Not allowed lock on bedroom door of student house?

CuteStar*

Sounds like rubbish! Having a lock is sort of important :P

No it's not, if you trust your housemates. I rarely even close my door, I never lock it unless I'm going to be absent for a few days. Even then, that's to stop burglars, not my housemates.

Reply 21

James4d

13

theronkinator

I don't think people sleep in there.

After enough house parties, you'll retract that statement :yep:

Reply 22

eden

12

i think , if you have a lock on the bedroom doors, the house then becomes a HMO and your landlord has to make sure all sorts of regulations are adhered to (eg pay money sorting loads of stuff)

Reply 23

Epione

The reason is a legal one - have you rented the whole house with a group of friends or a room in a house? Legally they're different things; if the former, locks can't be put on doors as it changes the rental into a house of multiple occupancy, and as such all the fire regulations etc. that the landlord legally has to fulfil are different to a normal rental property.

Reply 24

kpwxx

20

He sounds like he's making stuff up or doesn't know what he's talking about; however if you put a lock without his permission he could take deposit from you or worse... I THINK it can affect HIS insurance on the house, or similar, so that's probably the main reason he doesn't want them. So sadly you are just gonna have to try to convince him or put up with it.

Get a mini safe, or even ask that the rooms have one since he won't let you have locks.

Actually thinking about it, I'm presuming by HMO you mean you have separate tenancy agreements... I thought there HAD to be locks. Definitely fight this with him. But if you have a shared/joint tenancy agreement, then there may or may not be locks and it's up to the landlord.

Reply 25

theronkinator

OP

17

He said I can put a lock on now aslong as no key on the inside. It is a HMO according to him but I'm not sure what the contracts say, we pay our rent individually to him, and as far as I'm aware, all houses with 4+ people from over 3 families now has to be a HMO, although locks are NOT required.

So yeah, basically he said I can fit my own Yale lock.

Thanks for the help guys.

Reply 26

marcusfox

16

theronkinator

Just emailed my landlord asking if I can put a lock on my door and he said no because their's a HMO law saying you can't incase there's a fire and you can't get out? WTF? I had a lock on my door in halls and I know others in private houses with locks on their doors (fitted by the landlord) is this true or a load of BS?

It is crap. As long as you make good (woodfiller and paint) any damage done to the door when it's time to move out, you are fine.

There are no HMO regulations saying that internal doors can't have locks. In fact, every single HMO that I have lived in (and I have lived in a lot) have all had locks on the doors.

Well, except one, and the landlord let me put a padlock/hasp on that.

Reply 27

marcusfox

16

Epione

The reason is a legal one - have you rented the whole house with a group of friends or a room in a house? Legally they're different things; if the former, locks can't be put on doors as it changes the rental into a house of multiple occupancy, and as such all the fire regulations etc. that the landlord legally has to fulfil are different to a normal rental property.

Uhhh no, if there are people in the house from more than two households, which all student houses with more than three residents almost certainly will be, it needs to be registered as a HMO. Not whether or not it has locks on the door. Doesn't matter if they have individual or joint contracts either.

Joint contracts are good for the landlord when you have four or five friends renting together because no matter how many leg it, you can go after the rest for the rent.

But it's very difficult to get individual young professionals (with any sense) who only want a room in a shared house to sign a contract that makes them financially linked and financially liable for randomers already in the house, so in that case there are usually individual contracts, can you imagine going to view a property and the landlord saying "there's three people already living here, so if one of them moves out, you'll have to cover his rent"?

Reply 28

mistersaul

Original post by Carl

No it's not, if you trust your housemates. I rarely even close my door, I never lock it unless I'm going to be absent for a few days. Even then, that's to stop burglars, not my housemates.

It's not even about whether or not you trust your housemates. For one thing nothing in your room can be insured so you have no chance of getting compensated, and all it would take is for someone to break in the front or back (lol) and that's that! E.g. I live on the ground floor with two girls on the edge of moss side, Manchester so it's a tad rapey.

Reply 29

Origami Bullets

19

Original post by mistersaul

It's not even about whether or not you trust your housemates. For one thing nothing in your room can be insured so you have no chance of getting compensated, and all it would take is for someone to break in the front or back (lol) and that's that! E.g. I live on the ground floor with two girls on the edge of moss side, Manchester so it's a tad rapey.

This thread is three years old...

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 30

Marcusnostudent

Hi, I'm an electrician and of ton get asked about fire safety regulations; a house deemed as a house of multiple occupancy ( with a lock on each bedroom) has different regs to a shared house. These regulations include hard wired smoke and co2 detectors in every inhabitable room fire doors throughout a particular type of lighting and emergency back up lights. This all means great expense to the owner so I would guess he's leaving the locks of to keep it a shared house thus much less extreme regs. Hope I could help

Reply 31

Origami Bullets

19

Original post by Marcusnostudent

Hi, I'm an electrician and of ton get asked about fire safety regulations; a house deemed as a house of multiple occupancy ( with a lock on each bedroom) has different regs to a shared house. These regulations include hard wired smoke and co2 detectors in every inhabitable room fire doors throughout a particular type of lighting and emergency back up lights. This all means great expense to the owner so I would guess he's leaving the locks of to keep it a shared house thus much less extreme regs. Hope I could help

You're right about HMOs having different rules about smoke detectors etc, but whether or not there are locks on the bedroom has nothing to do with whether or not a house is an HMO. I'd have to double check the precise definitions but from memory anything with 5+ unrelated persons, or over 3+ storeys is an HMO.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 32

doduf

I have a similar problem and he said to me something like 'Due to firealarm regulations I can't put a lock'...I don't know what to do and this is the first time I have seen something like this. All my previous houses had locks on their rooms.

Reply 33

Origami Bullets

19

Original post by doduf

I have a similar problem and he said to me something like 'Due to firealarm regulations I can't put a lock'...I don't know what to do and this is the first time I have seen something like this. All my previous houses had locks on their rooms.

It's utter nonsense. Ask him to show you which fire regulations he's referring to.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 34

martinnstudennt

Original post by doduf

I have a similar problem and he said to me something like 'Due to firealarm regulations I can't put a lock'...I don't know what to do and this is the first time I have seen something like this. All my previous houses had locks on their rooms.

I had exactly the same problem in my second year at uni, managed to find the perfect product online which is a portable lock that causes no damage to the door. DM me and i'll send you the link to the website if you want :smile:

Reply 35

CatrinH360

Original post by theronkinator

Just emailed my landlord asking if I can put a lock on my door and he said no because their's a HMO law saying you can't incase there's a fire and you can't get out? WTF? I had a lock on my door in halls and I know others in private houses with locks on their doors (fitted by the landlord) is this true or a load of BS?

Total BS
I was told the same, luckily my mum is a solicitor so a quick email from her work account sorted it for me

Reply 36

TheAnusFiles

9

You could always operate the sock system

Pink sock - I'm with a girl
White sock -I'm busy doing cocaine
Brown sock - do you wanna know?

Reply 37

Grant42741

That's wrong. I own HMOs and have different lenders. NONE of them insist on locks. I will not have locks on any of my doors irrespective of the terms of my mortgage lender or insurance company. If a lock is important then you need to be asking about it before you sign a contract on a property. At the end of the day - I own the property, and as such it is my decision what changes are made to it.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 38

Grant42741

Original post by CatrinH360

Total BS
I was told the same, luckily my mum is a solicitor so a quick email from her work account sorted it for me

What a load of rubbish... the landlord has the final say... you are living in somebody else's property. You are not entitled to make changes to it. If you want a property with locks - CHOOSE a property with locks. It ain't rocket science

Reply 39

Zedgie

1

Just read online that if it’s a shared tenancy then landlords don’t have to put locks on the doors. But if you have a separate tenancy just for your room then they legally have to. The landlord will deffo be aware of this.I’m having the same trouble at the moment as well, I’ve just told him that as a house we would prefer locks on the doors (his original excuse was the fire hazard thing as well which when there’s so many other houses with locks and things such as master keys, I don’t see it as a valid excuse) Still waiting on a response. I’m planning on getting a safe-like cupboard to keep all my expensive things in but it doesn’t make me feel any better about the fact that drunk couples might stumble into my bedroom in the event of a house party when I’m not there.

Not allowed lock on bedroom door of student house?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you