I ve been renting a house to tenants, a couple, for 6 years. It has a house wired alarm that they use and I pay for its yearly service including batteries. We have a good relationship but on every occasion I need to come in with tradesmen to carry out repairs etc when I ask to confirm old code still applies or was it changed I get an evasive answer, usualy " we wont switch it on today".They clearly changed it but do not want me to have the code.
What are my rights ? Am I entitled to be notified of alarm code?
I dont want to damage tenant-landlord relationship but I feel uneasy about the situation.
Thanks in advance if anyone can shed some light on it.
Check your tenancy agreement it probably says they shouldnt change the locks without permission.
It is good they are careful about security and probably dont want hassle of changing every time a tradesperson has been. And they do have a right to quiet enjoyment. It’s their home and there are always stories of, erm, things going missing.
Maybe explain you are happy to continue with current arrangement but ask if they can let you have code for emergency access arrangements only (eg if a neighbour smelled gas) and you will not share with others.
The home alarm doesnt prevent me enerting the property in case of emergencies - I hold a set of keys- it would make a big noise on entry if I didnt switch it off within a short time by enering a code on its board.
Its mostly a mater of privacy for them I think although the board would show history of entries anyway should I ever entered the property without previous agreement.
Hencewhy I wondered if sharing the code with landlord is a usual practice. And do agents ask for it to keep on their files ?
In that case i cant see why you would want or need it and I’d leave it till they move out (hopefully even then it would be possible to reset to factory settings/a default code?).
It sounds like both privacy and not giving codes out to trades unnecessarily which is a good security precaution. I’d guesd they also dont like or allow trades or agents or yourself access when they arent in? Many tenants dont.