Should I charge my tenant for Replacing Locks

[Julie George]

Hi all, 

Wondering if you can provide some input into my situation.I had new tenants who moved in on 06/15/22. The unit is 3 bedroom in a college town, so the tenants are 3 college-aged girls. 

Only 1 of the tenants moved in as the other 2 are away for the summer.I was not physically present to coordinate exchange of keys w/ the 1 tenant so I left all 3 sets of keys in a lockbox in front of the building gate. Apparently, the girl only took 1 of the keys and left the lockbox w/ the remaining 2 keys on the gate .

One week later, I followed up w/ her to make sure she had grabbed the physical lockbox from the gate , and apparently, she did not ...so she went back to check and the lockbox is gone! 

So now the 2 extra keys are missing. I have already checked with the HOA and they confirmed they did not have the lockbox cut. So now my tenant is concerned from a safety standpoint about these missing keys, which I don't disagree with!

The unit is in a. building so there are multiple gates, doors, etc that all require keys.I will have the locks changed but , wondering if I Should I charge her for the locks to be replaced ?

thank you~

[Jaron Walling]

Yes, charge them for the locks. Sounds like negligence on her part to not grab all the keys. She should have coordinated with the roommates and gave them the keys as they moved back for the fall semester. That's not your fault. You may want to revise how you're giving keys to future tenants. 

[Steven Foster Wilson]

Quote from @Julie George:

Hi all, 

Wondering if you can provide some input into my situation.I had new tenants who moved in on 06/15/22. The unit is 3 bedroom in a college town, so the tenants are 3 college-aged girls. 

Only 1 of the tenants moved in as the other 2 are away for the summer.I was not physically present to coordinate exchange of keys w/ the 1 tenant so I left all 3 sets of keys in a lockbox in front of the building gate. Apparently, the girl only took 1 of the keys and left the lockbox w/ the remaining 2 keys on the gate .

One week later, I followed up w/ her to make sure she had grabbed the physical lockbox from the gate , and apparently, she did not ...so she went back to check and the lockbox is gone! 

So now the 2 extra keys are missing. I have already checked with the HOA and they confirmed they did not have the lockbox cut. So now my tenant is concerned from a safety standpoint about these missing keys, which I don't disagree with!

The unit is in a. building so there are multiple gates, doors, etc that all require keys.I will have the locks changed but , wondering if I Should I charge her for the locks to be replaced ?

thank you~

 I would. She should have grabbed all the keys to start and now with this issue, it is her responsibility. You gave her the keys and she was responsible for taking care of them and keeping track of them for the other roommates. 

[Andrew B.]

I would not charge her because you left the keys in something that is, evidently, not secure enough. The keys could have been taken anytime before she picked them up as well, in which case you would also be liable. Take it as a lesson and figure out a more secure option in the future. 

[Lynn McGeein]

I do not feel it's tenant responsibility unless you specifically told her to remove all keys when she picked up hers.  She may have thought she was only entitled to take one, not realizing you don't leave the lockbox on permanently (I know managers who do leave a key in a lockbox for their own maintenance access).  If you're not present to turn over keys, you should make sure you provide detailed instructions, like, Please remove all keys from lockbox at move-in; lockbox to be removed x date.

[Jason Maguire]

I don't think it's the tenants responsibility to grab the remaining two sets of keys unless they were explicitly told to pickup the keys for the other two girls. 

Kind of a crappy situation but i would eat the cost of changing the locks. Best of luck!

[Theresa Harris]

Not sure why she left the other two keys when she knew her friends weren't moving in. Yes she should pay for the rekeying.

[John Warren]

@Julie George I rarely charge my tenants for lock changes. Normally the cost is nominal to me, and I feel that it is a nice gesture to waive the charge. Building up good will on these minor, nuisance issues can go a long way when a real problem comes along. 

I also use a system designed for apartments where I can change out the cylinder cores. It is made by landlordlocks.com, and I have LOVED having this in place. My maintenance guys can swap locks in about 20 seconds, and we can keep and rekey the cylinders for later. 

[Rhett Wiseman]

100% the tenant should NOT be charged for the lock replacement. When renting to college aged kids, someone should always be there to hand keys to them. With you being out of town, some of that responsibility falls on you. Take it as a lesson learned, have the locks changed, and move on! 

[Jared Hottle]

I think I would eat the cost as well. No one really at fault and this type of stuff happens unless it was explicitly said. Also gives you a chance to show them you care about their safety as you start a new group of tenants in the unit. 

[Nathan Gesner]

If you provided clear instructions and she failed to follow them, then I would charge her. Otherwise, I would argue it's your fault and your responsibility. 

[Meño C.]

@Julie George. As a property owner you have to make sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to moving in and exchanging keys. I would take the loss and pay to have new keys installed since the tenants safety should be your top concern. You could be liable for their safety if something happens to them and you knew that the keys were lost or stolen before everyone got the keys.

[Steve Milford]

@Julie George Just let her change the locks as she sees fit and give you a spare key. That way she can feel safe and she has the choice of the lock set. If she wants to go cheap, that's her choice.

[Craig Sloan]

@Julie George I would replace the lock for her at your expense and use Kwikset Smartkey locks.  We changed all our units to the Smartkey's years ago and it has made our lives much easier.  The Smartkey locks can be rekeyed in about 30 seconds and you don't have to replace the lock itself.  You can just rekey it.  In my opinion this will save you considerable time and money in the long run.  I have no affiliation with Kwikset, I just appreciate a product that saves me time and money. https://www.kwikset.com/smartk...

[Colleen F.]

@Julie George They rented a place together,  a single unit with a single move in date when they started paying rent correct?  If she was the move in person I would have given her all keys if I was present.  Did she suddenly share she hadn't collected the keys?  or were you party to the plan to start.  So while I wouldn't charge for re-keying I think I would still have some charge for them as I do charge for lost keys and even if you weren't re-keying the keys not collected would be lost.  

[Mary Smith]

If she was explicitly told to take all three keys from the lock box, then I would charge her for replacing the locks. However, if this was not mentioned to her, then unfortunately, you would need to eat up the cost.

[Greg M.]

I don't think it was unreasonable for her to leave the remaining two sets in the lockbox. You felt it was secure enough to leave them there, so did she. 

And I'm confused as to why she would grab the physical lock box from the gate. The ones I've seen have two different opening mechanisms. One is to remove the lock from whatever it is attached to and the other is to open the compartment with the keys. Did you give her the code to both? 

I think you need to pay for the lock change. I also think it is most likely that a handyman or homeowner cut the box off. Unless you did something dumb, like label the box "Apt 206", no criminal is going to steal the keys and try every door in the complex. It's also possible it was taken by an agent by mistake if you didn't change the default code

[Paul De Luca]

@Julie George

Like others have pointed out, it depends who is at fault. If she failed to follow your instructions, then you should probably charge her. If this happened because you didn't tell her to take the lockbox, I think you'll have to eat the cost.