UK Landlord Forum / Life

We inherited a flat with a tenant who has been in residence since before 1989.  It has become apparent that the tenant has added new many (many) door locks, padlocks and window bars, both externally and internally without our consent.
He has, however,  supplied us with a bag of keys as well. The keys may or may not fit the locks as he has a habit of changing them frequently. 

He does have "medical issues"  and has an allocated social worker. Recently, he has taken to phoning the police several times about people breaking into his flat and damaging his tools and workshop equipment. The police investigate and conclude that he is having them on.   The police have then phoned us , once on a Sunday night at 10:30pm to complain to us about his behaviour. The police expressed concern about the number of locks on the doors and windows and said in the event of a fire it might delay the emergency services and th einsurance would be nullified.

We have asked him to remove the locks, in writing, several times with copies to his social worker, however is failing to comply. We are worried that we would be prosecuted if there were to be a fire and he was trapped.

What is the best course of action - we are not really worried about him fitting locks to the doors but were concerned about the possible legal ramiifications if he were to be trapped and it was deemed that we had let him fit all these locks! 

Not sure about the best course of action?

Quote from: monabri on January 19, 2022, 03:08:59 PM
We are worried that we would be prosecuted if there were to be a fire and he was trapped.

What is the best course of action - we are not really worried about him fitting locks to the doors but were concerned about the possible legal ramifications if he were to be trapped and it was deemed that we had let him fit all these locks! 

You haven't "let him fit all these locks".

You have "asked him to remove the locks, in writing, several times with copies to his social worker".

IMO, you have done everything (and more) that you need to do.

You, as landlord, are not responsible for your tenant's actions.

You cannot compel him to remove the locks.

You can either leave him to carry on as he is, or you can evict him, remove the locks, make good the damage to the doors, and re-let.

It's sad that he has medical (mental) issues but the above are your only options.

Quote from: monabri on January 19, 2022, 03:08:59 PM
We inherited a flat with a tenant who has been in residence since before 1989.

I've just noted your "before 1989" comment.

So it's not an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. See https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-agreements-a-guide-for-landlords/tenancy-types

More likely to be a Regulated Tenancy. See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulated-tenancies

So your options for eviction may be more limited.


My views above still stand though: You are not responsible for your tenant's actions.

I think you should speak to a solicitor with experience in this field. It sounds like he falls into that grey area of being incapable of functioning without support,but not  disturbed enough to be sectioned. It is not reasonable to expect a private individual landlord to deal with someone who ideally would be housed in a special unit.A statement from the police that he is causing  nuisance to them would be very useful,as would contacting your local town councillor or MP.  You should take photographs of the changes he has made.