Tenant changed the lock

Hi all, how would you respond if a tenant changed one of the door locks on your property? (There are two entrances), many thanks, Sue

I would take a friendly approach assuming they aren't aware of theirs and your responsibilities. Also to see why they felt the need to change it in case it's something to be resolved from your side. If you self manage the property then presumably you gave them the sets of keys to the 2 entrances, so if a lock was changed, they should give you a set of the new key(s). IF the lock itself is considered (I don't know for sure) part of the structure of the property being part of a door then technically they needed your consent to change it especially since it's not always possible to put the original lock back and in practice over time it might get lost anyway. It goes both ways of course, you can't just change a lock without their knowledge either. Besides, the property inventory should ideally show fixtures like locks and so it has the potential to create an issue on check out further down the line, if it is different - unless there was supporting information/communication etc

You can't really stop them.

But you absolutely can insist it's returned to as-was at the end of the tenancy. And you can deduct from the Deposit if they 'forget'.

So the outcome is actually expense for them... and, also, inconvenience for them... as you will not as easily be able to chaperone Trades for reviews or work, or Heating Engineers for GSCs (or any other scenario you can think of - folk locking themselves out has been a thing for me in the past and they've always been grateful I had a key - and was relatively local). Note here there a 2 entrances.

As others have said... you just accept it and your tenancy agreement clause isn't really worth anything... it's more about good behaviour on both sides. You hope a Tenant will adhere to all the clauses in there... but you can't realistically beat them over the head with it.