Rented house burgled, landlords obligations ?

wandererz

If I were a LL I'd expect to be contacted immediately if this happened regardless of the time of day or night it was and would be extremely angry that I was not given the opportunity to fix the lock/organise my own locksmith.

Whether or not you refund them is up to yourself but I would demand the rent be paid in full before even considering if I was going to refund them or not and tell them in no uncertain terms that their behavior (both in not informing you for two days and withholding rent) is totally unacceptable and that they have to do everything by the book from now on or risk being evicted.

wandererz wrote: »

The days are gone from when you think you can simply replace one lock for another store bought lock.

This makes no sense.

The locks you buy yourself will be the same locks fitted by an installer except they will charge handsomely for fitting it. They dont have a special lock factory that only supplies people who work as locksmiths.

REXER

Blaire Eager Riffraff wrote: »

If I were a LL I'd expect to be contacted immediately if this happened regardless of the time of day or night it was and would be extremely angry that I was not given the opportunity to fix the lock/organise my own locksmith.

Whether or not you refund them is up to yourself but I would demand the rent be paid in full before even considering if I was going to refund them or not and tell them in no uncertain terms that their behavior (both in not informing you for two days and withholding rent) is totally unacceptable and that they have to do everything by the book from now on or risk being evicted.



This makes no sense.

The locks you buy yourself will be the same locks fitted by an installer except they will charge handsomely for fitting it. They dont have a special lock factory that only supplies people who work as locksmiths.

You do of course realize that there are "anti bump" and "anti snap" locks available now? They are however a bit more pricey as they require a bit of retooling to manufacture!

Flatzie_poo

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Sure. If there were no locks or inferior locks why wouldn't that be legal? If a corporation is broken into in a rental it can sue the landlord if the security is breached.

If the people renting were in the house for say 8 months, and never noticed the locks inferiority, they have technically accepted the locks as.

Just out of interest. Bank vaults get broken into. Where did you pick up that the locks were inferior from?

Would you like the landlord to get his locks directly from Fort Knox in future?

REXER

REXER wrote: »

You do of course realize that there are "anti bump" and "anti snap" locks available now? They are however a bit more pricey as they require a bit of retooling to manufacture!

I never said there wasn't a variation in lock quality, my point you can buy them yourself if you wish they aren't available exclusively to locksmiths.

L1011

wandererz wrote: »

The days are gone from when you think you can simply replace one lock for another store bought lock.

You are incorrect

There is zero need to get a locksmith to replace a lock unless you are incompetent

ZENER

Thanks for the the advice folks !! Seems to have hit a chord with some here.

The door is a uPVC type door with a standard type lock which can be changed out in a few minutes by anyone with even basic DIY knowledge, as I said we don't begrudge the locksmith his fee just that we weren't given the choice.

These past few years have been difficult as most landlords will agree, it's only quite recently we have a choice who we let to. This house is in Navan and getting good tenants has been difficult, most are Rent Allowance recipients and although most have been ok there is the financial situations they are in that you have to be somewhat sympathetic with. Rent being a week or two late or more is part and parcel of the business. I'm not getting into the whole rent allowance debate again, it's already been done here and both sides have their own views and beliefs. Individual LLs will have their own tales to tell.

We've spoken with the tenants and explained that deducting 250 from the rent is not on and that they must bring it up to date, the cost of the lock we're still undecided on. Although they aren't ideal tenants we're reluctant to let them go as the house is to be sold next spring so a 12 month contract for new tenants including all the hassle redecorating, advertising and interviewing and PRTB registration etc. isn't worth it. They've been warned and that's it for now. Come January they'll be on their notice and that'll be that.

Thanks again for the advice and information guys.

Ken

athtrasna

Issue resolved, thread closed

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