URGENT advice needed. Letting agent threatening to change locks on my door

QuantumSuccess

GDB2222 wrote: »

Have the agents threatened a S8 procedure? I thought they just said the tenancy would not be renewed?

I must say that, acting on the truly wonderful advice here from some people, the OP has managed to antagonise the agents, if not the LL too, rather than smoothing things over. The main result she will achieve with all this inappropriate advice is that she will definitely have to find a new place to live. Congratulations to all those who advised this course of action!

Yes they've been bandying about threats of a Section 8 notice and he claims the Section 8 notice "will be waiting for you this evening" The LA now also claims that "I have instructed solicitors to begin the process of court action which will result in a possession order and a county court judgement against you."

GDB2222

jjlandlord wrote: »

These are claims by the agent.

If the door is a fire door, they may indeed be restrictions on the sort of lock that can be installed. I don't know.
Unless the agent has been able to examine the new lock what they are saying regarding it not complying with regulations is not a fact but their simple claim.
If indeed there is an issue with the installed lock, then OP can arrange ofr it to fixed herself.

As for OP's tenancy not being renewed. If they want OP out they will start by serving a s.21 notice, until then their claims are scare tactics.

I can't see what they are allegedly trying to scare the OP about?

They have until 2 months before the tenancy ends to serve the S21 notice.

Is this an HMO? I hadn't spotted that and there seem to be so many red herrings on this thread. But if it's an HMO, I would expect the door to the OP's flat to be a fire door. She said that she fitted a mortice lock, so how come it's suddenly one that can be opened from the inside without a key?

anselld

GDB2222 wrote: »

Have the agents threatened a S8 procedure? I thought they just said the tenancy would not be renewed?

I must say that, acting on the truly wonderful advice here from some people, the OP has managed to antagonise the agents, if not the LL too, rather than smoothing things over. The main result she will achieve with all this inappropriate advice is that she will definitely have to find a new place to live. Congratulations to all those who advised this course of action!

The whole point of such a forum is that there is a range of advice and a range of options. The *OP* can then decide what they want to do under the circumstances. That does not make any advice "inappropriate".

Also, it was the agents who antagonised the OP!

Money_maker

Could be a daft idea but perhaps ringing your local fire safety officer for information may help?

QuantumSuccess

GDB2222 wrote: »

I can't see what they are allegedly trying to scare the OP about?

They have until 2 months before the tenancy ends to serve the S21 notice.

Is this an HMO? I hadn't spotted that and there seem to be so many red herrings on this thread. But if it's an HMO, I would expect the door to the OP's flat to be a fire door. She said that she fitted a mortice lock, so how come it's suddenly one that can be opened from the inside without a key?

What is an HMO?

Re the mortice lock I only lock it when I go OUT. When I am inside the flat I just use the original (non mortice) lock and put up the chain. So, a person doesn't need a key in order to get OUT of my flat but they would need the mortice lock key in order to get IN.

sonastin

QuantumSuccess wrote: »

How would me having a mortice lock on my front door stop any of my neighbours from escaping from a dire and using the stairs or communal passageway? My neighbours don't actually live inside my flat and they would not need to enter my flat in order to get to the staircase or communal passageway. I don't understand...

I believe the passage you quoted was in response to the question "why is my front door a fire door" - slightly different to the follow up question of "and why should that not have a mortice lock on it".

pararct

If your front door opens onto a communal escape route (stairwell, hallway ect) then it may need to be a 30 minute fire door. (This would depend on exactly what sort of property you lived in an HMO for instance would also need a communal fire alarm and smoke sensors in the hallways)

Even if the door is 30 minutes rated it is worthless unless the intumescent smoke seals were fitted either into the frame or on the door itself. The door should also have an automatic (hydraulic)closer if it has none of these then it is probably not a fire door.

Even if it is a fire door there is no absolute requirement to have a thumb lock on the inside (although the fire brigade inspector would advise such if he saw it). The communal door in the hallway to the street should definitely have a thumb lock.

GDB2222

QuantumSuccess wrote: »

Yes they've been bandying about threats of a Section 8 notice and he claims the Section 8 notice "will be waiting for you this evening" The LA now also claims that "I have instructed solicitors to begin the process of court action which will result in a possession order and a county court judgement against you."

You've really, really, really rubbed them up the wrong way then! Court action takes quite a while, and even if a judgement is made against you, it can take some time before bailiffs can attend. When I last needed to do this, the bailiffs had a backlog of 2 or 3 months. It has to be the court bailiffs, not the usual debt-collecting kind.

Frankly, I would just agree with the LA a date when you will vacate and save everyone a load of trouble. There's no way that you will salvage this situation, so why run up costs unnecessarily?

QuantumSuccess

Money_maker wrote: »

Could be a daft idea but perhaps ringing your local fire safety officer for information may help?

it's a very good idea. I am trying to locate a number for my fire safety officer now

KiKi

OP, sounds like you are in either a converted property or purpose built block where you all have your own flats, but there is a communal corridor / hallway. You've put the lock on the door to your own flat, yes?

I used to live in a property like this, and the doors had to be swing doors (automatically closing) for fire regs, but I also added another lock as I didn't feel safe enough with the latch-only lock. I didn't need a key to get out - but I did need one to get in. This didn't stop it from being a fire door; it simply made me feel more secure! However, another flat owner took out the 'swing' bit of the door so it didn't automatically close - and *that* was a problem.

KiKi