Hi, been a LL for 10 yrs now.
Deposit is set at 5 weeks rent, are we able to take a separate deposit for keys. ?
Is there a restriction on that.
Just had a prop handed back, no keys, place is full of mould as they never heated or vented, the £400 deposit wont even cover the lock changes.
why would a tenant pay a separate deposit for keys? should they also pay separately for cooker, shower, WC etc ?
i think the max you can take as deposit is 5 weeks of rent. if the tenant left the property in a state less than how it was when they took it, then use legal means to get them to pay - apply to deposit scheme, deduct your expenses. if you are left with a shortfall, seek legal means
do you change your own locks?
I imagine that would not be a lawful charge
No, you cant take a separate key deposit if youve already taken the maximum 5 weeks rent.
Please forgive my incredulous tone. The rent is £80pw?? How were you ever expecting to cover the cost of tenant damage from the deposit?
We are simply not able to, apart from not giving a months rent we will be around £2000 out of pocket. We are controlled by the govt ( who sets the limits ) who lets be honest have no desire to do anything to help landlord other than elievialt cash from us.
I assumed that this is an AST. If its a regulated tenancy or some other type, then the deposit legislation wont apply.
To be fair, most locks are cheap and easy enough to replace so I can’t see it costing £400 to replace locks.
As a matter of course, we replace all the locks on our house as soon as a tenant moves out as you never know how many copies of the keys have been made. Euro lock cylinders are £10-15 (cheaper if you buy in packs of 10), and last yale type lock we bought was about £20-25. Our house has 3 euro cylinders and a Yale on the back door so costs us around £50-70 to replace all the locks.
What do you do with your collection of old locks? Do you just cycle through them after every tenant? I’ve sold a few online in the past but they were high security ASSA cylinders and euro cylinders.
I swop them over to a different property as and when needed
So do we. We’re frugal.
I’d say frugal, environmentally minded and smart.
We know people from a big block of council flats. They say that all front doors have two locks, but people get high/drunk and try to open the doors of their neighbours, and now and then one of their keys fits. Looks like CC have several copies of identical locks used. That’s why there’re two locks on the front door.
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