No Keys on Completion

Rosie9874

We completed our house purchase this Friday just passed. We were told by our estate agent and the solicitor that as soon as the money has landed we can pick up the keys from the estate agent and get moved in.
At around 12pm on Friday we had the call from the estate agent and then from our solicitor to say everything was completed and we could pick up the keys. On arriving at the agents office to get the keys I was told that they did not have them and the vendor would be dropping them off the next day.
Firstly, this was not acceptable to us. We legally owned the house and the vendor still had the keys!

We had visited the house a couple of weeks before to check it over after the tenants had moved out and the vendor gave us one front door key. We thought it was odd that he'd given us a key but as we are first time buyers we were unsure what is normal. He even told us we could start moving things in, but we didn't!
A few days before completion we had a phone call from the estate agent to tell us that completion would be on Friday and that the vendor had asked them to make sure we didn't move in before then. We hadn't planned to anyway but it was odd to us that he'd told us we could move stuff in and then told the estate agent to make sure we didn't??

The estate agent told me when I went to fetch the keys that he would get the vendor to bring them to the house on Saturday. Since we had a key we were still able to move in but without the rest of the keys it made things difficult. With only one key there had to be someone at the house at all times so we couldn't split up at all to get things done quicker.
Saturday came and went and we still didn't have the keys. They finally were dropped through our letterbox on Sunday with no apology or note with them even though there was someone in the house they could have spoken to.

I'm also left very suspicious because the keys we've been given are on a key cutters keyring and look freshly cut. So where are the originals??

I don't like the thought that someone has keys to our house!

Is there anything that we can do, or claim back for time we had wasted or the worry of not having keys to our own house?
If I had the locks changed is that something I could claim back from the vendor for not giving us the keys?

I'm left very frustrated and worried and I'm looking for some advice.

pimento

Change the locks.

pinkteapot

Change the locks and enjoy your new home.

It's standard advice to change locks when you move into a house, as all the previous owners (and tenants) could have kept copies of the keys for all you know.

At least you were able to gain access to the house on the day of completion. If you'd had no key at all, your solicitor could have put a rocket up their solicitor and told them what completion meant! However, in this case, I suspect the vendor just thought you'd be happy moving in with the one key you had.

casperlarue

Change the barrels of the locks if you think someone still has keys to your new property, You Tube has lots of instructional videos, shouldnt cost more than £10.

Chalk it up to experience of owing a property, try not to let it spoil your new home!

maas

Get the locks changed as a matter of course, and with regards to compensation etc i would just speak to your solicitor.

Miss_Marple_2

Doesn't everyone change the locks when they move in ?

It shouldn't take you long to change the barrels - it is something I would expect anyone moving into a house that had been rented to do as a matter of course, so I don't think you could claim compensation.

I'm also a bit confused why you didn't get your one door key duplicated to assist you in moving in.

As far as I am aware, it's standard to change locks as soon as you move in, especially into a house that has previously had tenants as you have no idea how many copies of keys there could be ( I moved into a house that tenants had moved out of and I had the locks changed on the day I moved in)

Gigervamp

I've never changed the locks on any of the houses I've lived in over the years, but in OP's case, I think I would get them changed.

SerialRenter

How odd, personally i would have been tempted to get a locksmith out on friday and billed the previous owners for gaining entry.

nomoneytoday

I'd echo the above, and change the barrels - whether the vendor had a copy of not.

Otherwise his friends, cleaner, neighbour etc could all have a key - even if he doesn't

benjus

I'm tempted to change the locks on the flat I've just bought, but the locks are Banham, meaning that it would cost me over £400 just to change the cylinders of 3 locks...

davidmcn

SerialRenter wrote: »

How odd, personally i would have been tempted to get a locksmith out on friday and billed the previous owners for gaining entry.

It sounds like they were given entry on Friday, which is the main thing. Having to wait to get the remaining sets of keys doesn't sound like a huge issue to me, there's no guarantee that the seller even has more than one set.