Tenant requesting key lock on bedroom door

[Matt Faix]

We have a tenant that has requested a key lock on her bedroom door because of a roommate dispute.

She has a cat, and one of her 2 other roommates (both male) was holding a gun to the cats head while she was away and sent a video to one of her friends. He claims it was a joke, but now she wants a key locked bedroom door to keep the cat in there while she is away. As a side note, they have generally been good tenants, he has a military background, and never any problems otherwise.

We usually avoid getting in the middle of roommate disputes, but being that a gun and animal are involved we wanted to post here to get everyone’s thoughts.

Would you put a keylock on the bedroom door to try and resolve the issue, or is this just going to create even more friction between the roommates? Thanks for any advice. 

[Lynn McGeein]

I would give her permission to install her own key lock on her bedroom door with the stipulation that you receive a copy of the key for access within 48 hours and she returns it to normal before leaving.   I've had tenants do this with their own teenagers in residence, saying they don't want their kids or their friends having access to their room before they get home from work in the evening.