Housing association to fit new flat fire door AND new locks.

[JenniferBooth]

We had our flat door modified in 2019 to meet regulations and it has a self closer. An inspection officer came round unannounced on 12 JULY and checked it said thankyou and left. Received a letter last Friday and these doors have to be replaced URGENTLY (July was four months ago) i rang them today and we will also have to have new locks fitted and will be given three new keys. (DH says we can sort a locksmith out later) Has anyone else had this done? Im very concerned about the security aspect of this. They are doing a lot of the estate

Found what i was looking for @Chasingsquirrels

JenniferBooth · 19/02/2023 17:09

Have you seen the impact of a well fitting and maintained fire door? They are genuinely astonishing in how effective they are.
YES The door to our flat is a self closing fire door. It was fitted in March 2019 We were the ONLY ones that co operated. Other tenants refused. Our thanks for this? We were told we would have to share the key to the cupboard of our electric meter with the druggie who lived downstairs at the time The doors on the cupboards which house the electric meters were changed as well.
Fast forward to 2022 and our HA sent letters out saying our front doors would need to be changed to fire doors. Ours had already been done but they wouldnt accept this. DH had a heated discussion with a housing assistant who insisted it had to be changed DH pointed out that if there was something wrong with it you get the same company back to fix the mistake A different contractor was used this time. I spotted one of them in the car park told him what the HA said and he came up and took a look. "there is nothing wrong with this we cant better it" he said.

So you get a presumably female friend in to say they are "Jennifer booth" you are making this way harder than it needs to be. The housing association has no choice but to do these works. You can already see the headline if you die in a fire, but could have survived if the new door had been fitted.

And why would I go looking for previous threads you made to find answers to questions I didn't ask?

I can't make head nor tail of this now. What exactly is your objection? Or are there several objections?

1. They want to change a door that doesn't need changing
2. The new locks won't be as good as the old ones.
3. You don't want to take time off work
4. You don't want a contractor in your house
5. You don't trust the contractors
6. It's been labelled urgent work when it was surveyed 4 months ago
7. You're recently bereaved and are finding things like this hard to deal with

If it's a HA property you and the HA need to comply with the tenancy agreement.

Fire Regulations have changed considerably since 2019 and they will continue to change, so be prepared to go through this again in another 5 years or so.

The installers are very good at putting doors in holes, they don't understand legislation

I can only go by past experience. Like being expected to share an electric cupboard key with a neighbour who is a drug addict.

I can't work out why the HA changing a door is a security risk

Because HAs tend to do things on the cheap Those locks will be nothing like the lock i have

Yeah @yarnbarn Cant think why im worried.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1736255/housing-association-property-who-has-keys-exactly

You have such a bad attitude OP

I genuine didn't know that was your concern, given you didn't actually state it. That and the fact you did say 'locks will be changed afterwards'

SH tenant= bad attitude
Own your own home= concerned home owner

So to clarify:

The HA have written to you to ask for you to be in so they can fit a fire door.
You had a fire door fitted before - so is this job really necessary?
You might not be able to get time off to be in to have the job done.
You think that other people might not be in either
It is probably a part of your tenancy agreement to be in so essential work can be done.
This counts as an essential job.
You are concerned that a contractor or the HA might have spare keys to your property.
You want to put in new locks if you get a new door.

On the cheap does not necessarily equal security risk.
It just means not up to what you have at the moment.

I don't think your HA will have the keys to the property.

This is happening because of the Grenfell tragedy and social landlords have to update by law and are getting fined if not completed on time - hence the urgency

As far as I know 😊

I’m confused by this, I’ve lived in various HA or private lets my whole life and doors and locks have always been up to the landlord. They have also always had a key and I wouldn’t be allowed to change the locks. I figured that was pretty standard.

@JenniferBooth

SH tenant= bad attitude
Own your own home= concerned home owner

I think you have a rather large chip on your shoulder. I'm not saying you have a bad attitude because you are a tenant, I'm saying you have a bad attitude because you have responded rudely to several posters.

Urgh. Some people are never happy. You have little to moan about regarding a new door, yet you seem to have made it into a big deal. It's a door ffs.

Off subject a bit, but Grenfell was in 2018, and they're only now sorting out fire doors?
I have sympathy with OP, no one wants to feel that their security is compromised, and she IS feeling that. But I can't see that she has any option but to go along with it.

No We changed the locks after we moved in in 1994 Why should i pay bigger premium on contents insurance because someone else has a key

OP is forgetting (or doesn't realise) is that certain people within the HA control the budgets and maintenance / replacement programmes and effectively decide who gets what and when. So when the time comes for the 'sexy stuff' like new kitchen, bathroom, boiler, windows....(everything that people actually want because no one is interested in fire safety) because OP is awkward and disruptive her name and address will move right to the bottom of the list and will be made to wait, sometimes right up until the end of a 12 month programme.

Food for thought OP

Cool thats what i want. I dont want a new kitchen Especially when my ex neighbours took nine months cos they did it in dribs and drabs. A lot of the Grenfell residents complaints were about crap workmanship Food for thought!!!

Not everybody wants all that. But they are in the wrong as well I can pull out a thread where OP didnt want a new kitchen to show the shit she got on here for it.

A tenant wants it...........they are in the wrong
They dont want it.............also in the wrong

You seem to be very paranoid about doors getting changed. Maybe you should see the GP because this really isn't a normal response

Fire doors come as ‘door sets’ now, which includes the frame, threshold and the door. Fire doors which have been installed in old frames are non compliant, doors which have had retro fitted door furniture are non compliant.

New fire doors are a nightmare to get in to. I’ve seen police have to chop their way in with a chain saw.

No-one else will have a key.