Garage door not working

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Hi all, I went to go to the shop and found that my key would not turn in the garage door. Phoned the landlord and explained the situation, they said they would look into it on Monday. I said that was not acceptable as I needed the car immediately.

Do I have the right to call a locksmith? The landlord will only use a specific locksmith and they are on holiday. I have no idea when they will be back.

The landlord is about 70ish and couldn't give a damn about tenants or their rights. We are renting over a year and the landlady has been on the property uninvited many times. She had the audacity to come into the back garden and look in the window as we were not answering the door (we had a new born and my OH was breastfeeding at the time so couldn't/wouldn't answer the door).

She has entered the property uninvited (to take a meter reading) and has let people into the building to service the heating system without letting us know. The house is split in two and her daughter lives upstairs, we were not aware of this at the time of signing the lease. I would never have signed otherwise (she's a battle axe).

Anyway, what can I do to get my car out of the garage?

I meant to say that I do not want to be unreasonable here and I would not like to have the landlord pay the massive fee of a locksmith, but I don't have much other choice. Is it unreasonable of me to call out a 24 hour lock smith?

mvt

If the key worked before chances are it should work again.
Maybe try a lubricant like wd40 on the lock itself first.

Has anyone else access to the garage?
Could something have fallen against it on the inside?
If the key physically fits into the lock it just might need a bit of tweaking.
You might be a while waiting to be repaid for a locksmith & will kick yourself if it's something simple.

the_pen_turner

what kind of door , lock is it .

what is it doing and not doing

whippet

Call a locksmith if you want .. but don’t expect the landlord to pay for it .. unless you want to wait for their locksmith

Sometimes even tenants might need to fork out for the little incidentals in life

listermint

Is this the most unreasonable post I've seen in a while . Yes . Yes it is.

Your lock got stuck and you want to call a locksmith and charge it back to the landlord.

You make a phone call giving out to a man in his 70s to come out and sort it on the weekend.


Did you read your post back to yourself before you wrote it


You could walk to the shop. Btw.

Graham

Mod Note

listermint, read the OP again because you appear to have invented your own version of events.

Drop the tone if you plan to post in this thread again.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I had to dash as we had another issue with some minor flooding, one or two items damaged but nothing we can really do about that.

Anyway, the landlord turned up with two friends, the daughter came out too to have a good nose. They didn't have any tools with them so I am not sure what they expected to do. I lent them a crowbar and they just forced the door open and will organise somebody to come on Monday to get the cylinder replaced. I just hope they didn't damage the door. It's left ajar and I have my car parked right up to the door so it's relatively secure.

whippet wrote: »

Call a locksmith if you want .. but don’t expect the landlord to pay for it .. unless you want to wait for their locksmith

Sometimes even tenants might need to fork out for the little incidentals in life

Why would the tenant be liable for costs here? I didn't break the door or lock. The garage door is quite old, the lock has just seen the end of it's life. The cylinder has ceased up, I used some penetrating oil but it didn't help. I suspect one of the pins is stuck.

As I said in the OP, the locksmith they use is on holidays, when they will be back we do not know. Should I have to wait a week or two weeks for them to come back? There's plenty of other locksmiths in the area that can be used.

I'm not opposed to replacing small items or fixing things when I can. I have already landscaped the garden which cost quite a lot with machine hire, compost, soil, seed and flowers. I've built raised flower beds and compost containers all to the landlords delight. Very happy that we have an interest in the garden and maintain it as best as we can.

It's the first time we have contacted the landlord to get something fixed.

listermint wrote: »

Is this the most unreasonable post I've seen in a while . Yes . Yes it is.

Your lock got stuck and you want to call a locksmith and charge it back to the landlord.

You make a phone call giving out to a man in his 70s to come out and sort it on the weekend.


Did you read your post back to yourself before you wrote it


You could walk to the shop. Btw.

Did you read the post at all? Or did you just see "Tenant Rights" in the title and decide to be outraged on somebodies behalf? Your entire posts is a strawman.

Firstly, it's not my lock, it's the landlords property. Secondly, I didn't give out to anybody, so not sure where that came from.

If there was nothing in the garage then I would think it's unreasonable, but my car is (was) stuck in there and I needed it (not wanted it). I shouldn't have to reason with anybody on why I need the car either. It's not down to joe public or the landlord to decide if my need is urgent or not.

Walk to the shop? Mind telling me how far it is and how I can take the weeks shopping home? I live on more than ramen, so it's a little difficult to carry as you can imagine. Oh and i'll have a 1 year old with me. Oh and which footpath should I use? There's none for a great part of the journey.

Fol20

Legally the ll could have waited until after Monday to sort this out.

Take a look at threshold period for fixing items - https://www.threshold.ie/advice/dealing-with-problems-during-your-tenancy/standards-and-repairs/

i would note this as urgent so 3-5 days for repair. It may not be to your liking but this is what it shows on their site. It looks like your ll may have done you a solid favour by break his door potentially by opening this up one or days early.He should have also had some emergency contacts to do this but thats beside the point.

Graces7

Fol20 wrote: »

Legally the ll could have waited until after Monday to sort this out.

Take a look at threshold period for fixing items - https://www.threshold.ie/advice/dealing-with-problems-during-your-tenancy/standards-and-repairs/

i would note this as urgent so 3-5 days for repair. It may not be to your liking but this is what it shows on their site. It looks like your ll may have done you a solid favour by break his door potentially by opening this up one or days early.He should have also had some emergency contacts to do this but thats beside the point.

Given that the tenant could not access his car there was a very great urgency as he could have needed it for an emergency.

JJJackal

Genesis Yummy Week wrote: »

Hi all, I went to go to the shop and found that my key would not turn in the garage door. Phoned the landlord and explained the situation, they said they would look into it on Monday. I said that was not acceptable as I needed the car immediately.

We are renting over a year and the landlady has been on the property uninvited many times. She had the audacity to come into the back garden and look in the window as we were not answering the door (we had a new born and my OH was breastfeeding at the time so couldn't/wouldn't answer the door).

She has entered the property uninvited (to take a meter reading) and has let people into the building to service the heating system without letting us know. The house is split in two and her daughter lives upstairs, we were not aware of this at the time of signing the lease. I would never have signed otherwise (she's a battle axe).

May I suggest that the items in bold are far bigger problems than the garage door?

Del2005

Graces7 wrote: »

Given that the tenant could not access his car there was a very great urgency as he could have needed it for an emergency.

You can open every garage door from the inside, so they could still get their car.

Phileas Frog

Del2005 wrote: »

You can open every garage door from the inside, so they could still get their car.

And how, pray tell, do you get inside to open it?

Graham

Del2005 wrote: »

You can open every garage door from the inside, so they could still get their car.

If that were the case you would imagine the OP wouldn't have started this thread and the OPs landlord wouldn't have used a crowbar to force the garage door open.

Fol20

Graces7 wrote: »

Given that the tenant could not access his car there was a very great urgency as he could have needed it for an emergency.

Yes it’s inconvenient and I would be annoyed as well however they’ll is entitled to take a few days to fix this.

In this day and age, if there is an emergency, you can call a friend to pick you up or get a taxi.

Del2005

Phileas Frog wrote: »

And how, pray tell, do you get inside to open it?

Does the garage not have another entrance?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

JJJackal wrote: »

May I suggest that the items in bold are far bigger problems than the garage door?

Oh they have been sorted already. We now get notice of visits and the LL doesn't show up at all. However she can come here any time she likes and just say she is visiting her daughter who lives above us. Daughter is supper passive aggressive and doesn't talk to us (she wanted this place for her son and is very pissed off that we are here :P)

Del2005 wrote: »

You can open every garage door from the inside, so they could still get their car.

You can open this one from the inside but there's only one entrance which was not operational. If I had access to the car I wouldn't mind at all.

Fol20 wrote: »

Yes it’s inconvenient and I would be annoyed as well however they’ll is entitled to take a few days to fix this.

In this day and age, if there is an emergency, you can call a friend to pick you up or get a taxi.

I am not living in a city so I would think that a taxi would be costly and my friends and family are nowhere close to lend a hand if I was to go down that route. I wouldn't see it as an inconvenience, I think it's a lot more than an inconvenience.

Of course, I think that this is an emergency. I would miss a day of work and I wouldn't get the little fellow to the creche either (not that that's the end of the world). I would lose out on more than the cost of a locksmith.

Oh and I don't think the LL had me in mind when they used the crowbar, this was their solution after calling a locksmith and allegedly receiving a quote of €500 (which I don't believe for one moment).

Fol20

I’m just pointing out the timeframes. Even in the city it would be inconvenient.

Depending on my relationship with a tenant. I may try and get it fixed over the weekend and pay a surcharge or I may wait until the weekday and inconvenience the tenant. As long as the lol is obey the max timeframes. There would be very little you could do.

4ensic15

It is very bad for a car to keep it in a garage. Why not keep it outside?

JJJackal

4ensic15 wrote: »

It is very bad for a car to keep it in a garage. Why not keep it outside?

I dont know the answer to this question - why is it bad? I dont keep my car in garage cause its not big enough

4ensic15

JJJackal wrote: »

I dont know the answer to this question - why is it bad? I dont keep my car in garage cause its not big enough

There is a greater tendency for cars to rust when kept in a garage because of the lack of air circulation and condensation.

JJJackal

4ensic15 wrote: »

There is a greater tendency for cars to rust when kept in a garage because of the lack of air circulation and condensation.

Didnt know that, thank you