Renting: Garden acess

doublek

Hi there,

Firstly, any advice would be hugely appreciated from anyone that might have been in a similar situation or knows more than I do - I confess to being mostly ignorant when it comes to knowing laws and rights in regards to renting!

On 4th of February 2017, myself and my partner moved into a rented flat, before moving in we obviously walked around the flat and approved of it enough to sign into a tenancy.

One of the flats huge plus points for us was that it had a garden, shared with the downstairs flat. It was raining when we viewed the property so we didn't actually go outside.

Anyway to cut a long story short, we wasn't given a key to the back door - the only way to enter the garden! We asked for the keys to the back door when we collected the other keys but was met with shrugged shoulders and "needing to come back to us".

We've now asked for a key for the back door 3 times by email to the branch manager, 4 times via "formal complaint" to the head office and twice verbally on the phone to the area manager.

Today was the last time in fact, that I asked the area manager for the back door key... Apparently he's going away to ask the landlord for the key?.. 12 weeks after we moved in.

I've became aware that I can probably hire a locksmith to change the locks but the bigger picture is more importantly is this misrepresentation on the estate agencies part? After all when they said we had garden access, we actually haven't.

I don't live in central London, I live an hours commute away from the centre of London and I pay £1000 per month for a very small very "well worn" flat, you could say I'm quite bitter about it 12 weeks later!

davidmcn

doublek wrote: »

I've became aware that I can probably hire a locksmith to change the locks

Yes, I would just do that.

but the bigger picture is more importantly is this misrepresentation on the estate agencies part?

No, the important thing is being able to open the door. So, change the lock, and move on. Life's too short.

zagubov

What David said. Life's a short trip. If you waited for EA's to supply every key you needed you'd need to have patience at superhuman levels not the finite Clark Kent levels that the rest of us have.

Norman_Castle

Does the tenant of the ground floor flat have a key to the door?

always_sunny

What does your lease say about access to the garden?
I picture your flat as a second floor flat, with another flat on the ground floor and you must have a stair at the back going to the garden?

If your lease says you have free access to the garden then indeed get a locksmith and sort it out yourself.
If your lease says you don't have access to the garden then if you signed it, you signed it.

I have seen few flats for rent where the garden is exclusive to the bottom flat, i.e.: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-57558385.html

Cakeguts

Just because there is a door doesn't mean that you have the right to go through it. I remember a rented flat where there was a door to the outside that was permanently locked because the garden outside did not go with the rented flat it belonged to a different flat however the door was still there but it was always locked.

Where did it say that the garden was shared with the flat downstairs? It has to be in writing somewhere in the documentation that you signed. You can't just assume that because there is a door that you have the right to the garden. Did the landlord or estate agent tell you that you had access to the garden or did you just assume you did because you saw the door? Is it in the tenancy agreement that you signed.

Before you do anything else you need to find out who owns the garden. If the owner of your flat does not own the garden then you can't use it.

xsinaftersinx

Is this not a hazard? if there is a door in the flat that is locked and it has stairs to the ground then surly this is a fire escape from the 1st floor so should always be open.

always_sunny

xsinaftersinx wrote: »

Is this not a hazard? if there is a door in the flat that is locked and it has stairs to the ground then surly this is a fire escape from the 1st floor so should always be open.

It May or may not, many flats in converted houses do not have a fire escape.
Also, it might be different between the door being open for fire emergency and waltzing to the back garden leisurely with no fire emergency.
The AST should detail what access is granted to the flat as part of the lease.

elverson

Is it in SE10 by any chance?