Can I cut the lock on my locked cellar? Scotland.

LegalAdviceUK Original
ldlm 367 2019-12-01 11:41:19

Good Morning!

I have recently purchased a flat in Glasgow.

The title deed mentions that the flat, among other things, includes a cellar.

The cellar is located under the stairs in the close and this has been confirmed by our building factors that it is the cellar attached to our property deed.

It currently has a padlock on it. The factor is investigating who locked it and where the key may be but I'm wondering if i can just cut it off?

The previous owner renovated the flat and said he never tried to access the cellar.

I'm itching to see what is inside and would love some advice.

It will probably be underwhelming but I will post pictures once it is open, reddit loves a locked room.

WG47 420 8m

The deeds say the cellar is yours, and the factors have confirmed it. You're perfectly entitled to cut the lock off. It's your cellar, your door, and your lock.


He would say that, it just gives him plausible deniability for when the bodies are finally discovered. ;)


I reckon OP will find a grow house in there.

Java2017 55 1h43m

I hope OP is kind enough to send me some

jordan346 26 2h31m

Get in line mate

ldlm 192 33m

I thought it seemed pretty black and white I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I was missing.

Got a bit of a home DIY day on but I will cut the lock for sure and update all of you. Grow house is fine haha bodies not so much.

Thanks everyone.

[deleted] 36 1h43m


[deleted] 4 1h57m


[deleted] 2 2h11m


[deleted] 1 2h16m


[deleted] 1 2h27m


[deleted] 1 2h35m


cyber2024 33 2h20m

Youtuber Lock Picking Lawyer has u covered

mollymoo 31 2h39m

Specifically this technique will deal with most reasonably inexpensive padlocks (and most people use super cheap padlocks).

Picturesquesheep 25 3h13m

Not clicked your link but I’m gonna guess two spanner was technique. Or, praise be,


chowdahpacman 4 3h18m

A grinder would be my personal lockpick tool on my own lock.

thecheekymonkey 137 21m

Cut. The. Dam. Lock.

Update as well.

P.s. who in the hell is gonna challenge you for cutting the lock?

BritishDeafMan 134 1h57m

One question nobody else has asked:

Why, at any point during the house buying process, nobody has inspected the cellar? At minimum, I would expect an estate agent to have inspected it at least once, if not a building inspector.

kindapinkypurple 77 3h1m

I bet someone has and it's full of worthless junk that'll need several skip hires or multiple trips to the dump. Cheaper and easier to lock it and claim you've never looked inside..

igneousink 17 3h39m

ouch. You're probably right.

Earhacker 29 2h21m

No legal advice here, but I recently bought a home in Scotland.

If they're typical estate agents, they'd have seen that yes, the property has a cellar, ticked a box and moved on to the next thing.

In Scotland, the seller provides a home report (via the estate agent) and any other inspection is up to the buyer. The home report is limited to what the inspector can visually see on the day, so if the door was locked, then that was that. After completion the buyer gets (typically) five days to raise a dispute over any defects found after moving in that weren't apparent between viewing and completion. For new builds the buyer usually gets up to a year to find snags, but that's a contractual term with the builder/seller, not legislation.

CNash85 6 2h49m

For most properties a RICS Homebuyer Report will suffice (both for the buyers peace of mind and to satisfy the lender). The surveyors will just note “The property has a cellar; it was locked and inaccessible, we do not anticipate any issues but buyer is advised to check (etc etc)” . For them to go “above and beyond” you need a full buildings survey, which is usually only necessary if there are known issues or the property is unusual.

[deleted] 101 35m


[deleted] 5 2h59m


GrantS94 88 2h3m

Cut it, can promise you it’s probably going to be a gas meter, boxes of auld shite and a bike. If your lucky, you’ll find an old paper fiver.

zoidao 35 2h9m

...and a severed human head.

Just the normal stuff

GrantS94 35 2h10m

In a Tesco bag which wasn’t paid for.

zoidao 27 2h11m

the criminal bastards...

Internationalmodel1 29 2h42m

This is a true story. In the 1950s my mother lived in an apartment that had a small hatch in the floor about 12 inches by 12 inches in size. My mother didnt want to open it because of bugs etc... she put a carpet over it and forgot about it. She lived there for 4 years. When she moved out the new tenants opened the hatch on the floor. It was a major stash of money that had been the spoils of a bank robbery in Toronto. My mother said if it were her that found the cash stash she would have said nothing. She thought the new tenants were idiots for reporting to the police the find. I used to have the newspaper article about the story and robbery but after 50 years it's been misplaced.

GrumpyOik 28 47m

Not wishing to derail an interesting thread, but what would the recommended procedure be if the OP did find something dubious in the cellar? (I'm not suggesting in any way that there would be, but purely out of interest)

Do you just call the police and say "I've just moved in, you'll never guess what I've found"? Get some sort of legal representation first? I'm just curious.

Broad8-15 31 59m

Stop immediately and call police. If they’re going to nick you they’ll do it whether you’ve already spoken to a solicitor or not

anomalous_cowherd 17 1h5m

...at which point you make sure you do have a solicitor before saying anything to them except confirming your ID.

multijoy 15 1h28m

OP is in Scotland where solicitor attendance at the police station is rare (unqualified right to silence means you can’t incriminate yourself by not answering).

anomalous_cowherd 11 1h38m

Hmm. So should a totally innocent person such as OP talk or stay silent?

My own inclination is to talk but I'm exactly the kind of person the 'don't talk without a solicitor present or you'll screw yourself' advice is aimed at.

TheDalryLama 10 2h6m

Solicitors in Scotland virtually always tell people to go no comment in interview. Solicitor consultations are done by phone for the most part, they hardly ever attend at a police station.

anomalous_cowherd 10 2h56m

For the 0.001% chance I'm ever arrested in Scotland, thanks for the info. I'm sure it's a lot more useful for many others reading though, and hopefully OP won't need it!

HildartheDorf 9 1h15m

Depends what you found. Bodies, I'd probably call straight away. Drugs? I'd lawyer up first before they try and pin possession on me and then me have to prove I didn't know it was there.

igneousink 5 3h41m

had me in the second part of the first half

bulletproof_alibi 5 2h34m

There are some offences where possession is enough on it’s own to convict with no need to prove intent. Unless you could somehow argue that ownership is not possession, better hope the PF is down with the public interest test.

TheDalryLama 3 2h41m

What offences are you thinking of specifically?

bulletproof_alibi 4 2h49m

s5 Firearms Act 1968 is the first one that springs to mind: “A person commits an offence if, without authority, he has in his possession, or purchases or acquires...https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/27/section/5

On my phone right now so I can’t check if there has been any relevant relevant case law regarding the definition of “possession” in situations like this.

I imagine the authorities would be quite understanding if there is some old WWII kit down there, but OP might be in for a rough night of questioning if there are a few hundred kilos of finest columbian export or images of child abuse.

TheDalryLama 12 3h22m

In relation to the firearms offence, there are two elements that need to be proven when it comes to the term possession, namely knowledge and control (Smith v HMA, 1996 SCCR 49). Knowledge is obviously going to be absent here until the item is discovered. Control is in the sense of them having some meaningful say in what was to be done with it.


Where a firearm was discovered by somebody who immediately calls police to inform them there is absolutely no way they would be charged by police.

wild_biologist 22 51m

You bought the flat. You own everything in the flat.

Break that lock! But if you don't let us know what's in there, you're in trouble.

martinthedog 18 2h21m

My money is on an old bike and a bag of cement that's gone hard.

LGFA92_CouncilTaxLaw 10 9m

Can't see why not, it's your property you're accessing and it's entirely reasonable to remove it under the circumstances.

callsignhotdog 9 16m

Absolute worst case scenario is the owner of the lock takes you to small claims for damage to their lock. If you think you can afford the risk of having to replace their padlock, then have at it

suzebob 14 23m

I think he owns the lock

HildartheDorf 3 1h13m

I think he does, but it's not super clear cut. That said, a padlock isn't expensive to have to replace, and it is denying him access to his property.

Cantliveinchaos 8 2h53m

If you unlock it have another lock handy to put on it -the reason i say this is i was in the same predicament as you when i bought mines and upon getting entry to the cellar it quickly became apparent its where the electical box(not sure if thats the right term) to the communal lights was located and the lock was put on it so bams couldnt get in and damage it.

No hidden treasure locked in it unfortunately haha

JellybeanMidget 7 2h18m

Update: They cut the lock and entered the cellar to find a pentagram carved into the floorings and candles still burning around, there is no other entry to the cellar and no one to be seen. Who lit the candle?!

caliandris 5 2h14m

I'm really no good with suspense. Open the lock. Though you'll prolly find boring building rubble and rubbish the guy couldn't be arsed to clear out. Saying that I have boxes in the attic of my current house which belonged to the previous owner, I'm six years in and still haven't bothered to bring them down. I'm thinking it's prolly model railway stuff as that's what's been in most boxes we've found - old broken model railway stuff and railway collecting magazines.

AutoModerator 1 0m

Welcome to /r/LegalAdviceUK

To Posters (it is important you read this section)

To Readers and Commenters





  • Do not offer to PM OPs;



  • Report posts or comments which do not follow the rules


[deleted] 1 1h40m


[deleted] 1 2h23m


[deleted] 1 2h33m


[deleted] 1 2h37m


[deleted] 1 2h47m


Drunken_Begger88 1 2h58m

A bit of a silly question this if the bit of paper says it yours then its yours! Now the padlock was someones but they gone and its hindering your access to what is yours.... So aye you can cut it but if its a cheap lock youd be better just trying to bust it back open.... And remember its better to seek forgiveness than ask permission lol

litigant-in-person 3h50m

Everyone on LAUK right now.

Stop summoning the remindme bot, click here to be reminded instead.

OP - please make a new thread with an update, once you've broken in.

OP has updated us.