Changing locks on a rented house

mynameisclare

BonitaG wrote: »

No need to be offensive or talk down on me! You could just point out my mistake in a factual manner instead of calling me an idiot. I'm trying to help to the best of my knowledge and according to my experience. And I try help people prevent making mistakes I or people I know made.
Neither mine nor your experiences are universally applicable, even if you seem to think you are the only one who knows anything.

Your 'advice' is wrong and dangerous, and there is every need to point that out, before someone thinks that their section 21 can be fought in court.

And lack of insurance hardly makes a house "uninhabitable" for goodness' sake.

princeofpounds

Yes anselld is right. You can change the lock, but you either need to get permission and/or return the original on exit.

A landlord will not be able to evict you during your tenancy, via a section 8 process, for changing a lock, no matter what a tenancy agreement says. A judge would not allow it. They could of course not renew the tenancy and evict via section 21, as they could for any reason, though that would be intolerant and weird.

The landlord has no duty to change the lock, but obviously they have a poor attitude if they are unwilling to even dignify you with a reply.

anselld

BonitaG wrote: »

No need to be offensive or talk down on me! You could just point out my mistake in a factual manner instead of calling me an idiot. I'm trying to help to the best of my knowledge and according to my experience. And I try help people prevent making mistakes I or people I know made.
Neither mine nor your experiences are universally applicable, even if you seem to think you are the only one who knows anything.

I apologise for any offence.

cwcw

moromir wrote: »

If I recieved a letter with this attitude you'd swiftly recieve a section 21 by return

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

The number of times people claim that on here. Forget paying rent on time, in full. Forget looking after the property well. A tenant who dares to try to actually get a response from the landlord clearly deserves booting out. Clearly worth risking a void period over.

OP - just change the lock anyway. I did, without asking or telling anyone. The only way they will know is if they illegally try to gain access without my knowledge. I doubt they care though, because unlike a lot of the landlords who claim to dish S21s out like confetti on this forum, the reality is if you pay up every month and don't trash the place, they don't care.

Biggles

diddymus01 wrote: »

We have asked the landlord to replace this lock with a 5 lever mortice lock BS standard as the current lock invalidates our contents insurance!

Then why did you take out insurance that required something you didn't have?

There are plenty of insurance policies that don't require a 5-lever lock (I was surprised, when I rang my insurance company on a related matter, to find that they had no requirements at all regarding locks, and they are one of the biggest players).

Geenie

Read the rental agreement. It will state if you can change locks without permission from the LL and if you need to give them copies. The AST's I use state that this is so. It is not a question of snooping round, but being able to enter the property in an emergency, when tenants are away, and the property may be in danger from fire or flood. I have had occasions to do this.

The advice above saying to do it without permission is not at all helpful, despite the LL not responding.

anselld

Geenie wrote: »

Read the rental agreement. It will state if you can change locks without permission from the LL and if you need to give them copies. The AST's I use state that this is so. It is not a question of snooping round, but being able to enter the property in an emergency, when tenants are away, and the property may be in danger from fire or flood. I have had occasions to do this.

The advice above saying to do it without permission is not at all helpful, despite the LL not responding.

You can state whatever you like in your AST, it doesnt mean it is legally enforceable.

Notmyrealname

BonitaG wrote: »

Mention that your house is uninsurable due to this and has therefore deemed to be uninhabitable.

Being uninsurable does not make it uninhabitable.

princeofpounds

Once again ansell is right. You can write whatever you like in a tenancy agreement, doesn't mean it is enforceable or even relevant.

If the AST prohibits changing locks, and the landlord hates the idea, what can he do? He can sue. Except he will get nothing except a court bill because he will not be able to demonstrate any loss or damage.

Or he could pursue a court order for eviction under section 8, but again he would fail as even if it is a technical breach of a contract it is an unenforceable clause (which i wont elaborate on for now) and no sane judge would entertain kicking someone out of their home for fitting a better lock.

So the only relevant thing a landlord could do is refuse to renew the tenancy, which they can do for any reason anyway.

No-one here is keen on the idea that you should do things without the landlord's permission but you do not need to be frozen in fear of some mythical legal penalty if the landlord will not communicate.

rpc

Be careful when changing the lock that you get one exactly the same size. Mortice locks are not quite as standardised as Yale-type barrels. While you are entitled to change the lock, you are not entitled to take chunks out of the door to do so...

You must resinstate the old lock when you leave, or you could offer it to the landlord.

Lack of a 5-lever lock does not make a house uninsurable. It makes it more expensive and reduces your choice of insurers. Why did you lie to your insurer by stating you had a 5 lever lock when you did not? Making false representations like that can get you into a lot of bother - insurers may cancel your policy and that will give you expensive headaches on any type of insurance for years.