Frustrated Landlord

psychological

Wow! I thought OUR permit section was harsh... a permit to change out a door? 3 hinges? You sure about that? I can't believe anyone would require a permit for that.

You could master key YOUR locks but that wouldn't help much with ones they have changed or added.

Tell your tenants if they want to change or add a lock they MUST give you a key. if they want let them seal it in an envelope and sign their signature or whatever they want across the seal so they will know if it has been opened.

Yes.

The landlord can always keep a record of the bitings with regard to his rekeys and obviously should do so, also if he set up his own master system it would be on paper. That would be good enough. If he chooses to replace locksets or use ready keys cylinders then he would have a receipt for those as well.

That probably won't help. The tenants will just change out the whole lock or add another complete lock to the door the same as they are likely doing now.

In most cases they will simply add on a lock to the door if they can't remove the old one. The best solution is a key in a tamper evident container held by the landlord. It won't make everyone happy but it will solve the problem better and more often than any other solution.

LOL In the real world even most landlords would never bother with a building permit for something that trivial even IF the local codes required it, let alone a tenant. I know of a 10000 square foot commercial building built with no permit.

They are likely worried that the landlord doesn't "change locks" after other tenants leave, and many don't.

You are probably correct about that... However, since it has been brought up by others use strong language in the lease when he makes any changes to it, and he should declare the value of the door and the labor required to replace it if the tenant cuts a hole into it... Someone is going to be less willing to mess around with something if it will take $1000 deducted off their damage deposit at the end of the lease to install a $30 Home Depot lock... Also if the doors are STEEL that often stops many do-it-themselves handymen from attempting to improve things by themselves....

You also replied to this:

legal >>dispute ever arise over that fact...

The problem with that is if something happens that prompts a lawsuit for any reason you will want to have independent documentation from an "uninterested third party" (i.e. the locksmith) to present in court as evidence... Also in those areas that regulate the locksmithing profession with licenses you would be doing illegal unauthorized work on rental property, while you MAY own it often times the building code is very specific about what can be done by unlicensed tradesmen on multi-unit structures... Doing such work on your own single dwelling home is one thing, but doing that same work without a trade license on rental property could lead to trouble in some places...

And then you wrote about this:

as you >>suggest, as doing that would require a building permit in most localities here in ?>>the US... Especially when it has to do with a mutli-unit dwelling...

Anything done without a building permit these days just opens the door to a large lawsuit in the event of a fire... Just ask the people whose tenants have done stupid things and had fires occur only to be held accountable because they did things like installing new doors or windows without a building permit... It may not have any immediate penalties, but any repair or addition or other improvement done WITHOUT a permit is only a ticking time bomb waiting to bite you in your most painful area... You never know how thorough a fire investigators inspection of things will be or which records he will search if something ever happens... It is better to have all of your ducks in a row to be certain you have done everything properly... It is like your mom always telling you to wear clean underwear in case you are in an accident...

unit >>then they are up to something they shouldn't be, or have psychological issues >>and should go but their own home...

Those that don't are a problem... But as a tenant occupying someone else's property you have the burden of consulting with them first before you do any work that alters the property in any way... That is a basic principle of law that is universal... The owner has more rights backing them protecting their assets from 'damage' and any 'unauthorized improvements' than a tenant has protecting them from installing additional locksets on a door...

The point is the tenant has to go through the landlord to do something like that properly... A door is expensive to replace if it has an extra hole in it when you move out that it didn't have before you moved in... Or if the landlord is nice and only replaces your lock with one that is keyed into a master key system the TENANT would still be responsible for any costs incurred by such a repair if they installed a lock without any permission...

If people don't trust their landlord with things like making sure the locks are re-keyed and add locks to KEEP OUT the landlord then like I said before they need to buy their own house and seek some kind of therapy...

Evan the Maintenance Man

You would be hard pressed to find any uniform lease agreement in common use that does not specifically prohibit tenants from changing locks without landlord consent. The problem is that a tenant that pays rent consistently on time is valuable. You probably don't want to evict them just for changing locks. Most leases also allow for deductions from security deposits, but many times tenants just skip the last months rent and forfeit the security deposit. You can insist on 1st last and security but many tenants can't afford it which increases vacancy.

Lawsuits over landlord failure to change locks is not a common occurrence. If you disagree cite some cases. A log of lock or keying changes is still evidence in any court.

Point me to an ordinance that requires a building permit to begin with for simple replacement of a door on residential property.

And under most leases they already are. See above about security deposits. Forget about suing them. You will usually never see a dime.

The reality is many people don't do what they "should" and if you try to enforce a lease word for word all the time you are likely to have a vacancy problem, especially now in many housing markets.

Ottawa Canada

Yes, a restricted Master Key system would prevent tenents from changing the bittings of the landlord-provided lock.

If the tenent skips out on the last month's rent, the landlord can truthfully report this to the credit bureaus and some places have a bad tenent registry for landlords to report bad tenents to.

If a building permit is required to replace a door, then the landlord should obtain one and have the work properly inspected after it is complete.

It would be prudent for the landlord to visit the rental unit a month or two prior to the tenent leaving to give it the once-over for any vandalism or just normal wear and tear that will need work. At this time he can also check that his master key still works the door lock and check for additional locks installed by the tenent.

No one ever said being a good landlord is easy.

Brian

Putyourspamhere ( snipped-for-privacy@aol.com) writes: >>Subject: Re: Frustrated Landlord

Courts tend to place a lot of additional credence in a "contemporaneous" record, rather than something scribbled down later. So a "log" - dated entries in a bound notebook is *likely* to be weighted strongly (there are no guarantees in a court of law!) Along this line, it would be important to enter all lock changes, and maybe other maintenance procedures.

I didn't say it wouldn't. I said: "That probably won't help. The tenants will just change out the whole lock". Which renders the point moot.

It's not that simple to report to the credit bureaus. The information must be reported in a specific manner to comply with the bureau technical requirements and it must also be reported according to the FCRA. Most debts to small landlords will never end up on a credit report unless it goes to judgement, then it will appear in the public records section, at least until it's disputed.