The tenants in my rental property left the living room windows wide open over night and were burgled. The burglars took a set of keys and let themselves out, so the house was consequently unsecure. The tenants left the property because they felt unsafe and that night i had an emergency locksmith fit new locks. Who is liable for the cost of this locksmith? I feel that it should be the tenants as they left the house unsecure, but I want to check.
Your tenants are idiots . Have you ever tried to get money off idiots? Only they are to blame I would take it out of their deposit
This is the fault of the tenants
Do you have a clause in contract covering such eventualities so you are covered
If the tenants don’t pay, you could apply to have the cost deducted from their deposit when they leave provided you can evidence what you’ve said.
You can only deduct from deposit if the deposit clause refers to issues in the contract
So if you have said your deposit can be used for claims made during contract by the landlord you can otherwise you cannot
You may need to confirm but you would also need a clause in contract covering eventuality of loss of keys
If it is in contract it is hard to refute . Not being in contract can be refutable by the tenant.
My deposits have spoke on this at the LL conference
Are you sure about that A_A? It seems very specific for the contract to have to refer to loss of keys. There are lots of things the tenant could potentially do to cause a financial loss to the landlord. I would have thought a catchall clause about damage or breach of tenancy terms etc along with an expectation that the keys are returned at the end of the tenancy would be enough.
In student lets keys are lost all the time or tenants lock themselves out regularly.
.Even the universities specify it in their contracts.
If we did not have a clause I would spend my life unlocking doors and duplicating keys!
I did not use to have it in a contract until a tenant raised the issue. On discussion with our solicitor it could be debatable so we put it in. If the issue went to adjudication you can not predict which way the gavel will fall.
If it is specifically stated in contract it cannot be refuted. There is then a clause in the deposit appendix of the contract referring back to the costs outstanding from the original contract as advised by LL.