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AIBU?

To not want to pay

70 replies

BoomerAnge · 08/03/2017 01:14

Live with two flatmates.

One had his gf staying last night and she always leaves house later than any of us. She generally goes out through side door and posts key through letter box. Not a system I promote but one I have begrudgingly agreed to tolerate.

Anyway today I return home early and front door won't budge; it is clear she has left latch on and gone through (locked) side door... I tell flatmates and one comes to help but one with gf stays out, sleeps at friend's house and offers no support. Bill comes to 300 quid. Who should pay? I am close to snapping...

OP posts:

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diddl · 08/03/2017 09:10

Oh sorry, was everyone locked out?

Seems as if everyone also needs a key to the side door in case it happens again.

diddl · 08/03/2017 09:14

"Because they couldn't get in the house to the side door key!"

I realised that after I posted

Why would the GF leave the front door so that noone can unlock it?

Surely as soon as the first person leaves in the morning it is no longer left that way?

In fact why is it ever like that as who knows who is last in?

FrenchLavender · 08/03/2017 11:48

If she did, then she should pay. If she didn't touch the front door, then the bill should be split three ways. In this instance, the fact that she used the side door is neither here nor there. Whether she used it or not, the side door would be locked with the key inside the flat.

Except that if she hadn't used the side door then the front door could not possibly be latched - she'd have to shut it behind her as last one out.

The question is whether or not it was her to decided to put the latch on the front door, in spite of not needing to use it/touch it. But perhaps she thought she was doing everyone a security favour, after all, if she always goes in and out of the side door there must be a reason for this - perhaps it's what her boyfriend always does and she just assumed they all did it, and all had a key. If so then it was an honest mistake and it is a bit bizarre that none of them carry keys to the side door.

Or if they do, then the OP preferred to call a locksmith than ask one of her flatmates to come home and let her in with their key.

user1488622841 · 08/03/2017 12:07

This is an easy one. Flatmate should pay and it is then up to him if he asks GF for money.

However if you have overpaid which it looks like you have and did not get more than one quote then whoever booked the work bears some financial liability.

diddl · 08/03/2017 12:19

It does seem odd that GF would mess about with the front door if she never has before.

How does it work Op?

How does the inside have to be so that it can't be opened from the outside?

Is it like a Yale with a button?

If it's meant to be up so that people can get it, might it have just have dropped down old/faulty & someone slammed the door on the way out?

ElvishArchdruid · 08/03/2017 16:22

Did OP come back or am I being blind?

age81 · 08/03/2017 17:13

I'm thinking GF has put the latch/snip on once they had left and then forgot to take it off before she went.

Just a guess & she probably wouldn't admit it either!

Mummyoflittledragon · 08/03/2017 17:18

Ok. I'm a landlady. If this happened to my tenants, I'd be paying. Because they wouldn't admit to the fault and I'd just be told that the lock jammed. They owner is renting an HMO, which means they get far more than renting the house as a whole. As tenants, I'd try charging the landlord tbh. As it was an emergency, you'd have been in your rights not to get permission first.

Mummyoflittledragon · 08/03/2017 17:19

And get permission to have sets of back door keys cut and charge the ll!!

MsJamieFraser · 08/03/2017 17:28

It should be the GF and the housemate.

Maybe I am missing something here.. but how did a lock change come to £300 was it a listed door!

SoupDragon · 08/03/2017 19:04

I'm intrigued as to how posters know who put the latch on the door.

PetalMettle · 08/03/2017 20:28

This thread is making my head hurt. Cancel the cheque!

superstaary · 08/03/2017 20:38

As a LL I definitely would not be paying! I would not be happy with a person not on the lease being in the property alone as I likely wouldn't be covered by either contents or building insurance if this unknown party (to me) caused some sort of damage. My leases specifically do not allow this and this is happening regularly!

If it is a HMO it will only be licenced for a certain number of people to stay there regularly. So there shouldn't be someone staying over like this without LL permission.

As for being locked out, its not a fault, its a deliberate action caused by someone who was in the property (who shouldn't have been) why would the LL be liable? I am assuming there is a reason why you don't have a side door key rather than the LL refusing to provide one.

I would also expect a call to authorise the call out if I was being expected to pay, unless it was a dire emergency. I may not answer but if I don't then you would have tried to contact me and if it was urgent and something I should be responsible for then that would have to be Ok.

CouldntMakeThisShitUp · 09/03/2017 05:16

i would NOT be happy or feel comfortable with a flatmates bf/gf being the last to leave and posting keys through on such a regular basis. why can't she leave when her bf does?

does your other flatmate contribute towards her share of using utilities or rent considering she opts to stay there long after the residents have left?

Hopefully, you've figured out by now that people like your housemate and his gf will take miles if you give them an inch.
He couldn't even be arsed to make sure you were ok or to help out - or even offer to contribute towards the lock bill.

How much do you want to bet he will get arsey about things when pressed to pay towards the bill?
As there is no proof of who did it you can't hold gf responsible so paying the bill falls to the tenants.....unless the lock itself had an issue? Surely, your locksmith would have told you?

I'd put a stop to her being the last to leave or having access to house keys.
She doesn't live there so should not have 'free access' to use it as her doss pad.

If you have home/content insurance you might want to check the small print/legalities.
In my last place my home ins was invalid if our outer security gate was not locked - and the lock broke quite often.

Time for a group chat and setting out new rules/boundaries etc.

FrenchLavender · 09/03/2017 06:29

super I think what Mummy was saying was that as a LL you would not get to find out the truth about the girlfriend and latch on the door saga, you'd just be told by the tenants or the managing agent that a key broke off in the lock or something, and the call out was an unavoidable emergency and you are being billed after the fact.

This happens all the time with tenants, I've had them try it on with me before now where something inexplicably 'just breaks' or malfunctions under circumstances that don't add up or make sense to me. Unless you can put up a very good argument for why you think they are not telling the truth there is sod all you can do about it.

Mummyoflittledragon · 09/03/2017 06:41

FrenchLavendar

That's exactly what I was saying. And the landlord is pretty stupid not to have given the tenants a full set of outdoor keys. A lock can as easily break as a latch being left on. I just don't understand why the girlfriend didn't leave by the front door. It sounds like a Yale lock and you just have to pull that to.

LostMyDotBrain · 09/03/2017 06:55

Depends. I'd the latch was already on but all other tenants left through the side door, it's a shared expense for all of you.

If all of you left through the front door and the GF came and latched it behind you, forgetting to unlatch it when she left through the side door and locked it, it's hers and her BF's responsibility to cover.

That said, I'd be tempted to agree with PP and consult the landlord saying the lock jammed. Only because that's the simplest way of not paying.

And speaking of payment, what kind of locksmith did you manage to hire who charged £300?? I hope he juggled while he did it and provided golden keys for that price. If I were the BF, I'd be very annoyed that you were trying to give me such a big bill for something that could be much cheaper. If I were presented with a bill that high, I'd break a window to get in instead.

diddl · 09/03/2017 08:29

For a shared access it, why would anyone ever set it so that it's inaccessible?

diddl · 09/03/2017 08:31

"As for being locked out, its not a fault, its a deliberate action caused by someone who was in the property"

Is that known for sure?

FrenchLavender · 10/03/2017 14:51

This thread has reminded me that as a landlord I always want proof of things. So in this case I'd expect to see the original invoice as it was written for the person who made the call out, and I'd like to have the 'faulty' lock barrel returned to me for inspection, and want to know that it was replaced with one of a similar quality to the one that it was replaced with.

I also find it a bit that the OP hasn't come back at all.

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