To think this is an EMERGENCY and Landlord should deal with this TODAY!

[LetThemEatAvocados]

Front door locking mechanism broke last night and will not lock from inside or outside. It’s a composite door with a handle so anyone can open the door from outside and walk in. It won’t even close securely and is only in place with the latch. As door cannot be locked I have had to stay in all day today (wfh luckily).

Lettings agent was closed when it happened and I couldn’t find any emergency repair number on their website so had to barricade the door overnight with a bookcase and a exercise bike! Didn’t sleep well I must say.

Got onto letting agency as soon as they opened at 9 to report it. Was asked for photos which I had sent back by 9.30am. They said they had to agree repair with Landlord. Fair enough.

Gets to 4pm and I call again as I want to make sure someone’s going to come out today. Letting agency has its own maintenance team. Get told the person dealing with it isn’t there but they will give her the message.

They are now closed! So obviously no one is coming out today so I’m going to get to get an emergency locksmith out which will cost much more than it would have cost if someone had come out today, then have to potentially deal with Landlord refusing to deduct from rent and getting aggy about it.

AIBU to think this is an emergency and should have been dealt with today as a priority? You don’t leave a tenant with an insecure front door do you?

They knew about it first thing so should have found someone who can deal or
Told you to arrange and pay you back. Worth sorting yourself even as your home insurance will not pay out if anything happens and replacement lock is cheaper.

How can anyone think you are unreasonable? I'd be furious.

No it's not unreasonable. They don't know you were in all day, for all they know you could have had to take kids to school or whatever.

Thanks Akire. It’s the full length locking mechanism of the door that’s the problem, not just the lock, so not an easy thing to replace! We had similar issues a few years ago (we could still lock it from the inside though). The maintenance guy did a bodge job on it then and it’s always been very hard to lock.

I’m a landlord and my tenants had a similar issue. I gave them the option to call whatever emergency locksmith they wanted and to deduct the charge from rent with proof of invoice paid, or for me to arrange a locksmith to come out to them that day and I would pay. They chose the first option. Of course it’s not acceptable to leave you with an unlocked door ffs. Landlords and agents like this make me really angry.

I would repair, send receipt to letting agent & deduct cost from your rent.

How ridiculous

You're right this is an emergency. They've had their chance to fix it, now you need to get it done and they can lump it cost wise. I had this in a rented house once. Couldn't get hold of landlord so after 24 anxious hours we got a locksmith. Landlord was originally a bit nonplused about bill but when we showed him the broken lock (we kept the bits after the locksmith removed them) and pointed out we couldn't get hold of him he agreed it was required.

How ridiculous expecting you to leave the door insecure!!!!

Typical landlords and their poxy agents.

Hope you get this fixed really soon.

As an update. I contacted the Landlord directly before I went ahead to get an emergency locksmith out and he said that he’d told the agency to get the lock repaired at 10.30 this morning! They didn’t bother to contact me at all and I even rang them to chase it up long after that.

He’s pretty pissed off as the door needs a whole new locking mechanism and with the out of hours charge, it’ll cost nearly £400! He agreed that I deduct it from the rent.

Got a temporary lock on it for tonight so I’m relieved anyway.

So glad you got it sorted OP.
We had the opposite problem once, we couldn't unlock our front door. Luckily it got fixed the same day once I pointed out it was dangerous from a fire escape pov.
What really pissed me off was it had been sticking and difficult for a while, the letting agents informed the LL after they did an inspection but rather than getting it sorted she just left it till it was completely knackered, like most things in the house 🙄

Glad you spoke to the landlord - who will hopefully give the useless agent merry hell. Getting things fixed rapidly isn't always possible, but that's not the case for locks.

We had this in our last rented property. Landlords got a couple of handymen out, none of whom seemed to be able to fix it despite bringing parts and doing stuff to the door

Was finally fixed 7 weeks later by a guy from local glazing company. It was a half hour maximum simple job and cost £80. It was awful and I was terrified, as despite chasing it with landlord several times, the house could not be secured for weeks on end and I was home alone with 2 kids as OH works away. All I could do was place something heavy behind the door and hope for the best. Would have taken minimal effort for someone to get in.

Was the last in a long line of issues with the house that the (shit) LL took an age to rectify. We were SO glad to buy our own place and get out of there. Hope you get it fixed aap.