Is a Landlord Required by Law to Hold a Key?

Emid_3

Hello All,

I'm posting on behalf of a friend. He is in rented accommodation, & earlier this week managed to leave the house without his key.

He called the management company & the actual landlord, but neither had a spare key. he ended up having to pay a locksmith £200 to gain access again.

Anyway, my question is - is a landlord, or their agent, legally required to hold a spare key?

Many thanks,
Emily.

sooz

I don't think that they are obliged to. Most do, incase of emergencies. However, tenant locking themselves out is not a LL emergency. That's what neighbours are for.

Snakeeyes21

theres no legal obligation for a LL or LA to hold a key.
if a LL or LA i used had a key id change the locks anyway.

Mrs_pbradley936

Even if they have a key they are not obliged to give it to you although I would. Look at it this way if it was not rented i.e. it was mortgaged and this happened would you expect Nationwide or whoever you got your mortgage from to have a key? It is not nice for your friend to have had to pay a locksmith but it was nobody else's fault or responsibility.

tbs624

Emid wrote: »

Hello All,

I'm posting on behalf of a friend. He is in rented accommodation, & earlier this week managed to leave the house without his key.

He called the management company & the actual landlord, but neither had a spare key. he ended up having to pay a locksmith £200 to gain access again.

Anyway, my question is - is a landlord, or their agent, legally required to hold a spare key?...

As the others have said, there is no such legal requirement - and usually it would state in the tenancy agreement whether or not the LL retains a key to the property.

As an adult , presumably your friend will have learnt from his expensive error.;)

Emid_3

Thanks for your quick response everyone, I thought that was probably the case but wanted to know just in case.
tbs624.....yes, think he's definately learned from his error - he told his girlfriend not to do the exact same thing half an hour before he did it too!

Hector-The-Inspector_2

Snakeeyes21 wrote: »

theres no legal obligation for a LL or LA to hold a key.
if a LL or LA i used had a key id change the locks anyway.

99.9% of Landlords will never enter a tenants home without their permission, only a devious snake would change their locks.

Snakeeyes21

Hector-The-Inspector wrote: »

99.9% of Landlords will never enter a tenants home without their permission, only a devious snake would change their locks.

thats where your wrong. more landlords than you think enter illegally.
you just have to look at verious forums to see how many complaints are made.
would a tenant even realise if their landlord even entered illegally?
how does it make me a devious snake for wanting to ensure my contents insurance is valid? theres no valid reason a LL or LA would need a key unless they wanted to gain access illegally.

DrScotsman

Snakeeyes21 wrote: »

you just have to look at verious forums to see how many complaints are made.

0.01% of the (British) people who browse the Internet is still a lot of people; just because you see a lot of complaints doesn't mean it's common. Not to mention it's not like the people with perfectly good landlords make topics about it on forums.

Snakeeyes21 wrote: »

would a tenant even realise if their landlord even entered illegally?

Sorry, what exactly is it that you have in mind that this illegally-entering landlord is doing? If it's stealing then yes a tenant would probably notice. If it's...well I'm kinda out of ideas, besides doing something in good faith like fixing something, which the tenants would probably notice.

clutton_2

""theres no valid reason a LL or LA would need a key unless they wanted to gain access illegally.""

yes there is

a LL is allowed legally to enter a property "in an emergency" - and that has not been defined in law - but most "reasonable" folks would assume, gas leak, fire, tenant phoned you and is lying on the floor with broken leg, whatever you think is an emergency

many would also argue that a LL has a right of entry for repairs - i am not sure of that one

entry is not permissible for any other reason without the tenants permission, even if it says so in their tenancy agreement

silvercar

Unless the landlord lived next door, I would expect the landlord or letting agent to make a charge for visiting the property to provide access.