Broken door: who pays?

Who pays? Tenant claims internal door with lock got (no keys were given to me) locked in and had to break the door down and kicked it in

Pm says it was emergency. So landlords responsibility

Im not really buying that explanation

 

You're the landlord. You pay for everything. Always.

 

If there is a functioning lock on the door I would have thought it would be the landlord's responsibility to have keys or remove the lock. I would think that saying no keys were given to me wouldn't be enough of an excuse.

 

Pretty much, with some exceptions.
In this case I'd say you'd be up for costs unfortunately.

 

You're responsibility is to provide keys to all locks. Emergency isn't relevant here - if they had the key they were supposed to have they wouldn't have needed to break out.

I'm curious how they got in this situation though. Was one of the tenants a dungeon keeper?

 

What was so urgent that they couldn't walk around the other way? Surely breaking the door took considerable effort?

Was it advised at the inspection report? If not noted otherwise, it worked. Then who is to say that the tenant didn’t break it maliciously?

Why didn't they get a locksmith?

Was someone locked behind the door?

Why didn't they tap the pins out of the hinges? Or get a handyman to do it?

In any case it's your fault, you pay.

 

If the tenants in this property are like the ones in the other property, the opportunity to smash the door down couldn't be passed up.

 

Could have been a child who managed to get locked in, and who wasn't old enough to get themselves out.

Either way, doesn't matter. If they weren't given the keys, you pay. Next time there is a key lock you don't have keys for, replace it with an internal locking door.

 

hmmm bummer,
looks like I will have to fix it,

and yes apparently a child was locked in a room, or so the story is

I guess im more ****** off that they couldnt call someone or try to pick the lock or climb in the window and just decided to smash the door down.

a kid locked in a room for a little while is not the end of the world, politically incorrect or not

 

They are tenants and generally don't care that you have to pay the repair bills, negative gear that !
They want to get their revenge on the rich and greedy landlords.

 

If I may derail the thread,

Our old house (Current IP) has an old rear door to stairs which have now been built into a closed in laundry.

My wife was in the laundry when my 18 month old pushed the door shut and locked it.

I had just gone to work and was about to be out of contact for 8-9 hours, and not due home for up to 16. She had no phone, and no exit (short of smashing windows).

Fortunately a neighbour happened to work passed, got me on my mobile and I came home.

The 18month old had stacked objects to stand on to try and unlock the door. So cute.

 

well, I have the mindset, if you are going to do extra damage or be unreasoanble, then you can do so at your own cost!

 

I dont think I was even able to do that when I was 5.......but then again, I was pretty ********

 

I would have thought it would be reasonable to expect to be given keys to any locks in the house... and if i wasn't given keys and it was an emergency I would break the door. What constitutes an emergency may be different for everyone and it is incorrect to say that a child can be left alone in a room for a 'period of time' without supervision (individual circumstances and you/we don't know theirs).

 

nicely said!!, well done

 

If I were a tenant, and I was not provided keys for one of the internally lockable doors, I WOULD kick it in if my child was locked in. I would not --- >

It is end of the world.

 

ill bet you would never do that if were your PPOR and your door suddenly locked shut

 

True. But, I am role playing a tenant here.
In case of my PPOR, I would try to cause least financial damage (depending on the situation)

 

These are very different.
It's similar comparing business owners to their employees.
They think and act very differently to each other.