Lock malfunction, who should pay?

silvercar

DaleGribble wrote: »

Just a quick update and clarification:

I had no idea what was in the lock when I called the land lord, it turned out to be my girlfriend's key that broke off (we used those keys hundred's of times without an issue) and she didn't notice. How can this be negligence? I had no idea what happened when I called him, all I knew was that I was locked out of the place I pay for due to a malfunction and he was implying he could do nothing about it and we would have to sleep outside.

Down to you. Most likely explanation is that the key was turned without being fully engaged in the mechanism.

You could have called a 24 hour locksmith.

Fosterdog

glasgowdan wrote: »

A bit of Monday morning humour?

Why didn't your girlfriend call you to say "honey, I broke the lock to the house, you won't be able to get in after work", or "honey, I broke the key in the lock, I can't get in to the house and am stuck out on the street, help, it's an emergency"?

I'm not quite getting it.

Or she opened the door with no problems but then tried to pull the key out at an angle as she was already walking through the door, snapped it, but didn't notice it happened. If it was a Yale lock it would be easily done and she won't be the first to do it and not notice, and as you don't need to use the key to lock the door or to open it from inside it would be easy to go out again without realising the key is broken.

OP as it happened with one of your own keys and as you have said it has been used hundreds of times with no problems then I can't see how it would be the landlords fault and why he should have to pay for it. It is possible the key has been bent at some point and got stuck or as I said above pulled out at an angle causing it to snap.

Norman_Castle

DaleGribble wrote: »

it turned out to be my girlfriend's key that broke off (we used those keys hundred's of times without an issue) and she didn't notice. How can this be negligence?

She neglected to take care of the key and damaged it before using it on the lock or she neglected to use sufficient care when she used the key in the lock.

If you look at some peoples keys they are often bent and damaged. I've never had a key break in a lock but I also never use my keys as a screwdriver or to open tins of paint etc.

davidmcn

Norman_Castle wrote: »

She neglected to take care of the key and damaged it before using it on the lock or she neglected to use sufficient care when she used the key in the lock.

Or the landlord provided them with a defective key. I've had a hotel room key break in the look, pretty sure it was just a poor quality key (the staff's reaction suggested they were used to the problem!).