Tenant called locksmith on bank holiday

GDB2222

Tranboy said:

GDB2222 said:

Tranboy said:

missile said:

rahrah21 said:

Tranboy said:

But how much is the bill?

£426 which is a lot for a basic barrel change 

I would terminate tenant's contract at earliest opportunity

Would you be this mercanary with your mother in law?

Much more so!

Even after she let you buy her council house cheap under the right to buy scheme? Kerching....

Even if that had been the case. 

gingercordial

GDB2222 said:

tooldle said:

rahrah21 said:

Tranboy said:

But do you know for certain that is all it was?

the bulk of the charge is because the company was out of the area so most of it is call out charges. the barrel change was approx £40. hence my concern why T chose to go out of the area, and not even by a short distance. 70 miles or so. 

Maybe this was the closest available locksmith? We've only tried to get a locksmith out once. Our situation was 6.30pm on a weekday. We tried all the local companies without success. In our city the locksmiths tend to be one man businesses and if as happened with us, the locksmiths concerned are doing something else (in the pub watching our national side play in the Euros) options are limited.

You don’t need a locksmith. Any handyman can do that job in five minutes. Anyone with a screwdriver can do it. Undo one screw. Take the old lock barrel out. Put the new one in. Do the screw up.  The lock barrel costs a few £££.

£426 for that job is just plain ridiculous. 

It’s an uneasy relationship between LL and T, but it’s best to try to get on. An incident like this makes both parties unhappy, so it’s best if the T leaves and finds somewhere else to live.

Perhaps I have missed it in all the OP's additional posts, but was the lock stuck open or closed?  I agree I could turn to YouTube for how to change a lock on an open door, but I wouldn't try my hand at picking or drilling one stuck closed and so in that case an expensive call out would be needed and then they have you over a barrel, no pun intended.  (We actually do have a set of lock picks as my husband at one point decided to take it up as a hobby, but he never got any good at it!)

tooldle

I don’t think the OP said one way or another, nor has he/she commented on the availability of tools for either party, whether or not either have the skills or the parts, or indeed anyway of getting the parts. Regardless, it is not the tenants responsibility to perform repairs. The OP did say he/she would be calling a locksmith. 

jrawle

GDB2222 said:

You don’t need a locksmith. Any handyman can do that job in five minutes. Anyone with a screwdriver can do it. Undo one screw. Take the old lock barrel out. Put the new one in. Do the screw up.  The lock barrel costs a few £££.

£426 for that job is just plain ridiculous. 

It’s an uneasy relationship between LL and T, but it’s best to try to get on. An incident like this makes both parties unhappy, so it’s best if the T leaves and finds somewhere else to live.

Where do you get the new barrel from at 7pm on Bank Holiday Monday?

GDB2222

jrawle said:

GDB2222 said:

You don’t need a locksmith. Any handyman can do that job in five minutes. Anyone with a screwdriver can do it. Undo one screw. Take the old lock barrel out. Put the new one in. Do the screw up.  The lock barrel costs a few £££.

£426 for that job is just plain ridiculous. 

It’s an uneasy relationship between LL and T, but it’s best to try to get on. An incident like this makes both parties unhappy, so it’s best if the T leaves and finds somewhere else to live.

Where do you get the new barrel from at 7pm on Bank Holiday Monday?

B&Q were probably open. However, the property was secure, so this could have waited until Tuesday.  

The point is that the tenants turned a sub-£100 job into one costing over £400, and then expected the landlord to foot the bill. 

GDB2222

jrawle said:

GDB2222 said:

You don’t need a locksmith. Any handyman can do that job in five minutes. Anyone with a screwdriver can do it. Undo one screw. Take the old lock barrel out. Put the new one in. Do the screw up.  The lock barrel costs a few £££.

£426 for that job is just plain ridiculous. 

It’s an uneasy relationship between LL and T, but it’s best to try to get on. An incident like this makes both parties unhappy, so it’s best if the T leaves and finds somewhere else to live.

Where do you get the new barrel from at 7pm on Bank Holiday Monday?

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/bank-holiday-2022-diy-store-26814719

The Mirror published an answer to your question before you posed it.

m0bov

LL could have gone round to check, but its not an emergency, the tenant is in breach for withholding rent. Could have been damaged by the tenant, key broke in lock, or tenant lying and they have lost the key. Who knows.....

jrawle

GDB2222 said:

jrawle said:

Where do you get the new barrel from at 7pm on Bank Holiday Monday?

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/bank-holiday-2022-diy-store-26814719

The Mirror published an answer to your question before you posed it.

The article suggests only Argos and B&M would have been open after 7pm. According to their websites, neither sells Euro cylinder locks. (OK, Argos sells a "smart lock" for £180 that might fit.)

Some of the opening times are optimistic if you don't live in a big city. Wilko where I live closes at 6pm even on ordinary weekdays, which is a pain.

Slithery

jrawle said:

GDB2222 said:

jrawle said:

Where do you get the new barrel from at 7pm on Bank Holiday Monday?

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/bank-holiday-2022-diy-store-26814719

The Mirror published an answer to your question before you posed it.

The article suggests only Argos and B&M would have been open after 7pm. According to their websites, neither sells Euro cylinder locks. (OK, Argos sells a "smart lock" for £180 that might fit.)

Some of the opening times are optimistic if you don't live in a big city. Wilko where I live closes at 6pm even on ordinary weekdays, which is a pain.

What about Screwfix? They were open until 8 and sell a wide range of cylinders.

canaldumidi

Availability at 7 pm on bank holiday is a red herring.

It was not emergency and should have waited till normal working hours.

T chose to pay a contractor £400 against LL's advice.