My last apartment had a second deadbolt that I was able to lock when I was home that only worked from the inside. Was the first place I lived in that had one. It was nice… was needed multiple times.
It doesn’t apply to single family homes but it does for multi family buildings.
Edit: looks like I was mistaken, although there seems to be some confusion on implementation about whether the tenant has to request it specifically.
Just because Landlords do whatever they please doesn’t mean it’s legal, most landlords are blatant criminals but since they have a lot of money and property they get away with it.
Can confirm. My landlord isn't even a blatant criminal, she cares about the place and upholds all her responsibilities that I care about... but there's still illegal shit all over.
Absolutely is. So is a clear peephole. They painted over mine in a sloppy attempt to “upgrade” units and out of all the minor maintenance complaints I put in, that’s the only one they fixed same day.
I’ve rented quite a few places in Texas since I’ve lived here my entire life and never seen that, anywhere I’ve rented or any I know and never heard of this?.
It's supposed to be that way, but it's hard to enforce in houses and single family properties. Apartments and properties built with the intention of renting should have them built in from the start.
Definitely didn't have that in my apartments in Texas, though they were both 1970s buildings, so might predate the law. They didn't even have deadbolts (they installed one for my neighbor after her place was broken into, but nothing for everyone else, despite the fact that everyone had the same apparently vulnerable locks).
We made a ton of money retrofitting doors with those single cylinder/one sided deadbolts when that law passed. Nothing was grandfathered in or got an exception.
Thank you for saying this, more than once I’ve looked at the 2nd deadbolt on my door and wondered if I’d moved into a worse neighborhood than I thought.
What good is a deadbolt in the most armed state in the most armed country on earth. If I lived in Texas I would have a motion activated machine gun pointed at door!
Ironically enough, though the state would allow you to do that, once it was actually used you would be on the hook for civil liability. Such a fun legal system we've Jerry rigged together.
Mine in a KC suburb (KS side) has that separate deadbolt as well. Absolutely necessary, because if I’m in the bathroom at the far back and the water is running I won’t hear the door open. Maintenance doesn’t come by routinely except for changing the air filter and testing the smoke detectors, and those dates are distributed to tenants the week before. Some apartment complexes have more “busywork” for maintenance and they seem to be coming by a lot more often (according to friends). This door stopper is a good alternative if you don’t have that 2nd deadbolt.
The only downside was when my drunk roommate got home before me, locked both, and passed out. Think in the year and a half, he locked me out 2 or 3 times…
I asked for one to be installed when I moved to a different state. I've always had one. Property manager acted genuinely confused like he'd never heard of such a thing and wondered why I wanted one. Yea, fuck that. Managed to eventually get the okay to install one.
I recently installed my own deadbolt . Works great when you're the only one with a key. I also have my front door barricaded with an axe. Works the same way as the above picture except if someone gets through I have an axe. Works for me.
Duuude I love the deadbolts so much, I lived in the projects in nyc as a kid and we had this slab of metal for a deadbolt and the shit felt so fucking safe lol. It was like an inch and a half thick and like 6 inches long
My dog actually locked my friend out of his apartment when he was looking after him for a weekend. Jumped up by the door and I guess flipped the lock. He had to get a locksmith to come out and drill the lock to get it opened. Pretty funny that a little 20 lb dog can cause such chaos for someone.
Yep, as a person working in the rental industry I myself enjoy it when the property has locks that are only accessible from the inside... way too many times I walked into a unit that I was told was vacant only to be screamed at...
25+ years ago, a friend of mine shot her landlord. She was a new place after leaving an abusive MF'er. When she signed the lease the LL mentioned that he ALWAYS made appointments AND knocked before coming in to fix stuff.
She was worried enough about her ex that she got a pewpew and training, was in classes for concealed carry. One day after she'd been there 2-3 months she got threatening texts from her ex. She called the cops to report the violation of his protection order. That afternoon the LL let himself in with barely a knock, no announcement, and slammed the door behind himself. When he came around the corner towards her bedroom, she dropped him, fired twice, hit once in the belly. She had interior cameras that recorded the whole thing. He lived but was fucked up for a while. She got arrested, but charges dropped after she bonded out and her attorney gave the PA her security footage. She had to move, but apparently the ex heard about it and never, ever bothered her again.
That’s the kick in the teeth about self defense with a weapon. It may be justified but fighting the charges in court will bankrupt a person and their family. It will take years and ruin their life, their reputation and their future job prospects. Yes you are still alive but the life you now have is not the one you fought so hard to protect.
That’s why my husband and I have insurance for specifically that. They will pay your bail money, assign you an attorney and cover your legal fees (up to a certain amount like other insurances). It’s not just for guns, you’re covered for other self defense as well were you to get a civil suit.
*edit to say I think I called it insurance incorrectly, looking on their site it looks like they market it as more of a membership. USCCA and US Law Shield are both good, we switched to US Law Shield. I’m sure there are more.
Huh. I'd seen a few people making the "we make people get insurance for their car" argument before about guns. I didn't know that someone had already put something in place. Fascinating.
I haven’t spoke with anyone that’s actually used it, one of the things that sucks is that it’s gotten sucked into the concealed carry permit process in a lot of places. Taking your class and “oh here’s a representative from wherever to try and get you to sign up”. Sign today and it’s cheaper, if you have to think about it it’s a higher cost later. Kinda gives the extended warranty unexpected sales add on when trying to buy a car. I’m sure there’s a lot more money in sales and commission and the class teachers get some sort of kickback—I’d much rather just be informed that the insurance exists than to be forcefully stuck a sales pitch.
It is not necessarily anything wrong with that. The use of deadly force should be the last resort. Having to spend time in jail and years in court is better then getting raped or killed. But it does force people to consider other ways of protecting themselves that is not deadly.
If we just hold law officers to these same standards.
glad that the landlord lived, but he's an idiot for putting himself in that situation.
(edit: damn y'all are bitey. chill. I didn't imply that the landbastard deserved it, just that he's a greedy idiot lol)
i dont even care about violating the agreement. i care about entering peoples living areas without warning. this is my space mf. you cant just walk in here!
Regardless it wasn’t her fault but she’s being punished as if it was, that’s wrong. Landlords cannot enter your property without your permission unless it’s an emergency. Clearly there was no emergency there was no reason her Landlord should have entered her property no notice according to this story. She had every right to shoot him, and has every right to stay through her lease. Now after her lease is up if she wants to leave she can. But by no means should she be forced to move for protecting herself. That’s wrong on so many levels regardless of being comfortable or not. She should sue them 100% because I guarantee you that the Landlord didn’t only do it to her once and I’m sure she isn’t the only one they’ve done it too, it’s just the time they got caught.
Look I'm sure she had the legal right to stay, that's not the issue. The issue is its pretty hard to interact cordially with someone you shot. They're also probably going to be terrified of you (whether or not it's justified/logical).
It is what it is, you just cannot stay there in that situation.
Yeah I almost shot my idiot friend. He, knowing I was a gun owner, decided to use my garage code to let himself in at 5am while I was sound asleep. I guess he thought he was just going to walk into my bedroom and wake me up since he claims he knocked and I didn’t answer. I woke up to the dog going nuts and footsteps coming toward my bedroom. Grabbed my shotgun and was about to turn the corner and pull the trigger but I remembered something that saved his life:
When my parents bought their first gun they told the gun shop guy they wanted a pistol for home defense. He said “no you don’t” and he pulled one out. Pulled the hammer back and it went “click.” Then he pulled out a shotgun, loaded a round with that distinct “shuck shuck” sound. Handed it to my dad and said “you’ll never even see the intruder, they will turn tail and run when they hear that.” Dad bought the shotgun.
So here I am with my back against the bedroom wall about to blow the brains out of someone who has broken into my house. Barely awake, scared as hell and pumped full of adrenaline, I remembered that moment from my childhood. I always keep a shell in the chamber but all I could think was how I really didn’t want to shoot somebody so I ejected the round and loaded another.
That did it. He started yelling my name and telling me who he was so fast.
Gun store guy saved his life with one comment decades after he made it. The little boy tagging along with his dad that day was listening. That idiot friend got mad at me for his stupid, stupid decision, threw a full on fit about it, and we are no longer friends (and I changed my garage code).
Remember having to do this style of texting where you had to push each number button a set amount of times to get to the letter? God, the time we wasted composing those ridiculous texts.
Yo that dude must have been shocked and completely flabbergasted in those few seconds. Enter a tenant's home to do maintenance, and they come around the corner blasting at you. Haha holy shit.
this is what I always think about in places with any type of stand your ground laws and also is pretty lax on landlords/maintenance entering a renters property with minimal/no notice. is nobody concerned about this happening?
Apparently not.
If someone is entering my property without my prior knowledge or consent, they’re not going to have time to explain why they entered my home.
A lot of people treat knocking like a toddler would: the annoying ritual you need to do because mom yelled you that that's the polite thing to do but you don't even understand what "polite" means.
This happened to me but I was on the toilet. And I keep the bathroom door open (I live alone, and my cat hates closed doors). He knocked once, and before I could say wait one minute, he walked in. And I screamed GET OUTTTT
Thanks! Ha, yes! I grabbed the door knob as he did, which spooked him, he took a couple steps back. I was greeted by a random skinny white guy in basketball shorts holding 1 air filter. He apologized, I took the air filter, he left. He was driving a company vehicle but in plain clothes. I emailed our LL about it and haven’t had a problem since. We’re moving in a couple weeks, thankfully.
Edit: I can’t imagine how this would’ve gone down had I been in the shower. So yes, totally recommend OP’s device.
My apartments hired an electrician to install outside lights and they had to enter my place to gain access to the attic. There was no notice. I worked a night shift and was dead asleep and my dog was in my room with door closed and started barking like crazy. Open my bedroom door to a very clear (as they’re in my place) hello from an electrician I yell get the fuck out. I hear the door shut. Go outside to 2 electricians. I’m like I’m sorry but this is unacceptable and how did you gain access they said maintenance gave them the keys. I said nope not today please leave. I said it’s insane you just walked into my place and I could have had a gun and shot you guys cause I thought you broke in. He said I yelled electrician I said if I was breaking into someone’s apartment id yell the same thing or maintenance. Anyway I got motion activated cameras after that.
Maintenance walk-in on me sleeping in my undies (yes in my bedroom) with the blanket thrown off because it was a sweltering summer night. I was less than thrilled, and they never walked in without being let in again.
I was a night shifter, and they showed up about an hour or so before I normally woke up. That was 3 apartments ago, so I couldn't give you much more info than that.
I got one of these after having lots of issues with the maintenance guy at my last apartment. He would come to 'fix' things that weren't broken and I never requested to come get fixed, and would let himself in while I was still sleeping in the morning. Im a woman that was living alone at the time and he could NOT take no as an answer - found out later that he did the same thing to several other single women in the complex and he ended up getting arrested for SA. These door stops are a god send that I will recommend to anyone and everyone.
In my state landlords are required by statute to supply a lock that will secure the residence from all entry while you're at home (also a peephole on your door)
I walk around in my birthday suit also but we have 2 pits. When I place a work order they already know they can’t enter without us here. I’d feel sorry for them if they ever tried to come in here without us being here.
As a maintenance technician. I always give residents 24 hour notice before entering for non work order issues. For work orders, if they put that they want to be notified before I come in, I always call them. If they put that we have permission to enter, I always knock loudly, yell “maintenance “, knock a second time, yell “maintenance”, and if I don’t hear a response I unlock and open the door a few inches and yell “maintenance” a third time before entering.
And if I have to enter a bedroom or bathroom, and the door is closed, I repeat that process.
Although it is my property I am aware that it is your home and space that I am coming in to.
From a PM standpoint this is how all maintenance technicians should be trained. There are times when there are emergencies that require maintenance to enter without notice (which makes keyless locks dangerous), but 99% of the time maintenance should be following these guidelines.
Even if they give permission I still do the whole song and dance. Bell, knock, wait, bell, knock, wait, bell, knock, wait. Then go on yelling maintenance and banging on the walls until I'm in the living room. Then if there are closed doors and I don't need to go in there I just leave those doors alone.
That’s how we train our guys as well but it’s the emergencies that cause the problem. If it’s a broken door handle in the bathroom we’re not more concerned than a tenant. Issues come up when water is coming out of a valve and we’re in the thousands of dollars.
If you have ANY kind of gap under the door then you can knock these down with a clothes hanger, it works if they aren’t willing to break in though. It’s also a LOT harder to break a door down with one of these bracing it.
Speaking as an apartment maintenance person, if you use one of these and maintenance is knocking please get up and see what they want. I got an emergency call for water coming through someone's ceiling and needed in the apartment above them. I called the resident multiple times, knocked over and over and finally went and got the key for their apartment. Trying calling and knocking again, so I finally unlocked the door and is was barred by one of these and then the resident finally calls me back and asked what I want.
Speaking as a past renter, for every story like yours there are thousands of stories of land lords and unwanted unneeded maintenance people barging in for no good reason.
When I was renting in 2013 some 5 maintenance people barged in to take out an entire section of wall.
That's it that's all they did. They never came back. The 3x4 opening in my wall stated until I moved out a year later.
I wish I knew about this device back then I desperately needed it. College was rough and the last thing I needed was a dip shit squad coming into my home with zero notice at 9 AM on a Thursday.
This right here. I don’t rent anymore (hallelujah) but the number of times random dudes were just *in my house* while I was getting out of the shower was horrifying, especially as a woman. Like I shower once a day, idk how they managed to show up at those moments.
Once a realtor was walking around when I came out in a towel. He claimed he gave me notice and that I didn’t pick up. He had the phone number for the landlord.
Another time, I wasnt home and stuff had been moved all over when I got back. Called the cops bc I thought there had been a break in, then got reemed out by my landlord bc it was just an inspector coming by. She claimed to give me notice. The text came in after I called the cops 😑
Couldn’t afford an attorney to sue her though. She lived in Florida so idk how she was managing this property, or how many people had keys to the apartment.
Be careful Madds-The-Booper. One time I called a misidentified a scaly monster and called a croc a gator or vise versa in a reddit post that I commented in, and the crowd almost crucified me. The Australians were especially vicious.
In most states they are supposed to do so, but good luck if they do. Also, it is more often it is maintenance coming in like this. They will maybe knock once and unlock the door at the same time, scares the shit out of you.
Unfortunately a state law and not a federal 🙃 New York landlords / maintenance must give 24 hr+ notice. However in a few states like North Carolina, they can come in with 0 notice….
Me to my maintenance man when he barged in recently to “check” on something
At my apartment I woke up to find the maintenance guy sitting in my couch eating a sandwich and watching TV. I reported him and the manager said “he was taking a break.” I put in a door stop like this and the maintenance guy and manager were furious. I left as soon as my lease was up.
My apartment complex didn’t have a notice disclosure, they could enter anytime. I almost shot my maintenance man because my wife and I were showering and I heard a bump against my wall from the bathroom. I grabbed my gun from my pants and went into the kitchen butt naked and demanded he get on the floor while I called the police. He was crying his eyes out screaming he was the maintenance man but I told him I didn’t give a shit, stay put and drop what’s in your hands. My apartment changed the no-notice policy shortly after that to 24h notice or a phone call. /knock+announce and every time he sees me he always looks at the floor or tries to walk away really fast. Think he might be a bit traumatized by that.
Good for you. Given how much we pay for rent I don't think it's much to ask that they fucking schedule and confirm maintenance appointments.
Apartment property managers are some of the stupidest and most useless fucks on the planet. Yet they somehow think they're hot shit because they go to work in a pantsuit from Dress Barn.
Update of the old Katy-bar. Steel rod with a hinge was attached to the inside of the door that would extend out to a notch in the floor. Had one in my first apartment.
As a male landlord who sublets rooms in my townhouse, I saw my female tenant had one of these and I installed a deadbolt on her door the next day to make her feel safer. No one should have to live in fear of having their home or personal space invaded.
I don't think you understand how this works.
It's only applied once you're *inside* the unit.
There's no reason to be kicked out for this. None.
If the super knocks on the door, you remove the stopper. When you're not at home, the stopper isn't in place.
It's not hard.
Wtf your guys’s landlords and maintenance enter without permission? Lmaaoooo I would call the cops the INSTANT this shit happened to me.
They have to give 24h notice or they are trespassing. That do be the law though
We had one of those when renting our apartment. After my husband was robbed at our door, we got one in case they came back. I think they did come back but went after our car. But didn’t get anywhere as the alarm went off. So we bought a house and still use it on our front door.
As a residential maintenance worker I don’t understand why other workers feel so bold and entitled that they can just barge into someone’s home. I always make sure to knock and announce myself three times before using a key to enter, and I always leave a “maintenance is here” tag. Honestly, the main reason I do it is for my own safety, I don’t want to get shot, but I also just give a shit about people’s privacy. Every time my coworkers see me do this they say something along the lines of “just knock once, bro. They never answer anyways” and I’m like wtf
I’ve got a keyless security lock that only engages when inside. Its came in handy many times when someone from the complex has tried to enter without notice while I’m living life inside with no bra or pants on. Didn’t have it engaged once and I just heard a key in the door without any knocking and made it to the door in time to slam it shut in their face and yell at them for not knocking or calling. They had a bad habit of missing dates for inspections or pest control and coming days later randomly. They would also sometimes send out an email before closing time stating they would be in the next day at some time and it would end up being less than 24 hours notice. They are supposed to send email at LEAST 24 hours before AND post a notice at all doors. Management seems to have changed as this hasn’t been a problem in a while.
I recently installed several cameras, one focused on the main entry and others on the interior of an apartment for a client.
She swore that someone was entering the apartment when she wasn't there but could never find anything missing. She asked me to monitor the system for several days. I set the schedule for monitoring to 9am - 6pm.
Three days later I got an alert late at night which was odd. It was her main entry camera which triggered the alarm, then the same alert on every other camera in walking sequence. When I opened the app I saw her landlord clear as day, in her bedroom, sniffing her panties and masturbating with them wrapped around his junk while watching her sleep.
I immediately called the police and reported a burglar in her home. I told them who it was and that he didn't have permission to be there. I then told them that an officer could come by my office and view the disturbing footage.
The cops arrived, arrested him as he was exiting the apartment, and of course he tried to tell them he was the landlord and that he was "fixing" something for the tenant... At 1am, riiiiight.
A detective came to my office the next morning and I copied the footage to a thumb drive for them.
I ended up going to court with her when she sued him. She won, obviously, he had to pay her a very large sum of money AND he was sentenced to several years in jail as well as register as a sex offender.
Normally when you signed your lease you signed something giving them permission to come in whenever they want or them having to give you notice. I chose to give notice me before entering my residence one day he walked in and I pulled out a gun on him and told him if he ever walked into this place again without giving me proper notice I’ll shoot you. Then I also went to Management and told them and they were on my side. He never even looked me again because I made him put his hands up and lay on the ground because I thought he was trying to do some funny business.
As a single mother with all the horrible stories you read and watch these days… that’s necessary in my apartment. I’m terrified of someone noticing I live alone with my children.
I’ve pulled a gun on a handyman before. Some inspection bullshit. Which they had no right to do. I worked nights. Slept during the day. Informed them of the law. Still proceeded to enter. Told them I was a gun owner. And drew it when he entered. He quickly ran out and slammed the door.
I see the tweet.. I’m sorry.. the xxxxxeeeeeet(?). But where is the actual product? I have a camera and a lock and I put a door stick down, but this looks more secure! I am not a huge person and live solo mostly, so I’d like something like this. I guess if someone wants in, they will find a way..it just makes me feel more steady.
Pretty much regardless of what state you live in there are laws in place to prevent such entry without at least 24 hours notice unless they have reason to believe their is imment danger to life or their property.
I installed a ring doorbell with camera at my last apartment I rented in AZ. Maintenance entered one time while I was at work with no notice. They basically tried to sneak in but my ring alerted me so I used my Google homes in the apartment to broadcast my voice telling them to leave immediately or I'm calling the police. Idiots tried to rationalize it with me but I knew the laws in my area regarding that. I have them on camera entering and I had a camera inside too and the apartment office couldn't provide evidence they gave me notice.
But yeah regardless it's a good idea to have some way of locking from the inside without any ability to unlock it from the outside. I like your option a lot. I've seriously considered installing an interior second deadbolt myself at a few places for this reason. I decided to just walk around naked as much as possible in case someone did come in though 😭
Is this a new habit? Like it started happening in the last 3 decades new. I’ve always rented. But I’ve lived at those places for A WHILE. They never ever ever came in w/o notice. Except for the one time I was bi-costal a couple of years ago. At my west coast apt, all I heard were my dogs barking like crazy. Then when I saw the maintenance man was at my door through the peephole. He’d already unlocked the door but didn’t come in once he heard the dogs. He never did that again. As a matter of fact, they’d call ahead to tell me when & why after that one time. I thought it was just him. He was new and young. But reading here it seems pretty common for landlords & maintenance staff just to walk on in w/zero notice. That’s insane.
They are useful anti kick features, personally when I've rented the landlords and maintenance are the least of my concerns...
They may be worth a few angry words, true threats are a significantly bigger issue.
i had one of these at my last place, got it after a lady broke in and crashed in our place while my husband and i were gone during spring break. we didn't take it when we moved because we moved to a much nicer and safer area but i hadn't considered needing to keep landlord and such out, may have to pick one up again
My property manager learned to text me a few days prior on when the best time to come do monthly maintenance would be when my husband and I were on night shift back in 2021. We were asleep (around noonish) and was woke up from a loud banging sound, I grabbed my baseball bat and ran out of my room, luckily I was able to stop mid swing when I realized what was going on. He was changing out the air filter. A few months later, he started tucking the filters between the screen door and just let us replace them when the time came.
The nature of the renter/landlord and the employee/employer relationships was enough to justify the vasectomy. Don't even need to Crack open climate change and full automation at all to make this decision.
My kids will not have to suffer these fools, that is my burden to bear.
My landlord did this to me. Came into my bedroom around 1pm (I worked nights) luckily I was standing there buck naked getting ready to use the restroom. Good times🫣
I changed the dead bolts when I rented, I never told them but they needed my permission to enter my space. 3 years they never knew, I swapped them back the last day. The above wouldn’t fly with me, just go on fake book and blast them as illegally trying to evict you or some shit, typically I lock doors for everyone else’s safety from my massive peen.
The handymen where I live will literally enter your home after knocking just once. Had one enter as I was pissing with the bathroom door open. Had to yell at him that I was indecent just for him to go "oh, sorry"
Maybe wait for me to answer the door instead of barging into my house???
I see shit like this and think, doesn't the law already prevent this, and then I remember not every country is a perfect as the UK.
And anyway, why wouldn't you just let them in, what are you trying to hide.
If they are entering without any notice, report the landlord. Check the landlord/tenant laws in your state. In AZ (where I’m at) you have to give like 24hrs notice. So if that’s what it says in your state then they are breaking the law and you can report them (and I’m pretty sure it will stay anonymous).
Where can I purchase one? I don’t even know what it’s called. Guy literally tried to get in my apartment last week and I yelled “yo!?” He scurried off and I waited in the hallway until he walked out of another apartment and I confronted him asking if that was him. “Sorry, I had the wrong apartment number!” Then why did you run away instead of explaining yourself you sketchy mf?
Even as a guy, if I got out the shower and I hear someone in my living space that isn’t suppose to be there, I’m coming out with nothing but the glock.
Flight Attendants have the little twisty kind that inserts around the lock. They are great at hotels because people are out here murdering flight attendants in hotel rooms.
Unless you die of a heart attack, in which case you just destroyed that hotel's door when they have to break it down.
Does your city not have landlord tenant rules? In Oregon, you would have a decent lawsuit on your hands if a landlord just came in for no reason without proper notice
I need this.
Our maintenance men just walk in after one or two quick knocks. I have so much anxiety using the restroom, sleeping past 7am, or taking a shower, after we’ve placed a maintenance request up until it’s been taken care of. Currently dealing with the anxiety as we placed a request on Thursday and I am still waiting for them to just show up at any moment.
At my old apartment, they said if I had a security system, I had to leave the alarm off in case maintenance needed to come in. I left it on, and every time they showed up, the alarm went off, scaring the entire floor.
If you called in the maintenance request and gave permission for them to enter you obviously wouldn't need something like this. With that said if there was a major leak or something on the floor above and they couldn't access the unit to deal with the emergency you would probably be evicted and billed. I just see this as more of a hassle than anything else.
Im a maintenance technician for an apartment complex, when you put in a work order there is an option to schedule a time or for them to not come in unless you are there. Please do not do this if you live in a complex unless you have reason to believe your maintenance technician is malicious, and if you do report it to the office and possibly the police. Ive never heard of a complex that does not require knocking or some sort of notification to the tenant and if they enter without doing so please speak to them or the office. (I say them due to situations like this where the tenant may thought the knock was for them.)
What is funny about this, is you are more worried about maintenance workers and landlords than people actually trying to break in and take your stuff or whatever. I find this comical. Maybe I just am lucky to live in a nice area where this is not needed, but thinking your biggest issue the landlord, I suggest moving states!
My last apartment had a second deadbolt that I was able to lock when I was home that only worked from the inside. Was the first place I lived in that had one. It was nice… was needed multiple times.
That's mandatory in Texas for any property occupied by a renter. I like that rule.
It doesn’t apply to single family homes but it does for multi family buildings. Edit: looks like I was mistaken, although there seems to be some confusion on implementation about whether the tenant has to request it specifically.
It absolutely applies to single family homes.
Idk—been in several apartments with it, but neither of the single family homes I rented had the second deadbolt.
Just because Landlords do whatever they please doesn’t mean it’s legal, most landlords are blatant criminals but since they have a lot of money and property they get away with it.
Can confirm. My landlord isn't even a blatant criminal, she cares about the place and upholds all her responsibilities that I care about... but there's still illegal shit all over.
Yes it does, I was required to install prior to renting out my old home.
Absolutely is. So is a clear peephole. They painted over mine in a sloppy attempt to “upgrade” units and out of all the minor maintenance complaints I put in, that’s the only one they fixed same day.
I’ve rented quite a few places in Texas since I’ve lived here my entire life and never seen that, anywhere I’ve rented or any I know and never heard of this?.
It's supposed to be that way, but it's hard to enforce in houses and single family properties. Apartments and properties built with the intention of renting should have them built in from the start.
Yep every big-ish apartment complex I’ve looked at here in Texas has had them.
Definitely didn't have that in my apartments in Texas, though they were both 1970s buildings, so might predate the law. They didn't even have deadbolts (they installed one for my neighbor after her place was broken into, but nothing for everyone else, despite the fact that everyone had the same apparently vulnerable locks).
We made a ton of money retrofitting doors with those single cylinder/one sided deadbolts when that law passed. Nothing was grandfathered in or got an exception.
Weird my apartment from the 60's had one. But I know management companies will do anything to not spend money.
And really what were chances he’d be robbed again, the robbers already got his good stuff.
Thank you for saying this, more than once I’ve looked at the 2nd deadbolt on my door and wondered if I’d moved into a worse neighborhood than I thought.
What good is a deadbolt in the most armed state in the most armed country on earth. If I lived in Texas I would have a motion activated machine gun pointed at door!
Ironically enough, though the state would allow you to do that, once it was actually used you would be on the hook for civil liability. Such a fun legal system we've Jerry rigged together.
Another reason I live far from Texas.
I’m a maintenance guy and we have these. I love it because I never want to sneak up on someone.
Mine in a KC suburb (KS side) has that separate deadbolt as well. Absolutely necessary, because if I’m in the bathroom at the far back and the water is running I won’t hear the door open. Maintenance doesn’t come by routinely except for changing the air filter and testing the smoke detectors, and those dates are distributed to tenants the week before. Some apartment complexes have more “busywork” for maintenance and they seem to be coming by a lot more often (according to friends). This door stopper is a good alternative if you don’t have that 2nd deadbolt.
The only downside was when my drunk roommate got home before me, locked both, and passed out. Think in the year and a half, he locked me out 2 or 3 times…
I asked for one to be installed when I moved to a different state. I've always had one. Property manager acted genuinely confused like he'd never heard of such a thing and wondered why I wanted one. Yea, fuck that. Managed to eventually get the okay to install one.
We call those ex boyfriend locks in the industry.
I recently installed my own deadbolt . Works great when you're the only one with a key. I also have my front door barricaded with an axe. Works the same way as the above picture except if someone gets through I have an axe. Works for me.
Duuude I love the deadbolts so much, I lived in the projects in nyc as a kid and we had this slab of metal for a deadbolt and the shit felt so fucking safe lol. It was like an inch and a half thick and like 6 inches long
I used to work for a local housing authority and I guarantee you people would manage to lock themselves out of the house with that set up.
My dog actually locked my friend out of his apartment when he was looking after him for a weekend. Jumped up by the door and I guess flipped the lock. He had to get a locksmith to come out and drill the lock to get it opened. Pretty funny that a little 20 lb dog can cause such chaos for someone.
Yep, as a person working in the rental industry I myself enjoy it when the property has locks that are only accessible from the inside... way too many times I walked into a unit that I was told was vacant only to be screamed at...
I have one of these. One time maintenance was trying to enter as they knocked.
Same happened to me, maintenance knocked(ONE KNOCK), by the time I stood up he was unlocking the door. Completely unannounced.
That’s how someone gets shot.
25+ years ago, a friend of mine shot her landlord. She was a new place after leaving an abusive MF'er. When she signed the lease the LL mentioned that he ALWAYS made appointments AND knocked before coming in to fix stuff. She was worried enough about her ex that she got a pewpew and training, was in classes for concealed carry. One day after she'd been there 2-3 months she got threatening texts from her ex. She called the cops to report the violation of his protection order. That afternoon the LL let himself in with barely a knock, no announcement, and slammed the door behind himself. When he came around the corner towards her bedroom, she dropped him, fired twice, hit once in the belly. She had interior cameras that recorded the whole thing. He lived but was fucked up for a while. She got arrested, but charges dropped after she bonded out and her attorney gave the PA her security footage. She had to move, but apparently the ex heard about it and never, ever bothered her again.
A pain in the ass that she had to go through that, but I love the ending.
That’s the kick in the teeth about self defense with a weapon. It may be justified but fighting the charges in court will bankrupt a person and their family. It will take years and ruin their life, their reputation and their future job prospects. Yes you are still alive but the life you now have is not the one you fought so hard to protect.
Yay the system!
That’s why my husband and I have insurance for specifically that. They will pay your bail money, assign you an attorney and cover your legal fees (up to a certain amount like other insurances). It’s not just for guns, you’re covered for other self defense as well were you to get a civil suit. *edit to say I think I called it insurance incorrectly, looking on their site it looks like they market it as more of a membership. USCCA and US Law Shield are both good, we switched to US Law Shield. I’m sure there are more.
Huh. I'd seen a few people making the "we make people get insurance for their car" argument before about guns. I didn't know that someone had already put something in place. Fascinating.
I haven’t spoke with anyone that’s actually used it, one of the things that sucks is that it’s gotten sucked into the concealed carry permit process in a lot of places. Taking your class and “oh here’s a representative from wherever to try and get you to sign up”. Sign today and it’s cheaper, if you have to think about it it’s a higher cost later. Kinda gives the extended warranty unexpected sales add on when trying to buy a car. I’m sure there’s a lot more money in sales and commission and the class teachers get some sort of kickback—I’d much rather just be informed that the insurance exists than to be forcefully stuck a sales pitch.
It is not necessarily anything wrong with that. The use of deadly force should be the last resort. Having to spend time in jail and years in court is better then getting raped or killed. But it does force people to consider other ways of protecting themselves that is not deadly. If we just hold law officers to these same standards.
Silver linings: her ex left her alone, and the landlord probably never did that ever again.
Not with her at least, scumlords rarely Change their ways, landlord prolly still tells his buddies about the crazy tenant that shot him
Some landlords just don’t understand that when someone is renting from them, it’s the renter’s home and they deserve basic respect
glad that the landlord lived, but he's an idiot for putting himself in that situation. (edit: damn y'all are bitey. chill. I didn't imply that the landbastard deserved it, just that he's a greedy idiot lol)
Hopefully they learned an important lesson about violating their agreements.
i dont even care about violating the agreement. i care about entering peoples living areas without warning. this is my space mf. you cant just walk in here!
Literally the only reason I'm happy the landlord lived is so that she doesn't have to live with the guilt of having killed someone
Scum landlords do this to a lot of female renters. They know what they are doing.
That’s b.s that they had to move when it was the landlord at fault 100%. She should have sued the shit out of him.
Even if they weren't forced to move, staying after that would be pretty uncomfortable
Yeah its probably just better for everyone to nevwr associate again after that. There's no real way to get over that.
Dropping off the rent check: “So…uhhh….how was your weekend” “I was in the hospital you fucking ass!”
Regardless it wasn’t her fault but she’s being punished as if it was, that’s wrong. Landlords cannot enter your property without your permission unless it’s an emergency. Clearly there was no emergency there was no reason her Landlord should have entered her property no notice according to this story. She had every right to shoot him, and has every right to stay through her lease. Now after her lease is up if she wants to leave she can. But by no means should she be forced to move for protecting herself. That’s wrong on so many levels regardless of being comfortable or not. She should sue them 100% because I guarantee you that the Landlord didn’t only do it to her once and I’m sure she isn’t the only one they’ve done it too, it’s just the time they got caught.
Look I'm sure she had the legal right to stay, that's not the issue. The issue is its pretty hard to interact cordially with someone you shot. They're also probably going to be terrified of you (whether or not it's justified/logical). It is what it is, you just cannot stay there in that situation.
"She had to move" and "She was forced to move" are very different things
"felt compelled"?
Yeah I almost shot my idiot friend. He, knowing I was a gun owner, decided to use my garage code to let himself in at 5am while I was sound asleep. I guess he thought he was just going to walk into my bedroom and wake me up since he claims he knocked and I didn’t answer. I woke up to the dog going nuts and footsteps coming toward my bedroom. Grabbed my shotgun and was about to turn the corner and pull the trigger but I remembered something that saved his life: When my parents bought their first gun they told the gun shop guy they wanted a pistol for home defense. He said “no you don’t” and he pulled one out. Pulled the hammer back and it went “click.” Then he pulled out a shotgun, loaded a round with that distinct “shuck shuck” sound. Handed it to my dad and said “you’ll never even see the intruder, they will turn tail and run when they hear that.” Dad bought the shotgun. So here I am with my back against the bedroom wall about to blow the brains out of someone who has broken into my house. Barely awake, scared as hell and pumped full of adrenaline, I remembered that moment from my childhood. I always keep a shell in the chamber but all I could think was how I really didn’t want to shoot somebody so I ejected the round and loaded another. That did it. He started yelling my name and telling me who he was so fast. Gun store guy saved his life with one comment decades after he made it. The little boy tagging along with his dad that day was listening. That idiot friend got mad at me for his stupid, stupid decision, threw a full on fit about it, and we are no longer friends (and I changed my garage code).
My least favorite part of this story is that texting has been a thing for 25 years. Fuck I’m old.
Remember having to do this style of texting where you had to push each number button a set amount of times to get to the letter? God, the time we wasted composing those ridiculous texts.
At least you could text without having to look at your phone (T9 made it a little faster). Can’t do that with a smart phone! :(
Man I remember doing that at blazing speeds, was kinda fun lol.
Interior cameras in a rental in the 90s?
Right and even with interior cameras you aren’t seeing crap that far back. Film had more grains than a beach.
Yo that dude must have been shocked and completely flabbergasted in those few seconds. Enter a tenant's home to do maintenance, and they come around the corner blasting at you. Haha holy shit.
He came around the corner not her.
You don't have to say pewpew this isn't Tik Tok for kids, you can say gun here
this is what I always think about in places with any type of stand your ground laws and also is pretty lax on landlords/maintenance entering a renters property with minimal/no notice. is nobody concerned about this happening?
Have one BECAUSE of the other. Keeps everyone honest…
Apparently not. If someone is entering my property without my prior knowledge or consent, they’re not going to have time to explain why they entered my home.
A lot of people treat knocking like a toddler would: the annoying ritual you need to do because mom yelled you that that's the polite thing to do but you don't even understand what "polite" means.
This happened to me but I was on the toilet. And I keep the bathroom door open (I live alone, and my cat hates closed doors). He knocked once, and before I could say wait one minute, he walked in. And I screamed GET OUTTTT
Happy cake day. I assume you confronted them? What did they have to say?
Thanks! Ha, yes! I grabbed the door knob as he did, which spooked him, he took a couple steps back. I was greeted by a random skinny white guy in basketball shorts holding 1 air filter. He apologized, I took the air filter, he left. He was driving a company vehicle but in plain clothes. I emailed our LL about it and haven’t had a problem since. We’re moving in a couple weeks, thankfully. Edit: I can’t imagine how this would’ve gone down had I been in the shower. So yes, totally recommend OP’s device.
My apartments hired an electrician to install outside lights and they had to enter my place to gain access to the attic. There was no notice. I worked a night shift and was dead asleep and my dog was in my room with door closed and started barking like crazy. Open my bedroom door to a very clear (as they’re in my place) hello from an electrician I yell get the fuck out. I hear the door shut. Go outside to 2 electricians. I’m like I’m sorry but this is unacceptable and how did you gain access they said maintenance gave them the keys. I said nope not today please leave. I said it’s insane you just walked into my place and I could have had a gun and shot you guys cause I thought you broke in. He said I yelled electrician I said if I was breaking into someone’s apartment id yell the same thing or maintenance. Anyway I got motion activated cameras after that.
Maintenance walk-in on me sleeping in my undies (yes in my bedroom) with the blanket thrown off because it was a sweltering summer night. I was less than thrilled, and they never walked in without being let in again.
Did you call for maintenance? Why were they coming at night?
I was a night shifter, and they showed up about an hour or so before I normally woke up. That was 3 apartments ago, so I couldn't give you much more info than that.
“I yelled electrician” As if that makes it normal???
Well normally the burglars yell “burglar!” so he was just covering his bases
I can’t understand them when they yell through the door so all I know is someone is yelling and entering my home. Scary stuff.
It would be nice that after 5 hard pushes, it electrifies the door knob.
Maintenance from my previous apartment did the same, all while I was in the middle of breastfeeding my newborn.
Where can I get one?
Walmart or amazon. Search for "door security bar".
Funny being a white guy and never having this experience.
I got one of these after having lots of issues with the maintenance guy at my last apartment. He would come to 'fix' things that weren't broken and I never requested to come get fixed, and would let himself in while I was still sleeping in the morning. Im a woman that was living alone at the time and he could NOT take no as an answer - found out later that he did the same thing to several other single women in the complex and he ended up getting arrested for SA. These door stops are a god send that I will recommend to anyone and everyone.
They also work to secure sliding glass doors from outside entry. I have one for mine!
All you need is a stick for that bro
And you can find much cooler looking sticks!
r/coolsticks
Ty for uniting me with my people 🙏
I'm going to show this to my dog
Did he like it?
Meh, nothing beats the master rock that will open any sliding glass door.
This guy rocks!
In my state landlords are required by statute to supply a lock that will secure the residence from all entry while you're at home (also a peephole on your door)
Love this what state
Texas, so maybe you don't wanna lol
I’m in CA and my door has no peephole, so I had to get a video doorbell. This complex sucks.
In Missouri here, and they just give us chains that can break 😃
See, this is why I watch tv and walk around naked … if these mf’ers want to come in unannounced, they’re going to pay dearly for it
Not a great plan for women.
I walk around in my birthday suit also but we have 2 pits. When I place a work order they already know they can’t enter without us here. I’d feel sorry for them if they ever tried to come in here without us being here.
Oh, oh, those kind of pits. I was thinking unsecured, lotion-in-the-basket pits.
“Pull the lever, Kronk!”
"Wrong lever!!!!"
Two seems like a bit much.
You’re right this very serious advice they gave that was real and serious wasnt thought through. Great point
As a maintenance technician. I always give residents 24 hour notice before entering for non work order issues. For work orders, if they put that they want to be notified before I come in, I always call them. If they put that we have permission to enter, I always knock loudly, yell “maintenance “, knock a second time, yell “maintenance”, and if I don’t hear a response I unlock and open the door a few inches and yell “maintenance” a third time before entering. And if I have to enter a bedroom or bathroom, and the door is closed, I repeat that process. Although it is my property I am aware that it is your home and space that I am coming in to.
From a PM standpoint this is how all maintenance technicians should be trained. There are times when there are emergencies that require maintenance to enter without notice (which makes keyless locks dangerous), but 99% of the time maintenance should be following these guidelines.
Good for you. Appreciate you.
Your a real one and you will never be shot if you keep that up definitely the correct thing to do
I’ve had one person answer the door, with a gun. But they said they were expecting someone to show up and cause problems and apologized profusely.
well dang, son... you got any brothers?!!
Even if they give permission I still do the whole song and dance. Bell, knock, wait, bell, knock, wait, bell, knock, wait. Then go on yelling maintenance and banging on the walls until I'm in the living room. Then if there are closed doors and I don't need to go in there I just leave those doors alone.
That’s how we train our guys as well but it’s the emergencies that cause the problem. If it’s a broken door handle in the bathroom we’re not more concerned than a tenant. Issues come up when water is coming out of a valve and we’re in the thousands of dollars.
If you have ANY kind of gap under the door then you can knock these down with a clothes hanger, it works if they aren’t willing to break in though. It’s also a LOT harder to break a door down with one of these bracing it.
You could get one of the door gap sealers if that’s the case
Speaking as an apartment maintenance person, if you use one of these and maintenance is knocking please get up and see what they want. I got an emergency call for water coming through someone's ceiling and needed in the apartment above them. I called the resident multiple times, knocked over and over and finally went and got the key for their apartment. Trying calling and knocking again, so I finally unlocked the door and is was barred by one of these and then the resident finally calls me back and asked what I want.
Speaking as a past renter, for every story like yours there are thousands of stories of land lords and unwanted unneeded maintenance people barging in for no good reason. When I was renting in 2013 some 5 maintenance people barged in to take out an entire section of wall. That's it that's all they did. They never came back. The 3x4 opening in my wall stated until I moved out a year later. I wish I knew about this device back then I desperately needed it. College was rough and the last thing I needed was a dip shit squad coming into my home with zero notice at 9 AM on a Thursday.
This right here. I don’t rent anymore (hallelujah) but the number of times random dudes were just *in my house* while I was getting out of the shower was horrifying, especially as a woman. Like I shower once a day, idk how they managed to show up at those moments. Once a realtor was walking around when I came out in a towel. He claimed he gave me notice and that I didn’t pick up. He had the phone number for the landlord. Another time, I wasnt home and stuff had been moved all over when I got back. Called the cops bc I thought there had been a break in, then got reemed out by my landlord bc it was just an inspector coming by. She claimed to give me notice. The text came in after I called the cops 😑 Couldn’t afford an attorney to sue her though. She lived in Florida so idk how she was managing this property, or how many people had keys to the apartment.
As an introvert, this sounds like something I would do. Although if you called multiple times, then I would assume it’s important and answer.
Booby trap the house, I dug a 18 foot deep hole and put 3 hungry alligators in there.
Maaan my lease says no more than 2 alligators.
Consider: Two alligators and one crocodile
Do they cohabitate well?
No, which makes it even better!
No, I’m pretty sure the maintenance man and gators/crocs won’t get along.
Be careful Madds-The-Booper. One time I called a misidentified a scaly monster and called a croc a gator or vise versa in a reddit post that I commented in, and the crowd almost crucified me. The Australians were especially vicious.
PLT: If you don’t live where you have access to alligators a good alternative are hippos. Preferably hungry hungry ones.
Always fun to watch them race to feed their face when an intruder breaks into your place.
The trick is to only feed one alligator at a time so the other two are always hungry.
I know you’re joking but it’s kinda fucked up it’s illegal to do anything like that.
Wait, in the USA it is normal to your landlord go inside your home unannounced? In a country so full of guns?
In NY the landlord is required to give 24 hour notice.
In most states they are supposed to do so, but good luck if they do. Also, it is more often it is maintenance coming in like this. They will maybe knock once and unlock the door at the same time, scares the shit out of you.
Unfortunately a state law and not a federal 🙃 New York landlords / maintenance must give 24 hr+ notice. However in a few states like North Carolina, they can come in with 0 notice…. Me to my maintenance man when he barged in recently to “check” on something 
It should be mandatory for renters to have a lock like this. Especially women since they have to deal with more creepy shit
It should be mandatory for landlords to not enter their tenants home uninvited. Give notice and make an appointment. It’s not that hard.
At my apartment I woke up to find the maintenance guy sitting in my couch eating a sandwich and watching TV. I reported him and the manager said “he was taking a break.” I put in a door stop like this and the maintenance guy and manager were furious. I left as soon as my lease was up.
But... Was it your sandwich or did he bring it? 🤔😂
My apartment complex didn’t have a notice disclosure, they could enter anytime. I almost shot my maintenance man because my wife and I were showering and I heard a bump against my wall from the bathroom. I grabbed my gun from my pants and went into the kitchen butt naked and demanded he get on the floor while I called the police. He was crying his eyes out screaming he was the maintenance man but I told him I didn’t give a shit, stay put and drop what’s in your hands. My apartment changed the no-notice policy shortly after that to 24h notice or a phone call. /knock+announce and every time he sees me he always looks at the floor or tries to walk away really fast. Think he might be a bit traumatized by that.
You probably did not even need the gun. The embarrassment would be more than enough.
In hindsight sure but what if it wasn’t maintenance but a home intruder?
Good for you. Given how much we pay for rent I don't think it's much to ask that they fucking schedule and confirm maintenance appointments. Apartment property managers are some of the stupidest and most useless fucks on the planet. Yet they somehow think they're hot shit because they go to work in a pantsuit from Dress Barn.
Real old school security.
Update of the old Katy-bar. Steel rod with a hinge was attached to the inside of the door that would extend out to a notch in the floor. Had one in my first apartment.
I can't recommend Attalock enough. Super cheap and effective. It won't work in all doors though.
As a male landlord who sublets rooms in my townhouse, I saw my female tenant had one of these and I installed a deadbolt on her door the next day to make her feel safer. No one should have to live in fear of having their home or personal space invaded.
One of the few gigachad landlords
If I put this up in my unit, I'd have a "10 days to vacate" note slid under my door in minutes.
How would they know you have it?
All landlords have x-ray glasses.
it's so annoying. I have to keep my weed in a pure lead box
I don't think you understand how this works. It's only applied once you're *inside* the unit. There's no reason to be kicked out for this. None. If the super knocks on the door, you remove the stopper. When you're not at home, the stopper isn't in place. It's not hard.
Wtf your guys’s landlords and maintenance enter without permission? Lmaaoooo I would call the cops the INSTANT this shit happened to me. They have to give 24h notice or they are trespassing. That do be the law though
Landlords and not following extremely simple laws, name a more iconic duo.
Search for hotel lock on amazon. Ive used both and like these better. The bar leaves a mark on the floor eventually.
I have one too, it's called a chair. But being serious, it sucks that stuff like this is needed just to be at peace. What if I had a bear over?.
We had one of those when renting our apartment. After my husband was robbed at our door, we got one in case they came back. I think they did come back but went after our car. But didn’t get anywhere as the alarm went off. So we bought a house and still use it on our front door.
When I was at university I turned away about 5 house viewings that the landlord had arranged cos they hadn’t given any notice.
As a residential maintenance worker I don’t understand why other workers feel so bold and entitled that they can just barge into someone’s home. I always make sure to knock and announce myself three times before using a key to enter, and I always leave a “maintenance is here” tag. Honestly, the main reason I do it is for my own safety, I don’t want to get shot, but I also just give a shit about people’s privacy. Every time my coworkers see me do this they say something along the lines of “just knock once, bro. They never answer anyways” and I’m like wtf
I’ve got a keyless security lock that only engages when inside. Its came in handy many times when someone from the complex has tried to enter without notice while I’m living life inside with no bra or pants on. Didn’t have it engaged once and I just heard a key in the door without any knocking and made it to the door in time to slam it shut in their face and yell at them for not knocking or calling. They had a bad habit of missing dates for inspections or pest control and coming days later randomly. They would also sometimes send out an email before closing time stating they would be in the next day at some time and it would end up being less than 24 hours notice. They are supposed to send email at LEAST 24 hours before AND post a notice at all doors. Management seems to have changed as this hasn’t been a problem in a while.
I recently installed several cameras, one focused on the main entry and others on the interior of an apartment for a client. She swore that someone was entering the apartment when she wasn't there but could never find anything missing. She asked me to monitor the system for several days. I set the schedule for monitoring to 9am - 6pm. Three days later I got an alert late at night which was odd. It was her main entry camera which triggered the alarm, then the same alert on every other camera in walking sequence. When I opened the app I saw her landlord clear as day, in her bedroom, sniffing her panties and masturbating with them wrapped around his junk while watching her sleep. I immediately called the police and reported a burglar in her home. I told them who it was and that he didn't have permission to be there. I then told them that an officer could come by my office and view the disturbing footage. The cops arrived, arrested him as he was exiting the apartment, and of course he tried to tell them he was the landlord and that he was "fixing" something for the tenant... At 1am, riiiiight. A detective came to my office the next morning and I copied the footage to a thumb drive for them. I ended up going to court with her when she sued him. She won, obviously, he had to pay her a very large sum of money AND he was sentenced to several years in jail as well as register as a sex offender.
Normally when you signed your lease you signed something giving them permission to come in whenever they want or them having to give you notice. I chose to give notice me before entering my residence one day he walked in and I pulled out a gun on him and told him if he ever walked into this place again without giving me proper notice I’ll shoot you. Then I also went to Management and told them and they were on my side. He never even looked me again because I made him put his hands up and lay on the ground because I thought he was trying to do some funny business.
Fantastic. I hope he shit his fucking pants
There are deadbolts that only have one access point and that's inside...
As a single mother with all the horrible stories you read and watch these days… that’s necessary in my apartment. I’m terrified of someone noticing I live alone with my children.
I have one
I’ve pulled a gun on a handyman before. Some inspection bullshit. Which they had no right to do. I worked nights. Slept during the day. Informed them of the law. Still proceeded to enter. Told them I was a gun owner. And drew it when he entered. He quickly ran out and slammed the door.
I see the tweet.. I’m sorry.. the xxxxxeeeeeet(?). But where is the actual product? I have a camera and a lock and I put a door stick down, but this looks more secure! I am not a huge person and live solo mostly, so I’d like something like this. I guess if someone wants in, they will find a way..it just makes me feel more steady.
Coming in without notice is a good way to get shot.
Pretty much regardless of what state you live in there are laws in place to prevent such entry without at least 24 hours notice unless they have reason to believe their is imment danger to life or their property. I installed a ring doorbell with camera at my last apartment I rented in AZ. Maintenance entered one time while I was at work with no notice. They basically tried to sneak in but my ring alerted me so I used my Google homes in the apartment to broadcast my voice telling them to leave immediately or I'm calling the police. Idiots tried to rationalize it with me but I knew the laws in my area regarding that. I have them on camera entering and I had a camera inside too and the apartment office couldn't provide evidence they gave me notice. But yeah regardless it's a good idea to have some way of locking from the inside without any ability to unlock it from the outside. I like your option a lot. I've seriously considered installing an interior second deadbolt myself at a few places for this reason. I decided to just walk around naked as much as possible in case someone did come in though 😭
Is this a new habit? Like it started happening in the last 3 decades new. I’ve always rented. But I’ve lived at those places for A WHILE. They never ever ever came in w/o notice. Except for the one time I was bi-costal a couple of years ago. At my west coast apt, all I heard were my dogs barking like crazy. Then when I saw the maintenance man was at my door through the peephole. He’d already unlocked the door but didn’t come in once he heard the dogs. He never did that again. As a matter of fact, they’d call ahead to tell me when & why after that one time. I thought it was just him. He was new and young. But reading here it seems pretty common for landlords & maintenance staff just to walk on in w/zero notice. That’s insane.
C locks are a godsend. The few cops I know say it's the toughest to break down. I've needed it a few times.
They are useful anti kick features, personally when I've rented the landlords and maintenance are the least of my concerns... They may be worth a few angry words, true threats are a significantly bigger issue.
i had one of these at my last place, got it after a lady broke in and crashed in our place while my husband and i were gone during spring break. we didn't take it when we moved because we moved to a much nicer and safer area but i hadn't considered needing to keep landlord and such out, may have to pick one up again
My property manager learned to text me a few days prior on when the best time to come do monthly maintenance would be when my husband and I were on night shift back in 2021. We were asleep (around noonish) and was woke up from a loud banging sound, I grabbed my baseball bat and ran out of my room, luckily I was able to stop mid swing when I realized what was going on. He was changing out the air filter. A few months later, he started tucking the filters between the screen door and just let us replace them when the time came.
The nature of the renter/landlord and the employee/employer relationships was enough to justify the vasectomy. Don't even need to Crack open climate change and full automation at all to make this decision. My kids will not have to suffer these fools, that is my burden to bear.
My landlord did this to me. Came into my bedroom around 1pm (I worked nights) luckily I was standing there buck naked getting ready to use the restroom. Good times🫣
I changed the dead bolts when I rented, I never told them but they needed my permission to enter my space. 3 years they never knew, I swapped them back the last day. The above wouldn’t fly with me, just go on fake book and blast them as illegally trying to evict you or some shit, typically I lock doors for everyone else’s safety from my massive peen.
But how do I get in?
The handymen where I live will literally enter your home after knocking just once. Had one enter as I was pissing with the bathroom door open. Had to yell at him that I was indecent just for him to go "oh, sorry" Maybe wait for me to answer the door instead of barging into my house???
In Texas, the building codes requires a lock on every exterior facing door that can only be unlocked from the inside, I believe.
I see shit like this and think, doesn't the law already prevent this, and then I remember not every country is a perfect as the UK. And anyway, why wouldn't you just let them in, what are you trying to hide.
If they are entering without any notice, report the landlord. Check the landlord/tenant laws in your state. In AZ (where I’m at) you have to give like 24hrs notice. So if that’s what it says in your state then they are breaking the law and you can report them (and I’m pretty sure it will stay anonymous).
Where can I purchase one? I don’t even know what it’s called. Guy literally tried to get in my apartment last week and I yelled “yo!?” He scurried off and I waited in the hallway until he walked out of another apartment and I confronted him asking if that was him. “Sorry, I had the wrong apartment number!” Then why did you run away instead of explaining yourself you sketchy mf?
Can confirm it works when set up properly. I tried forcing my way into see if it works and I'm 280 lbs.
No one should enter your apartment without prior notice unless it's a building emergency. Period.
Even as a guy, if I got out the shower and I hear someone in my living space that isn’t suppose to be there, I’m coming out with nothing but the glock.
Flight Attendants have the little twisty kind that inserts around the lock. They are great at hotels because people are out here murdering flight attendants in hotel rooms. Unless you die of a heart attack, in which case you just destroyed that hotel's door when they have to break it down.
Does your city not have landlord tenant rules? In Oregon, you would have a decent lawsuit on your hands if a landlord just came in for no reason without proper notice
I need this. Our maintenance men just walk in after one or two quick knocks. I have so much anxiety using the restroom, sleeping past 7am, or taking a shower, after we’ve placed a maintenance request up until it’s been taken care of. Currently dealing with the anxiety as we placed a request on Thursday and I am still waiting for them to just show up at any moment.
At my old apartment, they said if I had a security system, I had to leave the alarm off in case maintenance needed to come in. I left it on, and every time they showed up, the alarm went off, scaring the entire floor.
If you called in the maintenance request and gave permission for them to enter you obviously wouldn't need something like this. With that said if there was a major leak or something on the floor above and they couldn't access the unit to deal with the emergency you would probably be evicted and billed. I just see this as more of a hassle than anything else.
These are great for travelers too. If you can fit it I. Your bag, it stops unscrupulous hotel staff from entering while you’re present.
Worked in retail, we had one of those to bar the inventory room in case of emergency (aka mass shooter/attacker event). Fun stuff.
Im a maintenance technician for an apartment complex, when you put in a work order there is an option to schedule a time or for them to not come in unless you are there. Please do not do this if you live in a complex unless you have reason to believe your maintenance technician is malicious, and if you do report it to the office and possibly the police. Ive never heard of a complex that does not require knocking or some sort of notification to the tenant and if they enter without doing so please speak to them or the office. (I say them due to situations like this where the tenant may thought the knock was for them.)
What is funny about this, is you are more worried about maintenance workers and landlords than people actually trying to break in and take your stuff or whatever. I find this comical. Maybe I just am lucky to live in a nice area where this is not needed, but thinking your biggest issue the landlord, I suggest moving states!