Changing locks on a rented house

chucknorris

martindow wrote: »

Hope you've issued an S21.

Nope, she was (and still is) a good friend, who I also made dinner for regularly too and the time that she washed my car was because I had lent it to her for a week for her and her bf to go on a camping holiday to Devon.

I did put those clauses in her rental agreement, but obviously only as a joke, she never noticed them until I pointed them out a few weeks after she had moved in.

*miaomiao*

Who can say where OP went to, but maybe this thread will be useful to someone after all.

We had a terrible LL years ago who argued with the police (yes, we saw the crudentials and had in fact asked them to check the property's security; can't see the point about the police above...) that she knew better than the police about security and so she wouldn't change the 2 lever lock either.

Result: after being messed around massively, we moved out in the winter time (all properly done) and she got stuck with an empty property and the heating for 7 months. Great savings on the 20-30 quid lock replacement she would have had to do (wouldn't allow us to do it either)! We were thrilled with the karma!

And as for the lock: I don't know why anyone would install a 2 lever lock on their home these days, much less worry about insurance following a 2 lever lock. Surprisingly the terrible LL lived with CCTV everywhere, but told us there were no security problems where she lived...Bonkers.

cwcw

martyn05 wrote: »

I believe the LA would be more accommodating to tenants changing the locks if they held a spare key for emergencies.

I am a self employed trader and I do a lot of work for a LA that manages 6000 or so properties, they have spare keys for all of them. I do not think I have heard anything mentioned that suggests insurance companies would be upset because LA hold spare keys.

The LA need never know (except in the highly unlikely scenario of an emergency that was not quite urgent enough to bust the door down, but not quite un-urgent enough to contact the tenant).

Freely handing out keys to traders is all the more reason for the LA not to have a copy of them (no offence, I'm sure you're trustworthy).

cwcw

lovinituk wrote: »

Nice example! How about this one...?

Tenant is away for holidays and a pipe bursts. Neighbour sees water pouring out of front door and calls landlord. Landlord arrives with emergency plumber, tries to put key in door and finds out for first time that tenant has changed locks!! Now what?

Jus' sayin'

So no different to if the property was owner occupied then?

In a real emergency, the door would just be broken down. As a tenant I would accept liability for the door to be repaired and the fact the landlord might be upset about me changing the locks without him knowing. But the chances of that scenario are highly unlikely, particularly if one remembers to turn off the water when going away.

For me, the minor risk of liability in a far fetched scenario does not outweigh the peace of mind of knowing that only I, and people I choose, have keys for my own home.

cwcw

lovinituk wrote: »

Which probably leads to an extremely peed off Landlord and an S21 at the end of tenancy anyway.

In the far fetched scenario described, with the home flooded and possessions ruined, an S21 would be the least of my concerns. I'd be looking for somewhere new anyway.

lovinituk

cwcw wrote: »

So no different to if the property was owner occupied then?

How many owner occupiers change the locks and don't tell themselves :rotfl:

cwcw

lovinituk wrote: »

How many owner occupiers change the locks and don't tell themselves :rotfl:

You misunderstand. If an owner-occupier goes on holiday and his property floods, there is no "guardian angel" landlord for anyone to call, i.e. exactly the same as a tenant going on holiday and the "guardian angel" landlord not having a key.

Personally, I couldn't relax on holiday knowing that someone I've never met and I know nothing about had access to my home. I could relax knowing there was a 0.0001% chance I would get home to find a flooded home and an angry landlord that had to break the door down.

Zorz_2

lovinituk wrote: »

The point was that the Landlord finds out the hard way that the lock has been changed (then see post 37)

Fair enough. But the scenario that I proposed, allows for someone to be able to have access to the property in emergencies, but that person be selected and trusted by the tenant.
Compare this to "Letting Agency or Landlord must have a spare key". So any random, unqualified idiot can have free access to your home (heck, even someone with a criminal record can be a LA/LL, right?). And then, handing over the keys to their cousin/mate fly-by-night plumber to come and inspect/fix this or that. The mate fancies some lightweight, expensive and easy to fence professional equipment that you have for your work. He can even take the full boxes, perhaps search for the receipts in your records and sell it to CEX too!

Then you return home and find your stuff missing. You call the police, they find no evidence of forced entry and because of that your insurance refuses to pay.

Thanks, I'll pass...