Management agent - lost keys

[muffins78]

I am hoping someone can help/advise please? Without going into detail, we recently changed our locks for security reasons and we were very clear about the key use and access to our property by third parties. Our management agent did not tell us for over a month that they had lost the property key, they do not know who had it last or where it is. We are so disappointed with them.

The agent is regulated by RICS, ARMA, ARLA etc., therefore we would expect that they would keep our keys secure and accounted for at all times. Does anyone know about the regulation controls themselves, as whilst I found references to RICS online in terms of keeping keys secure, the documents are for members only? It would be good to understand our rights in this situation, so any help will be greatly received.

We would expect that under their duty of care responsibilities, they should have told us and changed the lock ? but they are been less than communicative.

[tomskip]

Not too sure what your question is. Did you change your locks before or after the management agents lost their key?

Perhaps the loss of the key hadn't come to light because there had been no need to use the key, and so it wasn't until it was actually needed that they realised it wasn't where it should be. If you see what I mean.

Do you mean letting agents? or the management company for a block of flats (for eg.) ?

[muffins78]

Hi tomskip, the locks were changed before the agent lost them. They had a copy for access which they were using for themselves and third party contractors (although not following our instruction on this from a security perspective either). We had a made a real strict policy about access to the building.

They informed me of the lost key at least a month after they realised it was missing. They did visit the property at the time (apparently), and apparently borrowed a key from a contractor who we authorised to have a key at all times.

[tomskip]

Ah, ok. So what is your question again?

[P.O.U.S.theWonderCat]

If you're asking what action you can take against them for their negligence, I suspect there is very little. My experience of the agents associations is that they are fairly ineffective for the general public, and there's no point in pursuing any other legal claim for their negligence if it hasn't resulted in a loss.