How to handle a tenant refusing access?

Hi, as a Right To Manage Company, we are dealing with fire safety issues and many other problems. Such as water leaks, alarms going off, and heating issues that have to be rectified.

We never know when a leak will happen; they are multiple as the developer installed kitchens and bathrooms with loose pipework, no waterproofing, and other issues.

Heating is also an issue due to overpressure, so valves fail and leak, and flats overheat (issued with a warning by the local council for overheating in flats last year – so quite severe).

One tenant out of 100 is refusing to leave keys with the concierge (locked and secure safe) so that access is available should there be an issue – and there have been with things like alarm going off, leaks from above and a blocked soil pipe.

Not having access makes things very difficult, and she is now refusing, having changed her locks. The managing agent for her landlord is supporting her refusal and telling the landlord (overseas) that it is a criminal offence here to not allow a tenant access.

We just need to have ‘access in an emergency’ or ‘access with notice’ – which she generally refuses anyway. Need to say that she has not paid rent in a year – no idea of why she is still there but appears to me some sort of mismanagement by the managing agent who is organising the eviction.

I can’t find any info about changing locks (with notice and landlord’s consent) and giving the tenant a key – that makes it illegal – she will have immediate access once the lock is changed. Be far easier if she gave us a key to her new lock which she changed without her landlord’s consent.

Any advice at all on how to handle the situation would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Harlequin