Locks to a rented property-landlords responsibility?

Peakma

I am just trying to sort out a new home insurance quote.We live in a private rented property,and have done for the past nine years.The locks to our property are not suitable for most insurers.When we moved in we had very little,its in a very low risk area for burglaries,and to be honest if a thief wanted to get in all they need do is smash a window.So the low security didn't bother us.But over the years we seem to of accumulated all the usual electrical mod cons and gadgets of a home.
We tend to maintain the property our selves,for anything small,in the hope the rent stays the same(never gone up since we moved in).
Is it the responsibility of the landlord to provide adequate locks,or ourselves?

clutton_2

i'd have a chat with your landlord and see if he will go halves - after all he will bear the benefit once you leave - but you need the extra security now.

PasturesNew

I'd say it is your responsibiity to provide yourself with better ones. But you can do that by replacing the barrel. Keep the landlord's barrel/keys, then when you leave swap them all back and take yours to your next house.

TJ27

Security (entry by intruders) is one of the hazards listed under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. As such, security is most definitely the responsibility of the landlord. If the locks are not suitable, and security is rated as being below standard, then the council are able to tell the landlord to upgrade.

Alleycat

TJ27 wrote: »

Security (entry by intruders) is one of the hazards listed under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. As such, security is most definitely the responsibility of the landlord. If the locks are not suitable, and security is rated as being below standard, then the council are able to tell the landlord to upgrade.

Do you know if this would include window locks? Sorry to hijack the thread slightly, but we are moving into private rented next week and one of my concerns was that it has the old wooden sash windows with no proper locks (its a first floor flat btw).

italia

TJ27 wrote: »

Security (entry by intruders) is one of the hazards listed under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. As such, security is most definitely the responsibility of the landlord. If the locks are not suitable, and security is rated as being below standard, then the council are able to tell the landlord to upgrade.

i can see both points, if the locks are below standard they must be pretty bad and i would think the landlord would want to upgrade as a theif could take things that belong to him i,e washer dryer or even fridge (people will steal anything!) also they would damage the door on entry which he would have to pay for. although i can see that there is a risk that the rent will go up, 9 years is a long time not to put the rent up, and if he pays for the locks he may well pass the cost on.

i had to get a new barrel for my lock (i dont know if u can do that depends how old the lock is) and i paid 90 quid for timpsons to come out and do it, if only i had realised i could have bought the barrel for 20 and fitted it myself in 2 mins! landlord may pay someone to do it and pass more of the cost on to you than the cost of doing it yourself. speak to your landlord though as u need his permission and he needs copys of the keys.

TJ27

Alleycat wrote: »

Do you know if this would include window locks? Sorry to hijack the thread slightly, but we are moving into private rented next week and one of my concerns was that it has the old wooden sash windows with no proper locks (its a first floor flat btw).

It includes anything that might make entry by intruders more likely.

That doesn't necessarily mean that every rented house must have window locks though. If you asked the council to look into it, they should do an assessment of the general security of the house and apply a score to it. If the score is unacceptable, they are able to serve a notice on the landlord/lady. The notice might be a hazard awareness notice, which makes him/her aware that there is a problem but doesn't force him/her to do anything about it. On the other hand if security really is a significant problem then enforcement notices can be served which DO require action if prosecution is to be avoided.

I doubt that the lack of locks on a first floor box sash window would in itself require urgent action, unless there was a flat roof below it perhaps.

Basically it's the responsibility of the landlord to provide adequate security measures and it's the responsibility of the tenants to use them.