Tenants changed the lock. Who pays?

Smodlet

AdrianC wrote: »

Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't.

To my mind, excusing second language skills is a lot easier when we're talking about a consumer or tenant than when we're talking about somebody who is running a business in this country.

Gasps! What about PC, AdrianC? :rotfl: One has to be sooooo careful.

You are absolutely right. Makes one wonder where the OP actually is. Who uses "gbp" instead of £ if they live here? Were these poor, benighted tenants supposed to call abroad to report they were locked out? Surely not.

Red-Squirrel_2

Smodlet wrote: »

I get the impression English is not the OP's first language, RS, and I am so not having a dig at you. Many posts on these boards are very difficult to read, most of them from those for whom English is their first language, I find.

Apologies if this is not the case, OP.

I thought the same, and it was actually intended just as a helpful suggestion, as its an error that they repeated so not a typo and one that is bound to come up in the future so thought they would rather be told than get it right again.

I'm always happy to be politely corrected if I get a word/pronunciation wrong in any language!

Red-Squirrel_2

Smodlet wrote: »

Gasps! What about PC, AdrianC? :rotfl: One has to be sooooo careful.

You are absolutely right. Makes one wonder where the OP actually is. Who uses "gbp" instead of £ if they live here? Were these poor, benighted tenants supposed to call abroad to report they were locked out? Surely not.

It suggests to me somebody with a laptop not purchased in this country so with no £ sign on the keyboard. I had a laptop for years that I bought in the US and it took me forever to find out how to type a £!

amalis

I apologise for typos and errors. I type fast from the new mobile with "helpful" autocorrect.
Also, I work with currencies, so for me GBP is normal abbreviation and more professional than £.
I live 45 minutes drive away from my tenants.
And also, English is indeed not my first language , but I am not sure how this is relevant

Red-Squirrel_2

amalis wrote: »

for me GBP is normal abbreviation and more professional than £.

Just so you know, this is not the case for anybody else except you!

amalis

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Just so you know, this is not the case for anybody else except you!

why are we discussing this at all?

Red-Squirrel_2

amalis wrote: »

why are we discussing this at all?

Because I corrected your mistake, and then others commented about it. Sometimes discussions on forums do go a bit off topic, especially when there's a fairly clear consensus on the answer to the original issue as there is here.

Smodlet

amalis wrote: »

I apologise for typos and errors. I type fast from the new mobile with "helpful" autocorrect.
Also, I work with currencies, so for me GBP is normal abbreviation and more professional than £.
I live 45 minutes drive away from my tenants.
And also, English is indeed not my first language , but I am not sure how this is relevant

You work with currencies? Something tells me you are not some poorly paid clerk in a travel agent's or bureau de change; how many of those are LLs? Yet you complain about the cost of replacing a lock. This might just be why you are not receiving the degree of sympathy you seem to feel is your due.

The relevance is it makes some of your posts difficult to read yet some of us are still making the effort, not that you seem to want to hear anything other than how hard done by you are and how your tenants flagrantly disregard their responsibility to line your coffers. I have already suggested you incorporate emergency numbers and contact details into future tenancy agreements. In this instance, especially since your tenants have been exemplary for so long, I strongly recommend you just pay up and look big.

bowlhead99

amalis wrote: »

I now remember I asked them to store the insurance emergency number and arranged for htem to have rights to call by themselves. If they did not do it , is it really my fault?

amalis wrote: »

I did not have to look for insurance documents, I called my insurer this morning to find out, same what I would do have they called me when locked out

You *now* remember that you were fully insured and that you had set up the tenants to have rights to call by themselves and had asked them to store the emergency number.

But you didn't remember that you had done that at the beginning of this thread? You only remembered you had set up the tenants to be able to call, when you phoned up your insurers this morning to find out whether you were insured for this sort of stuff and what had been set up.

If you didn't remember that you had insurance in place and didn't recall the conversation when you specifically asked your tenants to store the special number, until you went through the process in the cold light of day and went, "ah, I remember now"... do you expect that your tenants in a stressful situation locked in or out at a funny time of day, would have had the power to recall that conversation, and access to the number which they had recorded...

I sympathise because the fee is obviously a huge one (as emergency services can often be). If the locksmith tells you the lock was faulty or broken I would probably ask to split it 50:50 with them (on the basis that it's your responsibility but you had given them the emergency details which would have got it fixed for a much lower cost,if they had been in a position to use that method). If instead the locksmith tells you there was no obvious fault but the callout was because they had forgotten their key or some other story, I would make them cover it.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I locked myself out of my flat a few years ago, in London, and it cost nearly £400 with call-out fee, VAT etc. The locksmith told me the cost before he started and had a card machine. It was my fault so I paid obviously.

The thing was, I had my purse but no phone, it was between Christmas and New Year so my neighbours were away and the nearby letting agent was closed. I wasn't able to browse the best deals, I just had to use a callbox to ring 118118 and be put through to the first on their list (who presumably pay a premium for this privilege, with the cost passed onto customers). My options were seriously limited and it was cold.

Unless you can obtain a report from the locksmith stating it was the tenants' fault, then I think you should pay up.