Letting Agent ripping us off?

Sharon87

My house that I share got broken into yesterday and laptops and other electricals were taken. Now our front door has a yale lock and another lock which we never received the keys for. Apparantly it's a secure lock the one we don't have the keys for. The thieves most likely got past the yale lock according to forensics (easily done), so we wanted the keys for the 2nd lock.

Phoned our LA and asked for the key, he said they'd cost £30 each! :eek: We looked up the lock and looked like it was a special lock (Banham) but when the keys arrived they weren't them at all. The keys were JMA and don't look that expensive. I am going to try and visit a key cutters in the next day or so to ask.

But the LA wanted us to pay for his key.... which is strange, because surely he would have had one, otherwise how did he manage to get them cut in the first place? We received them today and my brother paid him the £180 for 6 keys (5 for us, 1 for him). He asked for a receipt but got a hand written one. Now I'm going to ask him for his invoice, but from past dealings he seems like a lazy, money hungry git who doesn't care about anything. What do I say to him? Shall I threaten to take money off the rent if negotiations fail? I don't see why we have to pay for his key.

We can't really afford to pay for the keys as well as trying to replace things that were taken. I think our LA is trying to make money off our misfortune. I know some locks cost a lot and the Banham locks cost a lot of money but it isn't the Banham locks we have, it's a different barrel, the key says JMA (Ban 3D) type of key. Has anyone had experience of locks or money hungry landlords to give me some advice please

Sorry for the long post.

ViolaLass

If I had been you, I would have argued that you should have had the keys all along since you are the tenant. Did the LA have an excuse for not having handed them over before? That said, you've already paid, which puts you in a more difficult position.

poppy10_2

Sharon87 wrote: »

It it isn't the Banham locks we have, it's a different barrel, the key says JMA (Ban 3D) type

Those are a type of Banham lock. Banham are expensive, the locks themselves cost up to £200 each, and the keys are about a tenner a piece when you order them at the same time as the lock, more than that if you need to order replacements as they go through extensive identity verification to make sure you are the owner of the property and not a tenant or somebody else.
Having said that, £180 for six keys does sound excessive, even for Banham. Make sure you chase the LL for the receipt, if he can't/won't provide one, then it is likely that he is overcharging you. But really you should have gotten the receipt before handing over the money, now it is going to be hard to get him to acknowledge anything.
You would have been within your rights to just remove the barrels of the locks and replace them with a cheaper £20 version from B&Q.

the LA wanted us to pay for his key.... which is strange, because surely he would have had one, otherwise how did he manage to get them cut in the first place

If he has the registration serial number for the keys, then he can get replacement keys cut without needing the original. But I agree, there's no way you should be having to pay for his copy of the key.

BitterAndTwisted

I can't think of one good reason why you shouldn't have been issued with these keys at the start of your tenancy and I don't understand why you didn't insist on having them from the very first day. To have all of your valuables secured with just a Yale is sorely inadequate.

I think you should WRITE to both the landlord and the agent and tell them that you are going to deduct the cost of these keys from your next rent payment as the lack of these keys has cost you x hundreds/thousands of pounds. This is a cost which I think the agent should absorb due to his disgraceful negligence in not supplying you with them in the first place. Say you'll be happy to pay for the keys only IF your insurance will cover the cost of the stolen goods. You do have contents insurance, don't you?

gingertips

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I can't think of one good reason why you shouldn't have been issued with these keys at the start of your tenancy and I don't understand why you didn't insist on having them from the very first day. To have all of your valuables secured with just a Yale is sorely inadequate.

I think you should WRITE to both the landlord and the agent and tell them that you are going to deduct the cost of these keys from your next rent payment as the lack of these keys has cost you x hundreds/thousands of pounds. This is a cost which I think the agent should absorb due to his disgraceful negligence in not supplying you with them in the first place. Say you'll be happy to pay for the keys only IF your insurance will cover the cost of the stolen goods. You do have contents insurance, don't you?

^^ what he said plus request the original receipt that the agent received for getting the keys cut NOT just a receipt printed on the agents letterheaded paper

Sharon87

Well we asked the previous tennants and they didn't have the lock either, and the LA previously said he didn't have the keys.

We are now getting contents insurance...

I had a go at my brother for handing over the money.

I will email the LA as don't trust Royal Mail, or him to say he received it! I don't have any contact details for the LL and never have - which again I should have.

The LA sounds like a conman - even tried to encourage us to have one name on the tenancy to get single persons discount! We even told him that was fraud. My brother's going to find a key cutters on his lunch and ask how much it would cost for a copy.

I am definitely moving out in September!

Sharon87

Wrote an email to the LA, is this reasonable?

Hi xxxxxx

Would it be possible for you to show me or give me a copy of the receipt you had for the keys.

To be honest I don't think the keys would have cost £30 each.

I would also like for you to refund us the money for your key, as you should have had one anyway. If you lost your copy then that is not our fault. Also how did you get new ones cut if you didn't have a copy?

I expect you to show me a copy of the receipt and tell me where you purchased it from within 5 days.

I would expect the £30 to be refunded back to us within 5 days also, either by cheque or bank transfer.

Failure to do any of these things I will get an expert opinion on the cost of the keys and if there is a significant difference in price I will be taking it out of the next rent payment. As it is not morally fair to make a profit on our misfortune. I believe you should have given us the key when we moved in, if this had happened then we would not have gotten broken into.

I am not trying to be awkward, I just don't want to pay extra especially since it will cost money to replace the things stolen from us.

Sharon

tiny_tear

these links show how you need a lot of security to get a key cut

http://www.banham.co.uk/locks/key-cutting-service/

If the key is not already registered in your name, we require one of the following documents as a proof of ownership.

• A solicitor's letter confirming your ownership.
• Documentation relating to the completion of the purchase of the property.
• Up to date mortgage repayment statement relating to relevant property.
• A current long lease (minimum ten years). Tenancy agreements are not acceptable.
• Home building insurance.
• Ground rent or service charge invoices. This applies to flats only.
• A Banham invoice in the customer's name relating to the installation of the lock.
• A letter of authority from the management company with accompanying terms of business for the property. Note: If a customer has noted any objection to this in our system, we will not accept confirmation from the management company.

And here you have details on the showrooms

http://www.banham.co.uk/contact/

- - -

Honestly your landlord is having you on.

We have Banham locks in the flat we are renting and those locks are GOOD. You should actually complain that if you had had that key you probably wouldn't have been robbed

Our tenants from hell forgot their key and called a locksmith and actually had to cut a whole on the door to get into the flat. (i won't mention the fact the bints then didn't tell us or the agent they had done that) so we had to replace the door and the locks at their expense... - but this shows how good the lock is that even a locksmith couldn't get through...

thequant

tiny_tear wrote: »

these links show how you need a lot of security to get a key cut

http://www.banham.co.uk/locks/key-cutting-service/

If the key is not already registered in your name, we require one of the following documents as a proof of ownership.

• A solicitor's letter confirming your ownership.
• Documentation relating to the completion of the purchase of the property.
• Up to date mortgage repayment statement relating to relevant property.
• A current long lease (minimum ten years). Tenancy agreements are not acceptable.
• Home building insurance.
• Ground rent or service charge invoices. This applies to flats only.
• A Banham invoice in the customer's name relating to the installation of the lock.
• A letter of authority from the management company with accompanying terms of business for the property. Note: If a customer has noted any objection to this in our system, we will not accept confirmation from the management company.

And here you have details on the showrooms

http://www.banham.co.uk/contact/

- - -

Honestly your landlord is having you on.

We have Banham locks in the flat we are renting and those locks are GOOD. You should actually complain that if you had had that key you probably wouldn't have been robbed

Our tenants from hell forgot their key and called a locksmith and actually had to cut a whole on the door to get into the flat. (i won't mention the fact the bints then didn't tell us or the agent they had done that) so we had to replace the door and the locks at their expense... - but this shows how good the lock is that even a locksmith couldn't get through...

I have had some experience of this,lost my keys when i was out !!!!ed one night. LL gave me his set of keys and said he would sort out getting the copies as they were night mare to get copied.

An hour later I handed the keys back to him and said it's ok I've got copies.

he was absolutley shocked and disbelieved me as he said it was impossible to have those keys copied. so I showed them that the copies worked.

He was absoluely livid,demanding to know to how i managed it. told him simples find a dodgy looking key shop where the staff dont ask to many questions and bung them a tenner.

anyway moral off the story is that keys can be copied very cheaply and without the necassary paperwork.

Sharon87

The thing is the keys in the picture on that website aren't the keys we have they look similar to this http://skskeys.co.uk/products/standard/38-d-key-blank/ but slightly different make.

So that's why I think he's ripping us off.

I've had no word from him yet, but I know if I get on the phone with him there'll be a big argument (nearly always is!).

He's a really frustrating person to deal with. And we are going to have a fight to get our deposit back I just know it (nothing wrong with the house, he's just a money hungry b*stard)

I am going to my high street's locksmiths tomorrow and ask for a quote. Also the Yale lock is a bit loose now after the burglars mucked around with it, but I doubt the agent would get that replaced!

thequant

Sharon87 wrote: »

The thing is the keys in the picture on that website aren't the keys we have they look similar to this http://skskeys.co.uk/products/standard/38-d-key-blank/ but slightly different make.

So that's why I think he's ripping us off.

I've had no word from him yet, but I know if I get on the phone with him there'll be a big argument (nearly always is!).

He's a really frustrating person to deal with. And we are going to have a fight to get our deposit back I just know it (nothing wrong with the house, he's just a money hungry b*stard)

I am going to my high street's locksmiths tomorrow and ask for a quote. Also the Yale lock is a bit loose now after the burglars mucked around with it, but I doubt the agent would get that replaced!

looks like he has done the same as me, that would have cost about £3 to get cut