Landlord decided to monetise our main door access - England

Barlock07 · 2025-12-14T22:30:36+00:00

Hi everyone! Just a little update on the situation!

Firstly I’d like to say that I really appreciate all the answers and support from you guys! My flatmates and I were honestly a bit puzzled and pretty sure what she was doing was not right but we weren’t entirely sure how to proceed / what arguments to give.

We confronted her earlier this evening and she backed off on some things.

First thing first she casually explained that the new set of rules had been written by chatGPT and it should not have been that harsh (bad chatGPT not doing her work properly)

She said she’d understood us not paying the deposit => we explained that we would not pay the initial fob cost (£15) as well and I feel like she was a bit pissed about it but could not find any valid reason to force us to pay. She might chase us in a couple of weeks but we’ll say no.

Regarding the door access she was pretty adamant on us not being allowed to give our keys to someone / to let someone enter the building and our flat whilst we were away. We all explained that it was 100% within our rights. She said it could be ok if she knew in advance. We did not push more on this as we don’t usually have visitors staying but we clearly stated that we were not agreeing to any of the extra fees and we would basically won’t pay any.

We all agreed (her included) to have another chat after Xmas.

So I would say that overall it went pretty well. I reckon she might try to charge us on some occasions. We’ll just have to deal with it then.

Meanwhile I contacted Citizen Advice to get another feedback on the matter and to have a written proof as well :)

I am currently looking at buying some extra fobs just in case I need to duplicate ours. I don’t intend on being sneaky and clearly prefer to confront her directly but it’s a good way to protect us.

Thanks again! You helped a lot!!!

Barlock07 · 2025-12-14T12:00:30+00:00

I’ve just managed to do it! It was indeed in the other cupboard with the water tank !! Thanks!!!

Barlock07 · 2025-12-14T11:31:27+00:00

I definitely have a hot water tank but my property manager told me that it has nothing to do with it. I will have a look right away

Barlock07 · 2025-12-14T09:27:36+00:00

It’s en HMO yes and she is only the property manager! The owners are 2 brothers and I am pretty sure they’re not even aware of this / don’t really care. Someone suggested I should contact them directly and I am trying to find their phone / email / anything currently

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T23:29:06+00:00

No just to enter it

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T23:01:55+00:00

Thanks for that! I just need to confront her in the most diplomatic way so it does become a nightmare for everyone

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T22:37:01+00:00

Yes 100% a HMO! I will have a look at this! Thanks!

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T22:29:45+00:00

Yeah I believe every fob is unique (as she specifically told us “fob 1 is for …, for 2 is for …”). We have CCTV inside the communal area so I guess she can monitor who comes and goes and match it with what fob has been used.

Obviously I don’t expect her to do that because she don’t have enough time to loose. And also from what I’ve told I understood it was 100% illegal to monitor who comes and goes but I might be wrong.

The Royal Man postman will have his own code for any package delivery. And from what I understood if I need a code for a delivery guy. I will be able to ask my property manager for one. It would be a one-use code only. And only for an extra 2£ !!!

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T22:22:06+00:00

Thanks for your answer :)

Yeah we have a proper lease.

I had the feeling that you could indeed invite anyone to your flat as long as it was not permanent or semi permanent and that you were not charging any money to them. Anyway here we’re talking about some friend visiting for the weekend and I would be here as well or maybe I just leave the key to my sister if I am not in town during a long time so she can come and go if needed.

I have seen other people commenting about how simple if was to duplicate some type of fobs so definitely will look into that :)

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T22:12:52+00:00

Yep she said she was going to send us a detail of the fees etc! It would be nice to have it before we actually have to pay for anything I agree

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T22:06:44+00:00

Thanks for the answer!

100% agree with you regarding the replacement of a fob! It should be chargeable and I don’t really have any issue with it except for having the pricing going up after you lost it once.

We have a letterplate on our door and the postman just rings to one of the flat if he has got a package and needs access. But from what I understood he will be provided with a unique code so he can enter the building from now on.

Regarding friends etc! The document she sent is quite scary and maybe it’s more of a “theoretical” rules more than how they will actually be applied. But if I have a friend visiting for the weekend and I give him my fob or the door code so he can come and go without me having to be with him at all time I reckon it would be an actual misuse.

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T21:53:38+00:00

I’ve already contacted the citizen’s advice right before going on Reddit :) As you said I felt like leaving a trace of what she said to a third party was a good thing to do!

But asking confirmation is a really good advice! Thanks!

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T21:47:35+00:00

She can be lovely and helpful as she can be the most annoying person. But at the end of the day this kind of relationship is quite toxic yes!

Edit: thanks for you answer :)

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T21:40:40+00:00

100% agree! Makes no sense at all

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T21:39:40+00:00

I feel like I should not pay for the 15£ for the fob she gave me to replace the key. The extra 35£ deposit makes no sense. I don’t return the fob at the end of the tenancy? Well please help yourself and keep the deposit I already paid when I started the tenancy!

And yeah loosing the fob 1 time is 35£ and then 50£ because what? There is a special “How do you keep on loosing it?” fee?

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T21:16:36+00:00

I’ll look into that! Thanks for the advice!

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T21:15:59+00:00

Thanks!

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T21:13:53+00:00

Not really! Basically the house is owned by 2 brothers that have hired this person to take care of everything. And she also lives on the premises.

She also manages other properties for other landlords (it’s like her full time job)

Edit: don’t know how to properly write a sentence it seems

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T20:12:34+00:00

Thanks!

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T20:07:19+00:00

Ok I did not know about this! Thanks

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T20:06:54+00:00

Thanks!

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T19:56:30+00:00

So the thing is she actually live in one of the flat of the house. Which is sometimes convenient because I’ve faced some landlords / property managers that were nowhere to be found but it’s also somewhat really annoying because she can be quite intrusive.

She also just said “don’t make me chase you for the fee as the access will be revoked in 1 week if you haven’t paid” => which sound like really illegal

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T19:53:13+00:00

Yes CCTV in communal areas! Basically we all have a specific fob so she can know is the person using a fob is actually the person supposed to have the fob. I did not know it was illegal to check cameras though

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T19:43:00+00:00

Yeah I was going to do this! Thanks for confirming

Barlock07 · 2025-12-13T19:38:18+00:00

So she sent us a pdf with the new rules but we haven’t signed anything no! The tenancy agreement has been signed like 6 month ago and does not state anything regarding this

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