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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a mad man could just walk into my house?

31 replies

reresres · 11/12/2018 21:58

Bit of a silly worry but anyway ...just moved into a house through my local H/A
Found out in the last few years a few tenants have lived here.
Sat thinking after a tenant moves out they hand the keys back in.
What is stoping them (if they were crazy ) getting a key cut before they handed them back and potentially letting themselves in your house whenever they want.
I'm sat here rather paranoid now Shock
Imagine if one was a serial killer

OP posts:
Justaboutawake · 11/12/2018 22:02

They change the locks (I’m council tenant). People that lived here before me were awful apparently and some of them in prison now. All I have to deal with is them still using this address for fraudulent credit cards and parking fines even though they’ve been gone for 10 years!

Original poster
reresres · 11/12/2018 22:03

Ah do they?
That's good to know
I didn't think they would change them after every tenant

OP posts:
WhiteVixen · 11/12/2018 22:04

It’s very easy and cheap to buy new barrels for your locks and change them yourself, if you’ve got standard UPVC doors. There’ll be videos on YouTube showing how to do it. Just keep the old barrels and change them back if you ever move out.

mazv1953 · 11/12/2018 22:08

Years ago I was watching one of those reality crime programmes and some total nutter had tortured and wiped out an entire family. Turns out he chose them simply because their door was the first one he had found unlocked .. I'm sure the HA would have changed the locks - but it wouldn't hurt to get a bolt.

theWarOnPeace · 11/12/2018 22:10

They don’t always change the locks. But replacement barrels from screwfix and fit yourself. I’ve done it, it’s semi-tricky but definitely doable for me, and I have no experience in that kind of thing. I watched a YouTube tutorial

Cranky17 · 11/12/2018 22:14

Better of than a my private let, the letting agent has a set of my keys, plus whoever lived here before me, I’m sure they wouldn’t have given all the sets back.

BorisAndDoris · 11/12/2018 22:16

A lot of people don't realise that no matter what a lease says, it's perfectly legal to change the locks of your rented home, in fact it's recommended. You also do not have to provide the landlord or their agents with a key. Your contents often don't cover claims where a 3rd party, and unknown person and non family member has a key.

Original poster
reresres · 11/12/2018 22:23

It's a scary thought tho isn't it.
With all these council cuts ..are they really gonna change the locks every time.

OP posts:
BettyBitchface · 11/12/2018 22:23

Landlords (HA/council/private) change the locks between tenants...ha ha ha...that's a good one.

Funny how every rented property of any kind I've ever had keys to (both my own and other people's) had battered and bent old keys.

I wasn't aware brand new changed locks came with half wrecked keys, maybe the lock factory has a special machine for battering the shit out of shiny new keys so they have that special look.

BettyBitchface · 11/12/2018 22:39

I was living in a high rise council flat something like twenty years ago.
Not only were the locks not changed when we moved in but on two separate occasions I was sitting watching TV when I heard the front door open.

In one case it was two women who had been given keys to a different flat on another floor in order to view it and had got the wrong number.

In the other case it was a pissed up neighbour who got off on the wrong landing and from the state of him couldn't even see the number.

The fact that my door key wasn't even unique in my own block was quite frightening and lead to the quick installation of three chains and three bolts so I had at least a fighting chance to get up the hall before anyone got in, at least when I was at home. Used to get taken the piss out of by visitors with the old, "what's this? Fort Knox?".

There were several more incidents of keys jiggling in my lock, including in the early hours while in bed, but they never managed to open it, so I don't know if their keys would have opened my door or not.

That may not be of comfort to the OP, I'm aware.

Original poster
reresres · 11/12/2018 22:53

Oh god safe to say I'm getting a bolt and chain on pronto.
How unsafe is that tho ,all it takes is 1 nutter to have your key

OP posts:
ElfridaEtAl · 11/12/2018 22:56

Glad I clicked on this thread when OH is on nights Shock

UpstartCrow · 11/12/2018 23:07

BettyBitchface
My landlord is a HA and they change the locks, you get old keys because they swap them around. They don't buy a new one each time.

reresres
Go to Youtube and learn how to change your lock barrels, its a pretty straightforwards job.

5foot5 · 11/12/2018 23:13

Probably best not to read this novel A Pleasure and a Calling although it is creepily amusing

IncyWincyGrownUp · 11/12/2018 23:22

My council don’t change locks.

I was told there was only one front door key to my place (and three for the back door) becuse the woman who’d lived here before me had lost two. Lovely!

theWarOnPeace · 11/12/2018 23:59

I’m getting flashbacks now of being given my first set of council keys, years and years ago. They were like a big jangling bunch of caretakers keys. I asked which was which and they said they don’t know just try them out, it was what the previous tenant gave back and the clearing team had used this massive bunch to get back in. Out of about 12 keys only 3 related to the house, one was for a coal hole - still full of coal!

recklessruby · 12/12/2018 00:54

Well I m glad I had a new front door fitted now! I m a council tenant and did a mutual exchange and the last lot were very dodgy.
First few months here we had bailiffs for them and loads of threatening letters.
The council don't change the locks if you do an exchange.
On a side note they don't check the property either.
We left ours spotlessly clean but my son and I had to rip up the carpets that smelt of dog urine and fix a door.
I also paid for rubbish removal on my credit card which they were going to pay back. Surprise surprise they never did and the guy ended up in prison anyway.

MaryPoppinsPenguins · 12/12/2018 01:02

Change the locks?!!

Original poster
reresres · 12/12/2018 12:23

Don't think I would be allowed to change the locks

OP posts:
theWarOnPeace · 12/12/2018 14:23

You can, you just change the internal barrel, the whole thing will still look exactly the same. Just the difference is you will now be the sole owener of the new barrel’s keys. When/if you leave you hand over the new ones that you’ve changed to. It’s a ten minute job I promise.

HelenaDove · 12/12/2018 14:28

YY Change the barrel. Something like this will void your contents insurance.

Wejustdontknow · 12/12/2018 14:34

I have always changed the locks when moving property, you really don’t know who has a key to the one already there when you move in. I am in a council property and know for certain they didn’t change the locks when we moved in as the previous tenant had only returned 1 key so that’s all they gave us

90mammasophie · 12/12/2018 14:42

Omg change the locks! And get a bolt for the door.

boringlyboring · 12/12/2018 14:46

The HA I worked at only changed the locks if it was following an eviction, or if previous tenants were on the ‘precaution’ register. I can’t remember the exact title of it now, but it was tenants who staff couldn’t visit alone for their safety.

Other than that, if there were no concerns and the previous tenant returned a set of keys, they didn’t change the lock.

Motoko · 12/12/2018 18:07

Of course you can change the locks! And you should. It's always advisable to change the locks when you move into a new property, because you have no idea how many other people have the key to your door.

There are videos on YouTube that show you how to do it, and you can buy the barrels in any DIY place, for usually around £10-£20. You only need a screwdriver to do it. Keep the old barrels and keys, and if you move out, just swap them back, and then you've got the ones you bought, for the new place.

It's all very well getting bolts and chains, but they only work when you're at home. You could have someone walk into your house while you're out, and knick all your stuff.

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