Apartment maintenance man came into my apt unannounced yesterday. I was just getting out of the tub. Any advice?

Are you living in a regular apartment building or in an Independent Living or Assisted Living apartment?

In regular apartments management must give advanced notice in writing if they need to get into your apartment. To do other wise is illegal. Try mentioning that to the management and see if you get a better response.

If you are in IL or AL read your lease agreement to see what the process and guidelines are for staff to enter your apartment - it should be covered in writing. If it isn’t - ask management for a written explanation as to the procedure.

My my mother was in an IL where they had someone in once a week on a set day to clean the apartment. Yet on several occasions my mother found the cleaning lady in her apartment- on random days. The cleaning lady always came up with a semi plausible excuse.

Finally my mother told me about it. I was able to determine that the cleaning lady was stealing my mothers prescription pain medication.

So yes, it’s wise to document this and any other shady behavior by staff as well as taking extra steps to secure your door, if possible.

Here is a couple of suggestions for securing your doors.

Look for a product that be called a Big Jammer or something similar. It is a white colored metal adjustable rod. It braces to the floor and fits under your door knob. It is impossible force the door open with out a swat team battering ram.

Next, if you have sliding glass patio door, get a long round pole cut to the length of the track at the back of the slider and the end of the track. It will prevent the door from being slid open without it being removed. Or read the instruction on the big jammer. I think it may work on the slider.

Just don't trust a dead bolt. They can be kicked in with one good kick.

do a google search for the big jammer. There are similar product now that go by different names.

I would also look for some inexpensive door alarms that let you know if the door has been opened.

Good luck and stay safe.

I don't blame you

There is a large company here who has lots of apartments. My nephew told me that management would just come into their apartment without letting them know in advance about 'inspection.' He happened to be home when they did this in the middle of the afternoon. He said that they didn't knock. They just unlocked the door and entered. When he asked them what they were doing, they said inspection. He said that you can't just walk in like that, without notice and no-one home. They just ignored him and continued with the 'inspection.' I told nephew that this is illegal. That he should talk to management and seek a lawyer's advice. It's scary because you don't know what they're doing when you're at work. He didn't want to rock the boat because this company has taken over a lot of the apartments here. And they would find a reason to not renew his rent (which did happen, anyway).

P.S. I would be messed up, too, if what happened to you - happened to me. I would be very paranoid. Get the Jammer. Any way of installing one of those nanny cams for when you're not home?

If you can afford it, consider a monitored security system like SimpliSafe in addition to the jammers.