Kostandia
2 Thanks
31 Posts
Hello, my three HMO tenants (students) have just emailed me this afternoon to say the front door lock is very difficult to lock. They say it's been like that for a year!! They've lived there for 2 years now and I do quarterly inspections - they've never told me before the door lock is broken. Then they sent me a photo, saying the lock itself is fine, but the section of the metal bar that the lock moves into, which runs down the inside frame of the UPVC door, is bent inwards from the inside. Unfortunately, I never thought to take an Inventory photo of the door frame, so I have no photographic history to show a possible last time that metal section was not bent inwards.
My first thought is, have they tried to force the door with something that's bent that metal section?! I can't upload the photo onto here, but there is a strange and clear scratch mark against the UPVC & metal section that looks something like a flat-head screwdriver etc has been pushed in, bending the metal section.
I am going to take a look at the property tomorrow (Saturday morning) and take lots of photographs, then speak to some locksmiths, but my first questions are:
- I'm sure that door was not damaged before (I'm sure I'd have noticed the bent metal), but without an inventory photo, am I unable to 'accuse' them of doing the damage and therefore make them pay for the repair costs?
- On the other hand, if they had problems with the lock over the last year but couldn't be bothered to tell me there was a problem, then do I have a case to say they have to pay for the repair costs?
I have to be honest and say I can't remember which times I turned up to do the quarterly inspection and used my front door key or they opened the door for me. So I have no 'point' in the last year (inventory photos or a definite time I know I used my key) that I can be certain that metal section was not damaged.
Thanks in advance.
