Landlords/tenants - locks on room doors

BrightonBelle

BrightonBelle

BrightonBelle

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Hello all

A colleague at work has just moved into a shared house with 5 other people. His room is on the ground floor with the kitchen and the entrance door.

None of the rooms of the house have a lock on it (apart from the bathroom).

The housemates leave the front door open constantly then either go to their rooms (all upstairs) or shut themselves in the kitchen.

The house is on a main road in London - so basically anyone could walk in off the street, straight into my colleague's room and steal his stuff.

I am pretty sure that he will struggle to get contents insurance as there is no lock on the door... but what I can't get over is the fact that:

1) the housemates are stupid enough to think that it is 'OK' to leave the front door open
2) the landlord is against him getting a lock on the door and has said if it was down to privacy he would get a bolt fitted on the inside (pretty useless from the outside).

Is it not logical to get locks on all the doors? Doesn't sound like a legitimate set up to me? Are there any reasons he would refuse?

I told him to fit the lock and deal with the repercussions later...

Are there any landlords/tenants out there that have been in a similar situation?

BB x
 
Exactly - when you open a door you shut it, but the other housemates are leaving it open (because it's warm at the moment) then going to their rooms. They say it will be fine.

They are stupid.

BB x
 
Just a thought, but if his housemates aren't considerate enough to even close the door, what other issues are going to come up? I would suggest he cuts his losses and finds decent people to live with.
 
When you say they leave the front door 'open', do you mean wide open? Or just unlocked? If it's wide open then I would also suggest he finds somewhere else to live!

I used to live in a very similar set up, shared house with 4 others with, my room right next to the front door. It wasn't great to be honest, but they never left the door open and it had one of those locks that automatically locked when you shut it (no idea what it's called). Not fun being by the front door when the others have been out on the lash until 3am though!

As always I was always try to put the onus on the landlord. If he doesn't want locks on the bedroom doors I can sort of understand that. But you might want to suggest getting a lock as above, whereas the door can't be opened from the outside without a key as soon as it's shut. Maybe just say how with 5 of you in the house nobody ever knows who's first/last to leave and come home at night, so it would be better to have a failsafe whereas if the door is shut, at least its locked (slightly) too?
 
The landlord won't want a lock fitting as when tenants change them and don't give him a key it makes access a nightmare.

If I was your friend I would fit a lock regardless and start looking for a different place asap.
 
just fit a lock, the charge deducted from the deposit is probably worth it for peace of mind when it comes to your possessions

frankly I wouldn't have asked the landlord per say but rather just informed him that I was fitting one and explained why
 
I would definitely advise just to move. Living with idiots and an unreasonable landlord with the risk of being robbed.
 
Fit a lock.

If it was a girl sharing a house then she wouldn't want to leave her door open while friends of friends may be wandering around, never mind who could wander in off the street.

Also what happens when he isn't there? His housemates are being 'tards
 
I even lock my flat door when I'm in and it's in a locked block in a not-at-all-bad area. One of my insane neighbours (of which there seem to be many) 'confused' my place with his one night and just walked right in. :eek:

Needless to say he was forcibly ejected and the door has stayed locked 99% of the time since, even though he is long gone. You can't account for other people's treachery, stupidity or naivety. :rolleyes:
 
How usual is it not to have individual locks in a house share? wouldn't feel comfortable myself without being able to lock my room.
 
You just have to go out and swap the door lock with lockable one and not even ask or tell anyone about it. But be warned replacing an internal door handle/lock with one with a lock is not an easy task. It took me 4 hours with chisels and electric drill to replace my bedroom lock with one with a lock. I didn't realize that i would have to take half the door frame out before it fitted.

How many IT guys does it take to fit a lock?
 
BrightonBelle said:
Left wide open with a plant pot holding it :/
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That's absolutely mental. Is he actually friends with these people or has he moved into a house with randomers? :confused: Even changing the lock on the front door won't help if they're going to prop it open! (And by the way, the landlord will be rightly furious if you change the locks on the front door -- I don't believe you can do this without his permission)

Rroff said:
How usual is it not to have individual locks in a house share? wouldn't feel comfortable myself without being able to lock my room.
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Depends on the house. In the house I posted about above it was a group of 3 good friends, plus me and another 'randomer' they had worked with. When I viewed the room they explained that they're all good mates, nothing to hide (lol) and we all expect to get on together as a house. We were all working professionals, it's all about trust and to be honest it worked out really well.
 
I personally wouldn't have moved into a house share without locks on the bedroom doors. Even if you're sharing with your bestest bezza mates, anything can happen.

I'd tell him to fit one himself if he isn't willing to move somewhere more appropriate. They aren't expensive or difficult to fit and I doubt the landlord would even bother taking anything out of his deposit for it.
 
BrightonBelle said:
Left wide open with a plant pot holding it :/

Thanks for the feedback!

BB x
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Tell your friend to hide some high value items and let the other occupants believe they have been robbed. Return them just before they call the police - should give them a wake up call...
 
If there are no locks on any doors, Wait until one of them leaves the door open and then remove key items from someone else's room...I'm pretty sure they will soon stop leaving the door open if they think someone has actually been robbed
 
I believe if locks are fitted to the bedroom doors it becomes an HMO and the landlord then has to go down a lot of Health and Safety requirements etc and loads of additional cost, they need a license too. So don't expect the landlord to do this and if he fits his own the landlord would be within their right to remove it.

a lot will fit no locks so you're all classed as a "single household" and it negates the HMO requirements
 
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