who pays for the communal front door

smitha1120

I rent a flat in a building with 4 other flats, we share a communal front door. One evening i have come home around 6:30 pm to find my key will not open the lock on the communal front door, i ring the bell, knock and shout through the letter box but no answer. 10 mins or so later my girlfriend turns up, she also has a key so we try hers but no joy. We ring the letting agent who manages our flat who direct us to their out of hours service who tell us to ring a locksmith, they even give us a number. They advise we have to pay upfront and will get the money back.

The lock smith arrives, tried to open the door with a pole through the letter box but no joy and has to drill out the lock. 2 hours later the new lock is on and we are £200 down, as we go upstairs we find someone was home all this time and the lock smith confirms the latch had been put on the lock (i know its stupid to have a lock like this on a communal door).

Time passes and i get told the building managers will not be reimbursing me for this payment because they did not order it.... they where closed at the time of the incident. When i spoke to them and asked what should i have done at the time they couldn't tell me and instead believe if the lock breaks on the communal front door and they are closed we would have to pay for it ourselves anyway. This doesnt seem right to me so would like some views on that to?

Im now a bit lost as to where to turn, ive just spoken to the letting agent again and they will look into it again but would anyone here have any advice or any knowledge on what should happen here?

Thanks

davidmcn

Same as any other building maintenance - should be the landlord paying, unless it was you who broke the lock.

eddddy

Your contract (AST) is between you and your landlord (who has a letting agent).

Your landlord's agent told you to get a locksmith, and said you would be reimbursed. That's all you need to care about, nothing else is relevant to you.


But, just for background...

I assume that the 'building managers' that you mention are the freeholder's managing agents.

You have no contract with the building managers, they don't owe you any any money, and you don't really even have to discuss anything with them.

If the building managers have some kind of problem or dispute, it will be between them and your landlord.


Edit to add...

If the building managers are in dispute with your landlord over this, arguably for privacy reasons, they shouldn't even be discussing it with you.

smitha1120

Thanks for the responses! that really helpful, i've been chasing a lost cause with the building managers then.

Do i have any rights to deduct the amount paid to enter the building via the locksmith from my monthly rent if they do not reimburse me in a timely manner?

diggingdude

Next time kick the door in and see if they are happier. What a stupid door system if you can be locked out like that.

Norman_Castle

as we go upstairs we find someone was home all this time and the lock smith confirms the latch had been put on the lock (i know its stupid to have a lock like this on a communal door).

It could be argued the fool that put the latch on is liable.
There are similar locks where I live and we have had similar problems, fortunately other neighbours answer the door.

The latches (snibs) have been removed to prevent it happening again.

Owain_Moneysaver

smitha1120 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses! that really helpful, i've been chasing a lost cause with the building managers then.

Do i have any rights to deduct the amount paid to enter the building via the locksmith from my monthly rent if they do not reimburse me in a timely manner?

No. Do not withhold rent.

If they don't reimburse you write a final demand letter giving them seven days notice before starting a small claims court action.

smitha1120

Ok so don't withhold rent got it.

I will chase up with the landlord and hope it gets resolved, id assume they would want all lease holders for the individual flats to pay their fare share but as im not a lease holder thats not my responsibility to chase is it?


Additionally we had to call the same lock smith as we where worried the door had become faulty, turns out it had come loose from repeated slamming and was likely to break to the point it couldn't be opened any day. The locksmith fixed this issue and unfortunately im again in possession of a bill for this communal door. If i had known that i would be having to fight for reimbursement from the first incident i wouldnt have been helpful and called the locksmith but as i already did do i have legal grounds to ask the landlord to reimburse me and again they take it up with the other lease holders?

Lokolo

smitha1120 wrote: »

Additionally we had to call the same lock smith as we where worried the door had become faulty, turns out it had come loose from repeated slamming and was likely to break to the point it couldn't be opened any day. The locksmith fixed this issue and unfortunately im again in possession of a bill for this communal door. If i had known that i would be having to fight for reimbursement from the first incident i wouldnt have been helpful and called the locksmith but as i already did do i have legal grounds to ask the landlord to reimburse me and again they take it up with the other lease holders?

Why are you not ringing up your landlord to deal the issues? I'm sorry but if I was your landlord I wouldn't reimburse you. It is not down to you to call people out to fix things and then expect others to pay for it.

smitha1120

Well the lock was on the edge of breaking and we had the number for the locksmith (which the letting agents provided at the time of the lockout) I did not know if the lock was faulty or had a problem, i tried to stress to the locksmith i would not pay for work so you can come see the lock if you want but i wouldnt be paying. Unfortunately my girlfriend was home when the locksmith visited and did not insist like i was that we would not be paying so they fixed it.


While i agree it is not for me i had been asked by another lease holder and didn't think it would be a issue. Now i know i will just get the letting agents to deal with it.

Its not like i calling people round to do work on the flat or none essential work, if the lock had broken no one would be able to access the building and the locksmith pointed out it was on the verge of totally breaking.

Marvel1

Lokolo wrote: »

Why are you not ringing up your landlord to deal the issues? I'm sorry but if I was your landlord I wouldn't reimburse you. It is not down to you to call people out to fix things and then expect others to pay for it.

They followed the lettings agents advise for the first issue, therefore should be rebursed for that.