This post is more than 9 years old
by Tessa Shepperson
Here is a question to the blog clinic from Hilary who is a landlord.
I have a secure tenure property. The tenants have been in residence for 74 years.
I haven’t a set of keys to this property. I’ve asked the tenant if I may get a copy cut they’ve refused this request. They are very good tenants in that they have always looked after the property but if repairs are needed I can’t access unless they are there.
Am i legally entitled to hold a set of keys for the purpose outlined? As a secure tenure there is of course no tenancy agreement.
Answer:
There is no law that I am aware of that entitles the landlord to hold keys to the property. Which is why, if you want to hold keys, this is something that needs to go in the tenancy agreement.
One of the features of a tenancy (which is a type of ownership of land) is that the tenants have the right to exclude the landlord from the property.
This is the case even if the landlord wishes to enter for an authorised purpose such as carrying out repairs.
So even if you are entitled to hold a set of keys under the terms of the tenancy agreement, it will still be trespass and make you liable to a claim for compensation if you use those keys against your tenants wishes.
If these tenants are good tenants then they will no doubt co-operate should you ever need to do major repair work to the property. If they fail to do so, then your only alternative is to get a court order.
The same rules apply for getting the gas safety inspection done, which is why I created the Gas Access Kit which includes instructions for getting an injunction order.
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Notes:
Please check the date of the post - remember, if it is an old post, the law may have changed since it was written.
You should always get independent legal advice before taking any action.
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Comments
Colin Lunt saysJust as a small non-legal aside, it is perhaps good practice for a landlord to have a tenant present either when a repair is being done or for an inspection.
It will prevent any complaint later that, perhaps something has been damaged or maybe some money has gone missing. I am sure that a landlord would not want repair workers or the mortgage company present, in their absence. Mortgage companies sometimes hold a retention on a mortgage pending approved repair.
- Romain says
Tessa,
I’m still not clear on the basis of the claim that a landlord would be trespassing when in fact using his right of access: Clearly the landlord would have a lawful excuse to access the land and does not commit an “unjustifiable interference” as long as he does not abuse his right of access.
- Tessa Shepperson says
@Romain Yes it is a difficult issue. My view has always been that if a tenant says ‘no’ it will be unlawful for a landlord to enter, even if it is for a purpose which is authorised by law, such as an inspection or gas safety check. I know some people do not agree with me, but we will have to agree to disagree.
Remember that this is someone’s home, and people are entitled to their privacy. For example – a tenant may tell a landlord that he does not want him to do an inspection on a particular day without giving a reason. If a landlord exercises his ‘right’ anyway, he may for example find that he is interfering with a birthday party for the child of the family, or someone may be ill.
How would you like someone coming into YOUR home if you had asked them not to?
Then there are cases where women live alone and are frightened of their landlord and do not want them there unless they have someone with them.
For this sort of reason I consider that the covenant of quiet enjoyment should take precedence over any ‘right’ a landlord may have.
- just saying says
Exactly Tessa. Landlords own the property sure, but it just does not extend to them letting themselves in if they want to. As a tenant I wd be the first to pursue a landlord for trespass if they tried this. (But wd always consent to access, in a genuine emergency, and be present).
I always change the locks, personally. But of course, in houseshares & HMOs that will rarely happen. Letting agents are notorious for abusing this privilege, that’s why I never shared a house without a lock on the bedroom door at least. And I wd change the keys to this.
- Ben Reeve-Lewis says
In the past 25 years as a TRO the #1 complaint we all get is the landlord entering without the tenant’s permission.
When confronted landlords usually counter with “Yeah but it was only……” I rarely manage to convince the landlord that, as you say Tessa, a tenancy is a form of ownership.
As a tenant I find the same thing. I remember a while back reporting a repair to my letting agents, who are really OK in the great scheme of things. I was setting up a time to be in for the repair people and the woman on the other end of the phone, genuinely being helpful said “Oh its OK, you dont have to be there, we have keys”.
How would a homeowner feel if they came back from work to find that someone from Barclays bank had been in to check their investment? Because it is always their investment until the mortgage has been paid off.
There is a deeply held view in the British psyche that ownership is all and this needs to change.
As Karl Marx may have said “All property is theft…….unless it’s mine”
- Lawcruncher says
Are landlords legally entitled to hold keys to their rented properties?
The short answer is “yes”.
At a bit more length:
If a property is let the landlord is entitled to retain a set of keys unless the tenancy agreement provides to the contrary (which I have never seen).
If the tenancy agreement says nothing about keys and the landlord retains a set and the tenant changes the locks, the landlord cannot demand a set of the new keys.
If the tenancy agreement provides that the tenant is not to change the locks but does so, that has to be a breach of covenant even if the reason for doing so is that the landlord is abusing his right of access. In practice though there is not going to be a lot the landlord can do about it. If the tenant changes the locks because he more or less has to, for example it breaks, it is difficult to see how that can be breach if the tenant supplies the landlord with a key.
- Tessa Shepperson says
I agree that landlords can hang on to a set of keys when renting a property out to new tenants.
However so far as I am aware, they are not entitled, as here, to demand a set of keys from tenants if they do not have any.
- Lawcruncher says
“However so far as I am aware, they are not entitled, as here, to demand a set of keys from tenants if they do not have any.”
Agreed.
- just saying says
Tessa, if the tenant changes the locks and the landlord takes umbrage to this, deciding to change the locks again so as to be holding keys (effectively forcing entry tho) where does the tenant stand then? Extreme suggestion, but it could happen. Let’s assume the lease makes no mention of keys. If it did, I wd frankly still ignore it and consider the term unfair, for all the reasons of quite enjoyment discussed here.
It is shocking, and offensive, that the law is so grey on all of this “who can have keys thing”. You can buy a tenancy agreement from WH Snmith for goodness sake; that’s how official they are (!).
- Lawcruncher says
A landlord has no right to force entry to change a lock.
