unwelcome visitor

[natalie]

I was talking with the care taker at my apartment complex today. he said so do you know that some girl is going in and out of your apartment. I'm like , ohh thats no problem ( thinking that he saw me. )

->right now i  live in girl or guy mode, until i transition fully.

he said, she is really hot and blond. so given the blond part,  i'm auburn, but hot ;-)  . I'm like humm.
then he said that she goes in around lunch time on work weeks, which eliminates me since i'm at work.

then he said, i'll change your locks for you , if you want.

so now i'm freaked out. i'm going to change my locks tomorrow, myself. I don't want him to change them, just in case he is trying to scam me and get into my place.

I'm a bit worried now. expressly since where i grew up as a kid, no one locked their doors.

am i being too paranoid?

thanks,

-Natalie

.

[buttercup]

That is freaky.... I would be very wary of the caretaker if I were you.  You could set some traps in your home for a few days, if anything is slightly disturbed you know someone has been in there.  Strategically place pieces of hair on edges of drawers, on top of doors, so when they are opened they fall away.
But...... I'd still keep a close eye on the caretaker.
You are not being paranoid.   I would flip my lid if I found out someone had been through my place!  If you haven't been there long, it might be a previous tenant who still has a key?

[debbie.j]

hiyea Natalie  well i would have to say no . for this reason your own personal safty. and where you rent at

Natalie if i can ask . do they need a 2nd key  to your place  incase you might get locked out. or are they

ok on lock changes??? and i cant say i blame you one bit at all i cought my handy man  in my place once

. and told the land lady about this . which the land lady siad she would take care of it . as a result of

that happening i took and put up some hiden cams . so when iam gone i know what is going on when iam not

there. and me too also  Natalie where i lived when i was a kid no one locked there doors at all not even

there cars and such . and i dont think you being paranoid at all Natalie. your just being carefull and

wanting to stay safe is all . and i can say i can blame you for this  in this day and age

[NicholeW.]

NO!! You are NOT being paranoid. Yes, change those locks yourself and then talk to the rental agency or the atty who represents the property owner. Put it in writing, in fact. Mail it registered. If there's no record, then it never occurred.

If the property owner needs a key then supply it so as not to break your lease. If you have a written paper-trail they'll make sure they watch out for who goes into your apt. and when.

Nichole

[natalie]

i been here for 8 years.

the locks have been changed once, since it was found the previous care taker was , well,
skimming off the top when he deposited rent checks to the bank.

the only people to have keys to my place are ex GF's , one who likes in Alaska , one in New Mexico.
I don't know why either of them would want to break in, since we are on good terms as far as breakups go. i guess i send them running far and wide, since i live in Pennsylvania... ;-)

I don't care if i'm the only one with a key to this place. if i get locked out , then i just will deal with that cause it was my own screw up.

-Natalie

[debbie.j]

hiyea natalie well then that being the case  then . i would change the locks on the doors .  and then if

this happens again i woul  get some web cams to hide around the place . like i said that way you can keep

a eye on things when your gone

[natalie]

even worst.
i took notice that the dead bolt looked a bit shiner recentally.
i never used that, so i though it was imagining it.

but i tried to use the key in my dead bolt, and it is changed.

this is really odd.

[debbie.j]

indeed natalie that is  odd, and now you found that out . sure would change that dead blot and  the other

locks too also . i would ask the land lord  if they have changed the dead blot them selfs or not . just

to see what they say and how they react to it . and also  i would too like i siad  i would get some cams and

put them around the house like the door areas and such . then when something like this  or someone

comes in when your gone. you got  the need proff for the land lord and the police

[natalie]

unknown to me,
when they re-keyed the locks last month.
they keyed the deadbolts the same as the main lock for everyone here,

sort of defeats having a dead bolt.

[Natalie_Danielle]

I had a similar situation several years ago. The maintenance man would go in a steal change from various apartments. People usually kept lots of quarters around to use in the laundry machines. I purchased a cheap camera and mounted it in a clock.  About 2 weeks later I had him on tape.

Security cameras today are very inexpensive and easy to setup. You may also want to consider a security system. I've seen some specifically made for apartments that are all wireless so no wires to run and no permanent mountings to mess up walls and such. Most can be programmed with 2 or 3 codes. You could give one code to the manager and have a different code for yourself.  then you could track the times and dates when management entered.