Can my tenant change the locks?

Here is a question to the blog clinic from Zoe who is a landlord

I rent out my property through an estate agent which should manage the property. I got a call this afternoon from the local police who had received a call with regards to the tenant. The police needed to gain access and wanted to know if I had a set of keys (which I have) as they did not want to force the door. However by the time I arrived the police had already gained access to the property by forcing the front door. An abulance had also attended and were attending to the tennat (which was drink related)

The tenant was taken to the local hosptal and I was then left to secure the front door. a lock smith was called and it was then we realised that the tennant had changed the locks in the front and back door. I do not have keys to these locks….. I was unable to salvage the lock and had to have the locksmith fit a new lock…. I then went to the hospital and left a new key and a note for the tenant…..

My question is Does the tenant have a right to change the locks without permission or even without informing myself or the agent. (I could not get in touch with the agent whilst this all happended). also can you please advise me if I have the right to then have a new lock fitted to make my property secure?

There is quite a lot already on the blog about this subject.  The only real answer I suppose is ‘it depends’.  Things to take into account are the terms of the tenancy agreement and the behaviour of landlord and the tenant.  There was a long discussion here which you may want to look at.

My view is that, practically, if a tenant changes the locks there is not a huge amount the landlord can do other than issue a section 21 notice and then (if they don’t leave) evict them after expiry and deduct the cost of changing the locks from the deposit.

In your case though I think you did absolutely correctly – this was an emergency.  Clearly you could not leave the property insecure, particularly as the tenant was in hospital.  Changing the damaged lock and leaving a key with the tenant was the right course of action.

You may want to re-consider however allowing this tenant to remain as a tenant long term.