carolina tenants can request a lock change from their landlord, but only in limited circumstances. Specifically, the tenant must provide proof of their status as a domestic abuse victim, after which the landlord must usually carry out the change within 48-72 hours. If the landlord does not act swiftly in this situation, then a tenant may change their own locks. To ensure that this alternative procedure is legal, though, a North Carolina tenant who ends up changing their own locks must provide their landlord with a spare copy within 48 hours of the job’s completion.
The information for this answer was found on our North Carolina Landlord Tenant Rights answers.