Deposit issue with landlord over locksmith costs

LMC79

Sorry for long post but trying to give details to help!

We have been in a rental property we found through a letting agency, but was managed by the landlord. The deposit is under TDS facilitated by the letting agent. The landlord has only ever provided his mobile number (preferring contact via WhatsApp) and work email address and no emergency contacts. He’s only ever dealt with emergency issues (bathroom leak) which was during working hours and has ignored any general maintenance items we’ve reported (leaking guttering, damaged fence etc).

About 2 months ago the lock failed. My husband and I had both our sets of keys with us and neither worked. Apart from needing to pull the door towards you to release the lock (it had been this way since moving in) there was no prior warning the lock was going to fail. We were locked out at 6.30pm with our 10 week old baby. We called him (directly, via WhatsApp and messaged). We also tried the letting agent. We tried our neighbours (same landlord) to see if they had any other contact numbers which they didn’t. After 40 mins (of no response) we contacted a locksmith.

We paid the locksmith £280 and forwarded the invoice to the landlord (via email) which he ignored. So after 7 days I WhatsApp’d to say we would be reducing next months rent by the appropriate amount. A further 5 days later he responded to say he did not accept liability for the emergency call out as ‘we should have told him it was faulty to avoid the emergency call out fee or used the back door’, therefore his proposal was to split 50:50. We responded immediately to say we did not accept this outlining our reasons and also stating he had only ever provided one back door key so it wasn’t feasible for us to take it out as if one person was at home they might not have a key for exit.

He did not respond so I presumed it was settled. 5 weeks after this message we moved out and had the check out (no issues found), we asked for full return of the deposit and 10 days after this he then messaged to say he would like £140 withheld from the deposit for 50% of the lock.

We responded to say we disagreed and would enter a dispute for £140 with TDS. He then responded immediately (the first time he ever has!!) to say he wanted to withhold the full £280 - which he has never mentioned in the whole 10 weeks since it happened.

Whilst on the grand scheme of things £140 is not the biggest amount I think it is a matter of principle. We don’t think this is a deposit issue, it was nothing to do with the state of the house on checkout. The failure of the lock was nothing to do with us, as the keys were intact not lost etc. Therefore it is a general wear and tear/ maintenance issue. He also failed as a landlord to provide an emergency number/ solution leaving us with no alternative but to have an emergency call out.

I also feel it is unethical that he is holding us ‘over a barrel’ so to speak on the deposit. Also the fact he had no contact for 6 weeks, knowing he was planning to try it on with the deposit.

Where do we stand? Should we fight it or let it go at 50%?

need_an_answer

As it is a proposed deposit deduction that you are not in agreement with,I would be inclined to raise it with TDS as a dispute.

G_M

1) So to be clear: did you reduce your rent to obtain a refund for the locksmith costs? Or did the LL re-imburse you?

Your post suggests not in which case, by your version, he still owes you the full locksmith cost as well as the deposit.

2) Or if you did get the costs back, is he then now claiming you are in rent arrears (having deducted the l/s cost from rent)?



If 2) above, your case would be strengthened by the fact that he appears to have ignored the rent arrears at the time, thus implicitly accepting liability for the l/s cost.


As for the actual responsibility it comes down to why the lock broke. What did the ocksmith say at the time? What did he write on the receipt? Does it/he explicitly or implictly blama a faulty or worn-out lock, (or the door?) or does it/he suggest mis-use?

HampshireH

£280 for a gain access is extortionate.

As above if you are unhappy then disute it via the TDS.

You have your attempts at contact to evidence. I would however argue that being given 1 key to the back door was never an issue. You could quite easily have had spares cut.

LMC79

Thanks for response. It’s no 2 we reduced the rent when he didn’t respond. He never came back to us to say this was unacceptable after our rejection of any liability.

The locksmith told us it was nothing we had done the lock had worn as the door was bowing slightly. Unfortunately it was a computer generated invoice so it doesn’t have any commentary on to this effect. The time would perhaps be too late for him to recall this.

LMC79

The £280 was call out and new lock and keys. There was quite a bit of work in getting it to fit to not be as tight.

True on the back door key, but we were happy with using the front door for access, and leaving one in the house for getting to the garden. I don’t believe it is a condition of tenacy that you need to carry a full set just in case, as he is implying it being our fault we couldn’t get in the house?

silvercar

It would be interesting to see which way the TDS adjudicates. Please do report back.

From the landlord's POV, he could simply report rent arrears to TDS and show the lower rent for the month where you deducted the locksmith's cost as evidence.

If he plays it straight and highlights the lock dispute to TDS, he may say you should have told him the lock was dodgy (not unreasonable) and/or that you spent an extortionate amount on a locksmith call out, then TDS may agree a 50/ 50 split.

If you thought you would end up footing the bill, would you have phoned around a couple of locksmiths for quotes?

G_M

Yes the back door issue is a red herring. Ignore.


If "the lock had worn as the door was bowing slightly" did the locksmith fix the door in order to get the new lock to fit, or did the door still 'bow' after the new lock was fitted? If so, did you take (or can you now take) photos showing the bowing door (which would prove why the lock failed)?

DottieDam

I'd fight it but I have a chip on my shoulder against negligent landlords.

I don't understand though is their WhatsApp phone number not an emergency phone number? Or do they just not answer out of hours?

I guess 40 minutes isn't a huge amount of time to give them to respond (you could have maybe gone out for food or to a friends for an hour, inconvenient as it would have been) but if they didn't get back to you that evening it's a moot point.

If you have the messages saying they originally wanted £140 but changed it to £280 when you disagreed I would show that to the dispute centre as it comes across quite threatening.

LMC79

G_M... Yes the door still bows and lock is tight. We can prove this.

Silvercar... We did ring around and the initial call out charge was only £70 to gain access. Which seemed reasonable it was the additional when he was there which escalated over which we had little control at the time. New baby just wanted to get it sorted and her to bed. The lock was the same since we moved in (tight and needed to be pulled to open) so there was no change to report?

G_M

As an aside, if you never had a postal address for the landlord (given to you in writing) you did not need to ever pay rent.

Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 section 48


And since it seems the LL is now claiming for rent arrears, you could counter-claim that no rent is owed (or ever was)