6 months Assured Shorthold Tenancy - Changing locks....

MultiFuelBurner

It's a break of trust between LL and tenant doesn't sound like a good relationship going forward.

I did ask the OP if they thought they would be there after the 6 month AST. Perhaps they don't care about the trust and relationship between tenant and LL

CurlySue2017

mrmagoo38 said:

MultiFuelBurner said:

If you only see this as a temporary 6 month let then yes change the locks. Doesn't matter if you fall out with the LL

If you want to stay longer just use bolts for when you are there no point having a situation where you have to explain you have changed the locks 

Dont bolts require drilling into the door?
Im not sure im allowed to do that...

You seem quite worried about this so my suggestion may not be a robust enough idea but.....

We use a draught excluder at our front door - not for security BTW, just because it is draughty! 

It's not the brush type that fix to the door, it's the thick type like a sausage that sit on the floor directly behind the door.  If you try to push the door open from the outside with that there, you can't, as my OH found out when he tried to walk through the unlocked door and was abruptly stopped in his tracks!

Could a simple draught excluder be the solution?  No changing locks, no holes to repair, but pretty secure

CurlySue2017

Ryan_Holden said:

Unpopular opinion: You have no good reason to change the locks. I doubt it says "you can't light a campfire in the living room" on your tenancy either, but you know you can't do that.

The only time you can change your locks if if there is what's called "good reason" to, such as a key has gone missing or indeed your landlord is continuously improperly accessing the property. The landlord hasn't done anything to warrant your reaction so you'd never establish good reason.

If you change them without telling them, and without good reason, they are well within their rights to dump you out because they can no longer satisfy their duty of care which includes gaining access in emergencies.

If you were my tenant and you changed the locks and didn't give me a key, I'd serve you notice and more importantly, I'd be suspicious of what was going on in my property.

Very unpopular opinion, I agree, and IMO it's this kind of attitude that makes people dislike landlords. 

You own a property, you are not God

How would you even know that the locks had been changed?  Unless you tried to enter without permission that is.....

theartfullodger

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Ryan_Holden said:

Unpopular opinion: You have no good reason to change the locks. I doubt it says "you can't light a campfire in the living room" on your tenancy either, but you know you can't do that.

The only time you can change your locks if if there is what's called "good reason" to, such as a key has gone missing or indeed your landlord is continuously improperly accessing the property. The landlord hasn't done anything to warrant your reaction so you'd never establish good reason.

If you change them without telling them, and without good reason, they are well within their rights to dump you out because they can no longer satisfy their duty of care which includes gaining access in emergencies.

If you were my tenant and you changed the locks and didn't give me a key, I'd serve you notice and more importantly, I'd be suspicious of what was going on in my property.

Comparing it with lighting a fire in the living room is ridiculous and unnecessary.

"if my tenant changed the locks I'd serve them notice" - Another landlord that thinks they are god.  

Exactly: And (some, not me..) landlords are surprised when landlords as a whole get a bad name.

Treat people fairly and reasonably: Both sides, in any relationship: Or is that too much to ask these days with the lunacy of extreme views in social media??

Best regards - to ALL!

Ryan_Holden

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Comparing it with lighting a fire in the living room is ridiculous and unnecessary.

"if my tenant changed the locks I'd serve them notice" - Another landlord that thinks they are god.  

It's completely valid, it's an extreme example of course, but it is to show that the tenancy agreement does not have to detail everything that you are not allowed to do in or to the property. 

I don't think I'm God, what a breathtakingly entitled thing to say.

It's not the tenant's property so why is there an assumption they have an automatic right to make modifications (that will affect the landlords liability) without permission?

A landlord has a right to protect themselves and their asset.

Example: The tenant goes away for the week, it's a flat, there's a water leak reported by an adjacent neighbour. The landlord or their contractor uses their key to gain emergency access to stop further damage to their property and the neighbours property only to find they can't get in because the locks have been changed.

The landlord can't break down the door and as a result has to call a locksmith. In the meantime the water makes it's way to the neighbours property and ruins the cieling when it could have been stopped.

Who is going to pay for that damage? I doubt the tenant is likely to say "Hey, let me take a share of that because I impeded your ability to serve your duty of care".

CSI_Yorkshire

Ryan_Holden said:

Who is going to pay for that damage? I doubt the tenant is likely to say "Hey, let me take a share of that because I impeded your ability to serve your duty of care".

You do understand the concept of insurance?

Ryan_Holden

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Ryan_Holden said:

Who is going to pay for that damage? I doubt the tenant is likely to say "Hey, let me take a share of that because I impeded your ability to serve your duty of care".

You do understand the concept of insurance?

Absolutely. But a £200 claim for flooring becomes a £4000 claim for flooring, ceilings, plastering, consumer electronics from the neighbour etc. And then the landlord swallows an increased premium (edited to add, through no fault of their own).

simon_or

Change the locks, don't worry about what the TA says. As an ex serial renter in east London I know from experience that there are plenty of estate agents and landlords will not think twice before waltzing into a tenants home if they think they're not there for any reason that they consider passable.

As a landlord myself I wouldn't have any problem with my tenant changing the locks as long as they didn't damage the door as I don't have any legitimate reason to make visits to the tenant's home that aren't pre arranged and with adequate notice.

fimacdoodle

Speak to the landlord. Communication is everything. Say you want to upgrade security for the burglaries in the area - and you want to fit a couple of bolts. Tidily. 90% will say yes. You are much more likely to be burgled than suffer a dodgy landlord sneaky stalker type !

Robbo66

MultiFuelBurner said:

35har1old said:

MultiFuelBurner said:

mrmagoo38 said:

MultiFuelBurner said:

If you only see this as a temporary 6 month let then yes change the locks. Doesn't matter if you fall out with the LL

If you want to stay longer just use bolts for when you are there no point having a situation where you have to explain you have changed the locks 

Dont bolts require drilling into the door?
Im not sure im allowed to do that...

That's why I said you will have to make them good. When you leave.

Making good a door could prove expensive

Is filling 6 small holes for a bolt and a coat of lightly rollered white (probably gloss white if a new build on the inside expensive) £10 all in expensive.

As the majority of new build doors are now either composite/upvc double glazed then yes could prove expensive to rectify any drilled holes