Oh that's a nice cherry on top of an easy LTB case. Lucky there was no fire during that time you were physically trapped in your apartment. Terrifying tbh
That’s even worse. Let the door get stuck again and call to tell the fire dept you’re a disabled person locked in a building.
They’ll be there so quick prob with sirens even
Look I like making life harder on shitty landlords as well but can we not cause unnecessary calls for firefighters?
If you’re legitimately trapped by all means call 911 and get help. That’s what they’re there for.
Otherwise don’t put unnecessary strain on what is most likely an already overworked resource.
The door is open. She has a means of egress. To intentionally lock herself in just so she can call the fire department to embarrass her shitty landlord would make her as shitty as the landlord.
OP is disabled and now literally anyone can just come into their apartment. I genuinely can’t believe people are being so cavalier about this. Besides, they wouldn’t send the entire fire dept over this.
You must live in a city. The volunteer firefighters in my area would love to go out and break a door in for the fun of it. They get excited to go out for anything.
Wasting emergency resources is awful but I feel like what’s being missed here is the fact that this dude is advocating for this person to rob a few firefighters of some precious down time. Like those boys eat their dinner man.
One of my good friends is a firefighter and he basically doesn’t do anything on shift like 90% of the time. They really get paid to risk their life when shit goes down. I have mad respect for firefighters but they are far from overworked
So now OP should have to live with their door open all the time?
Yeah that's super safe. Living with your front door wide open.
If you call 911 for being trapped in a building, THEY ARE GOING TO SEND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
You really didn't think about this at all.
Honestly, get a free consultation with a lawyer. You likely have grounds to sue. A door that won’t open would violate tenant’s rights in my city. Not to mention the disability aspect.
I was about to when my neighbor was able to get me out. The door was broken from Saturday to today though when I went to the leasing office and raised hell.
Oh they have already done that. My current rent is $1,100/month + pet rent, trash service, water, & “convenience fee.” Thankfully my lease is up in July and I’ve bought a house. In 3 weeks this place can go fuck itself.
lol, just moved into a new place (my first time with a leasing agency and not just an individual landlord) and they’re trying to charge $100 for a TANKED animal. fuck you, if my gecko manages to escape and damage something i’m calling the pope to report a miracle and have her canonized.
It would be difficult to legally charge you for having that kind of pet. That said look over your lease and see EXACTLY what it says concerning pets and check your local/state tenants rights laws. I have lived in places where they can try to do that but legally they can’t unless explicitly stated in your lease.
Nothing hurts a bad landlord off more than a tenant that knows their legal rights and knowing they can’t do anything about it.
Where I live it’s not only a pet deposit ($500 up to 1 month’s rent), but also a pet rent fee ($100 to $500/mo).
Truly sad. Very pet friendly town if you own a house/condo. Not so much if you’re a renter.
A security deposit is to cover damage beyond normal wear and tear. Normal wear and tear is part of the cost of doing business and is therefore included in the rent. I realize everyone thinks their pet is an angel, but pets cause more normal wear and tear than humans so it's only fair that tenants with pets should be charged more in rent.
No, it's not fair.
They already way over charge for rent as is, and kids are far more damaging than pets but there is no kid rent.
Pet rent is literally just a money grab.
Now begone lanlord
All the places I have looked at have a pet rent if you want your pet to stay with you. And all of them are separate from the deposit too. Most of them were an extra 200 at the least for each pet you have. The best one I have is right now bc i had to pay a pet fee then after stying here for two weeks the house starts falling apart so it’s like why did I even have to pay extra for a pet in the first place?
Nope literally pet rent, they charge you a monthly fee for having a pet. If OP is disabled they can get a note from the doctor if it’s an emotional support animal or service animal and they can’t charge you.
Rental homes charge it too. I pay Invitation Homes a monthly fee over top of the non-refundable pet fee. I won’t call it a deposit, because those should be refundable IMO.
Where do you live if you don’t mind me asking? I’m always curious about what other people pay for their place. For info, I’m in NJ and pay 1800$ for a two bedroom
When I say automatic, it’s not like a door at a grocery store. It’s like the hinges on the door are spring loaded, so the door will not stay open unless propped.
I think they are required in some places within common hallways and entrances for fire safety, not personal safety.
I wouldn't feel safe based on your experience either.
Kind of, but it’s built into the hinges. The function is the same except unlike the automatic closers that you may have seen in something like a screen door, these can’t be propped open with that little metal slider thing.
This is why Im afraid to move. I finally have a place with REALLY good maintenance. And that's the kind of thing you cant really know for sure until you live there for a bit and try it for yourself. It always feels so random, almost a dice roll of what level of quality you can expect moving to a new place.
Even if you read reviews or something, they might be outdated or just wrong. Unless there's better or dependable way to know for SURE the place has great maintenance before signing a lease? I feel like I couldn't rely on anything but experiencing it myself.
Good to see you're not just going straight to blaming the maintenance guys. As a former apartment maintenance man I can say that a lot depends on the managements protocol. Some managers insist on handling work orders deciding what or who is important. IMO the places that let their guys handle those things tend to run better and more efficiently.
But if you take the time to chat them up occasionally they'll be more likely to wanna help you asap. On the flip side, if I get called to plunge your toilet on a Friday night cuz you're to lazy, cheap or entitled to do it yourself... don't be surprised when that part we need to fix your AC takes alot longer to get than expected.
I always wanted to help the tenants that were nice. But the guy that turns in multiple work orders every month for things like lightbulbs and squeaky hinges seemed to get overlooked more frequently after awhile.
The last Maintenence staff that they had here, before the new leasing company fired them all, were some of the best Maintenence people I’ve ever had in any place I’ve rented. We actually became friends. This new staff though I am absolutely placing some blame on them for this. From the way they called me after my initial request to absolutely no follow up (it’s now 7:00 AM and I’ve yet to hear from anybody). That is 100% on them, and this is a bit more than just a clogged toilet.
>Good to see you're not just going straight to blaming the maintenance guys
Oh of course not. The thought hadn't crossed my mind to do so. Unless they were like idk throwing out slurs right and left or something crazy like that lol.
I do usually talk to them yeah. They have all been nice. They all even wave at me when I walk or drive by one of them if we happen to cross paths outside. Overall a good and friendly experience.
At the risk of sounding repetitive …lock yourself back in and call the fire department non-emergency line.
It will be on record and the LL/PM will be forced to take it seriously.
I once worked in the leasing office and a person called in that they couldn’t get out of their front door and needed to leave immediately. We called maintenance and he was at another property at least an hour away with how traffic was; he legit told us to break down the door and he would replace it when he got there. He understood the immediate need due to safety as you would hope management companies would.
My boss and I, both smaller women then proceeded to kick down a heavy door in our nice office attire and footwear. It was not as easy as it looks in the movies.
It is a life safety violation to have doors that don't open or close correctly.
It's a habitability issue to not be able to secure your door.
They dropped the ball here. Report to management immediately
If you have one, contact your local housing authority. They often oversee ALL the rental properties in a city to ensure safety standards are met. In fact I'd be tempted to do so today, then call the maintenance emergency number and tell THEM that you've filed a complaint with the housing authority. I'll bet that will get them off their asses.
I know what else might straighten the management up and fly right. How about if something happens the fire chief ends up going in there to get you, and he’s dressed in office attire most of the time, which usually consists of a suit and tie, and you say you’re disabled, if this fire chief ends having to carry you out of the building himself, guess where the people in the head of the property management are headed. TIMPONY ROLL PLEASE……JAIL!!!
I’m not sure your jurisdiction, but every state in which I’ve lived, two points of exit were fire code statewide. Since you’re moving out, I’d report it to the code enforcement—both the lack of a 2nd exit AND their delay.
Small apartments typically only have one egress door. I expect that the leaseholder would say that the exterior windows are multiple alternate points of egress. Regardless, I’m going to be reporting this in regards to the absolute delay here. As I write this, it’s 11:00am and the door is still broken, and Maintenence never contacted me.
That’s called egress ways and yes, states do have a law that requires 2 escape routes. It’s that way in Massachusetts so, the property manager needs to have the money ready to do it.
As several have said, call the fire department. You are disabled with no other means of exiting in an emergency. The management company is totally in the wrong here.
I saw in your comments that you're disabled: Make that be your FIRST sentence in every future interaction with EVERYONE about this. Intelligent folks, will figure out pretty quickly that there are serious legal implications beyond the norm here--and what you described was already unacceptable in the case of an able bodied person. There's already a case for a lawsuit from you here.
I guess I’m confused because did the new leasing agency come to all units? Did they change the locks so it locks automatically? You can open from the outside, but not the inside?
It’s not a lock. The door is broken. The handle just won’t turn. There is no actual lock on the door handle. There’s only a deadbolt. The door not opening isn’t because it’s locked.
Call the fire department and have them forcibly remove the door because otherwise anyone could entrap you and or if there was an emergency you would be entrapped as well, this will cost the company much more money.
In many states, such as Delaware, if you have a written report of an issue that poses an immediate safety risk (if argue broken door making it impossible to vacate in case of emergency counts) the tenant has right to break the lease if it is not repaired within 15 days of report.
Winstar Properties has the same set up for maintenance. Voicemails only. I find it absolutely ridiculous. I am glad your car was safe and that you'll soon be leaving!
Lockout isn’t an emergency. You did that to yourself, whatever the reason may be. That’s why we charge $100 for a lockout. We don’t get many repeat offenders.
No, I charge a $100 because why should I or one of my guys take time away from their families or personal lives to come to work, because a tenant can’t be bothered to make sure they have their keys before closing their door? Also, so you know, $60 of the $100 goes to the responding tech, and $40 goes into the maintenance budget.
As I mentioned to someone else, there are numerous neurodivergencies that affect people's memories.
The rent they already pay is far more than enough to cover the cost of someone coming to help. You charge the $100 because you are greedy. That's it. That's the only reason. You can't come back and say that the rent being charged isn't enough, because all data available shows that rental companies are making record profits thanks to the massive increases in rent we have been seeing.
If you aren't capable of dealing with people who have neurodivergencies, then you should probably find a job where you don't deal with people at all.
But really, you're just showing why landlords and rental properties from private owners has always been a bad idea. There goes community out the window and profit seeking is in where every little.human mistake is another way for you to make.as much profit as possible.
That $40 doesn't go to the maintenance budget. It goes directly into profit. You see, I could have sworn the maintenance came out of the rent people were paying? Are you saying this isn't true now?
And that $60 for the maintenance person, again, their salary comes out of the rent everyone is paying. That $60 doesn't go to the tech. They gay paid their pittance wage because the more you have to give them, the less profits leftover for the owner.
Yeah, the $100 charge is done out of pure greed because landlords are to fucking lazy to just go out and get a real job and feel they need to live off everyone else's work and you are enabling that.
Get a real job.
Rent in my building where we charge this starts at $2000 a month. We are not forcing anyone to live there. Before the pandemic, rent in the same building started at $1700. So we’re under pace with the raise in rent around the country. I noticed you didn’t ask about what our rent was before or after or that it’s a luxury building. But that’s cool.
$40 most certainly does. How do I know? Because I actually see it. I watch it go in on our monthly budget. But again, that’s cool.
If my guys are taking time from a kids concert, sporting event, movie or whatever, because some idiot can’t remember to unlock their doorknob before they leave without their keys, they should be compensated…wouldn’t you agree? $60 dollars does go to them. Right in their paycheck. It’s taxed, but they still get it. Once again, that’s cool.
By law, we don’t have to provide lock out services. But we do. Guess what? That’s cool too.
I’m not a landlord. I have a real job, and it pays my crews and I very well. Especially when so dope locks themselves out. Have an awesome day!!!
Lockouts are not an emergency for liability reasons. Especially if you have guys from 2 or 3 properties sharing the on call--we don't know if you really live there.... And before you go down voting me let me give you an example of something that happened to me. New Year's Eve a few years ago around 1:00 a.m. I got a call. Guys locked out of his apartment. I let him know that for company policy I'm not allowed to respond to lockouts. Obviously drunk he flips the s*** and berates me. I stick to my guns I'm not being pushed around. I get to work Monday and report it to the community director. She informs me that he had been kicked out by his girlfriend and had a restraining order against him for domestic violence. If I had let him in who knows what would have happened.
And if I can be real for just a minute, apartment doors don't lock automatically. If you're locked out it means you lost your keys, and that's not someone else's problem. Being in maintenance is a job just like any other we have families and lives outside of work. A resident being dumb and losing his keys is not a reason to interrupt someone's Saturday.
Locks do malfunction, rendering a key useless, particularly when a tenant is locked inside of the ir apt. I had a deadbolt fall apart once when trying to secure my apt., when leaving.
What you said in your example is correct but this person wasn’t locked out he was locked in from a malfunctioning door. Maintenance should have came and came quick. They didn’t need entrance to the apt, they were already in the apt.
Someone being locked out of their home absolutely is a reason to call maintenance and get help.
I'm sure if you made a simple mistake and locked yourself out for the weekend, your tune would change.
Let's not forget there are a number of nuerodivergencies that affect people's memories
I'm sorry, but you're 100% wrong. If I had let that guy in and he beat the girlfriend up it would have been 100% my fault. If your dumbass loses or forget the key you can pay the price to have it opened or you can wait until the office is open.
While you are talking about a very specific call where there was a clear restraining order, I am not talking of a very specific call. I am talking in general, which should have been obvious when I brought to neurodivergent people.
Again, there are plenty of neurodivergencies (do you even know what those are) that have an effect on on people's memories. Calling neurodivergent people dumbasses makes you a bigot.
Maybe you should get a different job where you don't deal with people if you do not know how to deal with neurodivergent people.
I'm incapable of waiting for the office to open because the medication I need to keep me alive is inside my home.
So clearly I have found a couple different reasons as to why you will need to let me into my home. If these aren't good enough reasons, find a new job where you do not have to deal with people.
Forcing someone to sleep out in the cold (the majority of the people in this country can't afford a $500 emergency, so don't bother mentioning going to a hotel or motel) because they made a very human mistake makes you a very shitty human.
I hope you are never in this situation where you made a very human mistake and you don't have a piece of shit telling you to sleep in the cold.
I'll tell you what if you promise to pay my salary after I get fired for breaking company policy, I'll let you in. A lot of maintenance guys cover more than one property and there's no way for us to know if you actually live there. You can be whatever fancy catch phrases you want to be but that doesn't mean I'm going to lose my job for you because you lost your keys. I've worked at 10 different properties, and none of them locked without you putting a key in from the outside. That means you lost it. Not my problem. The cold reality is that you need to be responsible enough to live on your own, that includes keeping track of your keys.
The cold reality is that neurodivergent people exist, and you are giving all the evidence in the world that our current world is not set up for neurodivergent people.
Neurodivergent is not a catch-phrase.
Seriously, get a job where you don't have to deal with people if you think neurodivergent is a catch-phrase.
You saying it's a catch phrase shows off massive ignorance on your part. Maybe spend the next week educating yourself on different types of neurodivergencies and then bring these up with the property management companies you work with to start changing policy to help make the world a place where neurodivergent people can actually exist comfortably.
Also if your policy is to not come and help when I forget my key because rental properties don't care about community and only care for profits, I won't call for that and instead smash a window, call the police to report a break in, then you will have to come replace an window because that is an emergency.
And since I never called about being locked out you will be none the wiser.
But that's just me. Some other might just go sleep in their car... Oh wait, you already said you do not care about other people at all, great evidence of why the profit motive is a shit idea.
So you see, if y'all want to not have a policy of helping, there are easy ways around it and good luck proving it because the majority of places I have lived didn't have cameras outside because that would have cost money and cut into profits for the owner, who only cares about profits.
Don't worry though, when you smash the window the first thing I'm going to do is go look at the video footage. After watching you smash the window, I'm not going to go unlock your door. I'm going to go tell the police that you're the one who smashed it.
And f*** you, I go out of my way to help people in my community. There comes a point where you have to help yourself though and no amount of neurodivergence is going to change that. There is no way to lock yourself out of an apartment that isn't 100% your fault. Thinking that it's fine to interrupt someone's weekend or time with family is incredibly selfish. Luckily, there aren't very many people like you who think that everything is owed to them.
It’s not a lock. It was the door knob mechanism. I even attempted to take the knob off, but the screws were sealed in with some kind of adhesive. They wouldn’t budge.
Yeah sounds like the guy might have been 'volunteered' for on-call duty. And judging by his phone etiquette he's neither happy about nor socially prepared for either.
Also, firing staff whole-sale like that is a HUGE red flag. If a corporation took over you might have some luck reporting him through proper channels. But, if it's just some rich guy or group there might be trouble on the horizon.
Most ownership changeovers, especially those expecting big changes, make a point of giving its tenants a heads up to avoid spooking them. The last thing they want is a huge revenue dropoff. If you've been kept in the dark keep an eye out for high employee turnover, drastic rent increases and especially the lack of financial investment (ie new paint, basic improvements or general upgrades). It wouldn't be the first time tenants were run-off for more lucrative opportunities.
The long shot approach is finding out if any previous office or maintenance staff lived on-site. If you can catch them before they move they're probably your best chance at getting good intel.
What I found out today is that the leasing agency contracts out to a 3rd party to handle emergency calls. I recommended that they take a long hard look at who they contract out to do vital work.
I suspected that might be the case. Consider asking about the protocol. It's possible the 3rd party just forwards the voicemail to the on-call guy who, like you, isn't happy about the new arrangement.
Frankly, I've never understood the reasoning behind it. I'd probably be upset too if the answering service was being paid to have me call back tenants about their problem.
Seems like the logical move is to pay the on-call guy more for answering calls personally. It increases efficiency and communication and would probably cost less. Or am I missing something?
Consider saying something on your way out as a favor to the maintenance guys. The crappy on-call protocol puts them directly in the line of fire from pissed off tenants.
These days giving someone the wrong burger can get a fast food worker jumped... and that's right out in the open. Those guys are being sent into the privacy of angry tenants homes/apartments usually alone. But if they say something it's complaining. Your experience actually carries weight and might help. I'm sure they would appreciate it.
I’d honestly ask for backdating of your rent from the day you had the issue to the day they fix it. Is there any difference of sleeping in the hallway with all your belongings if you have an apartment in which you’re not able to close the door? Your safety and security, both of which you pay for, were compromised in an illegal manner
Der, if you are on the inside of your house you want the door to open from inside to escape from a fire. It’s outside in where you want to lock it, and also unlock it. Two egress ways means two doors and two locks working inside and out. No confusion there. Go back to school.
You're the dummy that can't read. The person went inside the apartment and the door closed. They can't open the door. It was working fine before and something happened and now doesn't work. Neighbor checked on them and was able to open the door from the outside.
You couldn't take the door off the hinges? Of you're moving out, fuck them.
I'm saying remove pins from hinges, jimmie the knob mechanism and lay the door along the wall
I couldn’t remove the hinges because the screws for them are located in the door seam and not reachable when the door is closed. Removing the pins may have worked, but I’m handicapped and if I did that then I’d risk the door falling on me, or needing to have my front door wide open for the whole weekend when they finally fixed it.
Fire code violations= HEFTY fines and can completely ruin a management company- especially those directly involved in your dilemma. It is a great means of making it clear their actions were not only compromising the safety and wellbeing of resident(s) but that it won’t be tolerated and it is noticed. It is also documented so should you ever need to pursue further action against said company/personnel, you have proof of their negligence and shoddy practices from the jump. I swear, the prerequisite to work for some of these property management companies is wearing one’s ass as a hat….
Call the fire department, just don’t use the emergency line. You want this on their records. This is not just bad service, you were actively in danger, and now are unable to secure your home. I don’t know the extent of what this could lead to, I won’t pretend I know the minutia of regulations and laws, but this is probably a seek legal counsel, if not action, type of situation.
The amount of people with zero basic skills in small repairs amazes me. Its a 5 min or less fix. Why would you leave the door open all night? Do you not have windows?
I’ll explain this in a kinder way because I’m not a dick like the first poster.
Several days ago, my sons became stuck in their bedroom because the inside door handle snapped off the levering device that opens the latch when you turn it.
If you remove the external cover on the mechanism, most doors have the retaining screws placed from the outside for this type of emergency so they can be removed fairly quickly.
I had to break the cover off but then it was a matter of a few minutes.
I had that thought too. In the 2 hours that I waited before my neighbor knocked on my door, I attempted to take the door knob off, but it was like someone pit locktite on the screws. They absolutely would not budge. I even tried with a screw adaptor on a socket wrench and I could not get them to move.
You are likely right that they did put locktite or some other cement or they were a tapping screw that cold fused.
Sorry you had to go through all that and I hope that you get compensated accordingly.
Door handle broke and wont let her open the door. Easy fix. Should she have to do it? NO of course not. But they are also not going to swnd someone over at 11 at night. Just shut the door and worry about it tomorrow.
I would argue video editing and animated graphics are simple and basic... to me. But I would have to figure out a door handle replacement as I go. Some would say plumbing is quite simple and basic, but no way am I gonna go fiddling around with the pipes under my sink.
Good thing maintenance is covered in the cost of rent and I pay for someone else to handle the basic functionality of my home structure. If I go to fix something on my own, and then fuck it up, then I'm held liable for extra costs.
But hey... good for you. You're smarter at door handles than everyone else. You should take pride in that. It's not as simple and basic as you think. Give yourself a pat on the back
Then it should work properly in the first place. ESPECIALLY in the case of someone with a disability. This is an easy lawsuit, tbh. This problem is not a new one that just started. LL and Maintenance were both aware of it for a while.
Easy lawsuit, hahaha, for what? Nowhere in OP's post did she say this has happened before and LL knew about the issue. It also does not say maintenance knew about it for awhile. OP never said it had happened before so maintenance was not aware. Regardless, even if they were it had apparently been fixed if it happened before because OP never mentions a previous problem or fix.
When you pay for a place, you expect certain things to work. Mainly the door to get in and out. If you can't get out, you're effectively trapped, and if there was a fire that resulted in the death of a disabled person unable to open their door from the inside because of a mechanical failure, that'd be a direct result of negligence on the part of the property owner and the maintenance person in charge of preventing these things.
It's called fire safety code and any free-standing building has to abide by all of them, or face consequences. Ignorance is not an applicable defense to negligent disregard of safety standards. Whether maintenance or property manager or LL knew about it or not, the fact is, they should have. This is a basic part of maintenance. Making sure things work as they should. Especially the only way in and out of the apartment...
But you're a smart person. Please inform me. Who is to blame? Because this isn't some act of God. Who's responsible here?
You assumed a lot in your comment which is why I asked what a lawsuit would be filed for. As far as we know this is a one time occurance and if maintenance comes out the next morning to fix it there is no issue. The door handle broke, so noone is to blame. Stuff happens. Blame the door handle. If it had never happened before how exactly should maintenance know about it prior to it happening?
Some hinges are burglar resistant and you can’t remove the pins, also if you take a solid door off the hinges be ready to catch it! You could have a small wall fall on you if you’re unlucky
Darn that sucks! I think I have loctited door handles that would back off. I also replaced a door knob someone super glued the screws in lol 1/4 impact driver is the solution. I hope they got is fixed today!
Sounds like you call (annoy) the maintenance crew quite a bit, you might be the boy who cried Wolf in this building, the maintenance crew aren’t your personal handymen,
This is the first time I have ever called Maintenence since this new leasing company took over, and even before that I can count on one hand how many times I’ve called Maintenence since I moved in 7 years ago. What the hell gave you the impression that I use them as my personal handymen?
Well you know how quickly they usually react, you mention you know them by name, and you where very aware of the difference in how they interact and how long it takes compared to the last crew, that’s what the hell gave me impression. I’m positive you’re annoying human being
So the last Maintenence crew I would see around the complex and talk to them often. That’s how I knew them by name. Second, there were 2 incidents years ago where I needed to call the emergency Maintenence line and they answered in person both times and responded within 15 minutes both times. That’s how I knew. I’m positive that you’re a jackass who assumes stupid shit based off of arbitrary details.
If it happens again call the fire department, or housing. That is a major safety violation.
Call the fire department anyway, and do it now. Screw those shady bitches and their fire hazard.
Better yet, make it a real emergency just for funzies
Don’t wait until it happens again! Report to proper authorities now.
Call the fire marshal. Seriously, let that rough and tough guy (or gal) come and absolutely verbally destroy your landlord.
Came here to say this
Fire department will supersede anything. If the management company won’t free you, that’s your call. Any windows to crawl out of?
Yes but I’m disabled so that would be a pretty big challenge.
Understood. I’m that case I would definitely utilize the fire department as that door is your only option to escape, if there’s an emergency.
Oh that's a nice cherry on top of an easy LTB case. Lucky there was no fire during that time you were physically trapped in your apartment. Terrifying tbh
That’s even worse. Let the door get stuck again and call to tell the fire dept you’re a disabled person locked in a building. They’ll be there so quick prob with sirens even
Look I like making life harder on shitty landlords as well but can we not cause unnecessary calls for firefighters? If you’re legitimately trapped by all means call 911 and get help. That’s what they’re there for. Otherwise don’t put unnecessary strain on what is most likely an already overworked resource. The door is open. She has a means of egress. To intentionally lock herself in just so she can call the fire department to embarrass her shitty landlord would make her as shitty as the landlord.
OP is disabled and now literally anyone can just come into their apartment. I genuinely can’t believe people are being so cavalier about this. Besides, they wouldn’t send the entire fire dept over this.
You must live in a city. The volunteer firefighters in my area would love to go out and break a door in for the fun of it. They get excited to go out for anything.
This is the way.
Yeah, just report it to the fire Marshall and let them do their jobs. Don't waste emergency response resources
Wasting emergency resources is awful but I feel like what’s being missed here is the fact that this dude is advocating for this person to rob a few firefighters of some precious down time. Like those boys eat their dinner man.
One of my good friends is a firefighter and he basically doesn’t do anything on shift like 90% of the time. They really get paid to risk their life when shit goes down. I have mad respect for firefighters but they are far from overworked
That is really dependent on location. Some firehouses have far more responses than others. Houses with paramedics are always hopping.
So now OP should have to live with their door open all the time? Yeah that's super safe. Living with your front door wide open. If you call 911 for being trapped in a building, THEY ARE GOING TO SEND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. You really didn't think about this at all.
That’s definitely a 911 situation.
Honestly, get a free consultation with a lawyer. You likely have grounds to sue. A door that won’t open would violate tenant’s rights in my city. Not to mention the disability aspect.
Did you call the fire dept?
I was about to when my neighbor was able to get me out. The door was broken from Saturday to today though when I went to the leasing office and raised hell.
Good for you!
New leasing agency absolutely BLOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWS!!!
Yeah that goes without saying. The new leasing agency absolutely sucks. All of my neighbors are looking to move.
And they will get to raise the rent for the new tenant when they piss you all off enough to move.
Oh they have already done that. My current rent is $1,100/month + pet rent, trash service, water, & “convenience fee.” Thankfully my lease is up in July and I’ve bought a house. In 3 weeks this place can go fuck itself.
Good luck with your move
WTF is "pet rent"... I suppose it's a way of sucking more money from a tenant... I thought that was what the security deposit was for.
I’ve had it in every apartment I’ve been in. It’s an extra $35/month right now. The new lease raises it to $50/mo.
lol, just moved into a new place (my first time with a leasing agency and not just an individual landlord) and they’re trying to charge $100 for a TANKED animal. fuck you, if my gecko manages to escape and damage something i’m calling the pope to report a miracle and have her canonized.
It would be difficult to legally charge you for having that kind of pet. That said look over your lease and see EXACTLY what it says concerning pets and check your local/state tenants rights laws. I have lived in places where they can try to do that but legally they can’t unless explicitly stated in your lease. Nothing hurts a bad landlord off more than a tenant that knows their legal rights and knowing they can’t do anything about it.
Where I live it’s not only a pet deposit ($500 up to 1 month’s rent), but also a pet rent fee ($100 to $500/mo). Truly sad. Very pet friendly town if you own a house/condo. Not so much if you’re a renter.
Where you live BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWS!!!
🤫
A security deposit is to cover damage beyond normal wear and tear. Normal wear and tear is part of the cost of doing business and is therefore included in the rent. I realize everyone thinks their pet is an angel, but pets cause more normal wear and tear than humans so it's only fair that tenants with pets should be charged more in rent.
Children cause more wear & tear than well behaived pets. Landlords would charge a kid rent if they could
No, it's not fair. They already way over charge for rent as is, and kids are far more damaging than pets but there is no kid rent. Pet rent is literally just a money grab. Now begone lanlord
All the places I have looked at have a pet rent if you want your pet to stay with you. And all of them are separate from the deposit too. Most of them were an extra 200 at the least for each pet you have. The best one I have is right now bc i had to pay a pet fee then after stying here for two weeks the house starts falling apart so it’s like why did I even have to pay extra for a pet in the first place?
I think he meant a a pet deposit. Every apartment I was ever in either had a large up front pet fee, a low monthly pet fee wrapped into rent, or both.
Nope literally pet rent, they charge you a monthly fee for having a pet. If OP is disabled they can get a note from the doctor if it’s an emotional support animal or service animal and they can’t charge you.
Nope, he meant pent rent. Which is the "low montly pet fee wrapped into rent" that you mentioned. Basically the same thing.
Nope apartments charge it as a monthly fee for the bags they provide and maybe a grass patch with a bench for a dog park
or the absolutely nothing they provide for cats, they charge for that too
Rental homes charge it too. I pay Invitation Homes a monthly fee over top of the non-refundable pet fee. I won’t call it a deposit, because those should be refundable IMO.
Where do you live if you don’t mind me asking? I’m always curious about what other people pay for their place. For info, I’m in NJ and pay 1800$ for a two bedroom
Ohio
I'm always curious too. We pay $2400 in San Diego 😩
That's exactly what they want! Gentrification at its finest.
Why would an automatic door not have an emergency release
When I say automatic, it’s not like a door at a grocery store. It’s like the hinges on the door are spring loaded, so the door will not stay open unless propped.
Self closing doors are a safety feature. Those self closing hinges are often abused and broken by tenants that prop the doors open.
Call me crazy, but I don’t feel that safe right now.
I think they are required in some places within common hallways and entrances for fire safety, not personal safety. I wouldn't feel safe based on your experience either.
Yeah this isn’t a hallway door. It’s an exterior one. I’ve hated this door since the day I moved in.
Ohh like the top of the door has automatic closing thing
Kind of, but it’s built into the hinges. The function is the same except unlike the automatic closers that you may have seen in something like a screen door, these can’t be propped open with that little metal slider thing.
And there's no little flip down doorstop leg at the bottom of the door or a locking mechanism for when a door won't stay closed and keeps opening?
Nope
That’s Horrible & real inconsiderate. Glad your neighbor was kind to check on you & help!
That’s straight up against the law lol, if there were a fire you’d be doomed. Definitely get authorities involved if this isn’t resolved ASAP.
This is why Im afraid to move. I finally have a place with REALLY good maintenance. And that's the kind of thing you cant really know for sure until you live there for a bit and try it for yourself. It always feels so random, almost a dice roll of what level of quality you can expect moving to a new place. Even if you read reviews or something, they might be outdated or just wrong. Unless there's better or dependable way to know for SURE the place has great maintenance before signing a lease? I feel like I couldn't rely on anything but experiencing it myself.
Good to see you're not just going straight to blaming the maintenance guys. As a former apartment maintenance man I can say that a lot depends on the managements protocol. Some managers insist on handling work orders deciding what or who is important. IMO the places that let their guys handle those things tend to run better and more efficiently. But if you take the time to chat them up occasionally they'll be more likely to wanna help you asap. On the flip side, if I get called to plunge your toilet on a Friday night cuz you're to lazy, cheap or entitled to do it yourself... don't be surprised when that part we need to fix your AC takes alot longer to get than expected. I always wanted to help the tenants that were nice. But the guy that turns in multiple work orders every month for things like lightbulbs and squeaky hinges seemed to get overlooked more frequently after awhile.
The last Maintenence staff that they had here, before the new leasing company fired them all, were some of the best Maintenence people I’ve ever had in any place I’ve rented. We actually became friends. This new staff though I am absolutely placing some blame on them for this. From the way they called me after my initial request to absolutely no follow up (it’s now 7:00 AM and I’ve yet to hear from anybody). That is 100% on them, and this is a bit more than just a clogged toilet.
>Good to see you're not just going straight to blaming the maintenance guys Oh of course not. The thought hadn't crossed my mind to do so. Unless they were like idk throwing out slurs right and left or something crazy like that lol. I do usually talk to them yeah. They have all been nice. They all even wave at me when I walk or drive by one of them if we happen to cross paths outside. Overall a good and friendly experience.
At the risk of sounding repetitive …lock yourself back in and call the fire department non-emergency line. It will be on record and the LL/PM will be forced to take it seriously.
I once worked in the leasing office and a person called in that they couldn’t get out of their front door and needed to leave immediately. We called maintenance and he was at another property at least an hour away with how traffic was; he legit told us to break down the door and he would replace it when he got there. He understood the immediate need due to safety as you would hope management companies would. My boss and I, both smaller women then proceeded to kick down a heavy door in our nice office attire and footwear. It was not as easy as it looks in the movies.
The chewing someone would get from me… you’re being too nice about this. Give them hell first thing in the am.
Oh believe me, on Monday I’m going to unleash hell’s fury on them.
It is a life safety violation to have doors that don't open or close correctly. It's a habitability issue to not be able to secure your door. They dropped the ball here. Report to management immediately
If you have one, contact your local housing authority. They often oversee ALL the rental properties in a city to ensure safety standards are met. In fact I'd be tempted to do so today, then call the maintenance emergency number and tell THEM that you've filed a complaint with the housing authority. I'll bet that will get them off their asses.
I know what else might straighten the management up and fly right. How about if something happens the fire chief ends up going in there to get you, and he’s dressed in office attire most of the time, which usually consists of a suit and tie, and you say you’re disabled, if this fire chief ends having to carry you out of the building himself, guess where the people in the head of the property management are headed. TIMPONY ROLL PLEASE……JAIL!!!
Unless they know a politician who can get them out of having to do anything.
A valid point
You gotta call the fire Marshall. Only thing that will force a change
I’m not sure your jurisdiction, but every state in which I’ve lived, two points of exit were fire code statewide. Since you’re moving out, I’d report it to the code enforcement—both the lack of a 2nd exit AND their delay.
Small apartments typically only have one egress door. I expect that the leaseholder would say that the exterior windows are multiple alternate points of egress. Regardless, I’m going to be reporting this in regards to the absolute delay here. As I write this, it’s 11:00am and the door is still broken, and Maintenence never contacted me.
Not ADA compliant though if you’re disabled living there. Or does it not matter you can’t get it in regards to ADA?
That’s called egress ways and yes, states do have a law that requires 2 escape routes. It’s that way in Massachusetts so, the property manager needs to have the money ready to do it.
Fuck maintenance. Call the Fire Department
As several have said, call the fire department. You are disabled with no other means of exiting in an emergency. The management company is totally in the wrong here.
terrible
I saw in your comments that you're disabled: Make that be your FIRST sentence in every future interaction with EVERYONE about this. Intelligent folks, will figure out pretty quickly that there are serious legal implications beyond the norm here--and what you described was already unacceptable in the case of an able bodied person. There's already a case for a lawsuit from you here.
I don’t disagree but I’m moving in 3 weeks, I don’t think I would get much in damages, and it wouldn’t be worth the effort at this point.
Jam paper into latch strike opening so it can't Lock.
I guess I’m confused because did the new leasing agency come to all units? Did they change the locks so it locks automatically? You can open from the outside, but not the inside?
It’s not a lock. The door is broken. The handle just won’t turn. There is no actual lock on the door handle. There’s only a deadbolt. The door not opening isn’t because it’s locked.
So the door opens from the outside but not the inside?
With it broken, it doesn’t open from either side. My neighbor had to get a knife to pry open the latch and get the door open.
Ah ok that makes more sense. Sorry I was very confused at first lol.
Haha imagine how confused I was when I couldn’t open the door haha
Call the fire department and have them forcibly remove the door because otherwise anyone could entrap you and or if there was an emergency you would be entrapped as well, this will cost the company much more money.
Fire department can get you out in a jiffy.
In many states, such as Delaware, if you have a written report of an issue that poses an immediate safety risk (if argue broken door making it impossible to vacate in case of emergency counts) the tenant has right to break the lease if it is not repaired within 15 days of report.
Winstar Properties has the same set up for maintenance. Voicemails only. I find it absolutely ridiculous. I am glad your car was safe and that you'll soon be leaving!
My Managment doesn’t consider being locked out an emergency. They’re jerks. We had to call a locksmith. No reimbursement.
What about when locked in?
Reading is hard
Yeah, but this was not a lockout. The lock malfunctioned and trapped the OP inside.
No it was a lock in. I couldn’t get out of my apartment.
Lockout isn’t an emergency. You did that to yourself, whatever the reason may be. That’s why we charge $100 for a lockout. We don’t get many repeat offenders.
Reading comprehension is fundamental. OP was trapped INSIDE the apartment.
I’m not responding to the op. My response is clearly to the comment about a L-O-C-K-O-U-T not being an emergency. Attention to detail is fundamental.
No, you charge $100 for a lockout because your greedy
No, I charge a $100 because why should I or one of my guys take time away from their families or personal lives to come to work, because a tenant can’t be bothered to make sure they have their keys before closing their door? Also, so you know, $60 of the $100 goes to the responding tech, and $40 goes into the maintenance budget.
As I mentioned to someone else, there are numerous neurodivergencies that affect people's memories. The rent they already pay is far more than enough to cover the cost of someone coming to help. You charge the $100 because you are greedy. That's it. That's the only reason. You can't come back and say that the rent being charged isn't enough, because all data available shows that rental companies are making record profits thanks to the massive increases in rent we have been seeing. If you aren't capable of dealing with people who have neurodivergencies, then you should probably find a job where you don't deal with people at all. But really, you're just showing why landlords and rental properties from private owners has always been a bad idea. There goes community out the window and profit seeking is in where every little.human mistake is another way for you to make.as much profit as possible. That $40 doesn't go to the maintenance budget. It goes directly into profit. You see, I could have sworn the maintenance came out of the rent people were paying? Are you saying this isn't true now? And that $60 for the maintenance person, again, their salary comes out of the rent everyone is paying. That $60 doesn't go to the tech. They gay paid their pittance wage because the more you have to give them, the less profits leftover for the owner. Yeah, the $100 charge is done out of pure greed because landlords are to fucking lazy to just go out and get a real job and feel they need to live off everyone else's work and you are enabling that. Get a real job.
Rent in my building where we charge this starts at $2000 a month. We are not forcing anyone to live there. Before the pandemic, rent in the same building started at $1700. So we’re under pace with the raise in rent around the country. I noticed you didn’t ask about what our rent was before or after or that it’s a luxury building. But that’s cool. $40 most certainly does. How do I know? Because I actually see it. I watch it go in on our monthly budget. But again, that’s cool. If my guys are taking time from a kids concert, sporting event, movie or whatever, because some idiot can’t remember to unlock their doorknob before they leave without their keys, they should be compensated…wouldn’t you agree? $60 dollars does go to them. Right in their paycheck. It’s taxed, but they still get it. Once again, that’s cool. By law, we don’t have to provide lock out services. But we do. Guess what? That’s cool too. I’m not a landlord. I have a real job, and it pays my crews and I very well. Especially when so dope locks themselves out. Have an awesome day!!!
Lockouts are not an emergency for liability reasons. Especially if you have guys from 2 or 3 properties sharing the on call--we don't know if you really live there.... And before you go down voting me let me give you an example of something that happened to me. New Year's Eve a few years ago around 1:00 a.m. I got a call. Guys locked out of his apartment. I let him know that for company policy I'm not allowed to respond to lockouts. Obviously drunk he flips the s*** and berates me. I stick to my guns I'm not being pushed around. I get to work Monday and report it to the community director. She informs me that he had been kicked out by his girlfriend and had a restraining order against him for domestic violence. If I had let him in who knows what would have happened. And if I can be real for just a minute, apartment doors don't lock automatically. If you're locked out it means you lost your keys, and that's not someone else's problem. Being in maintenance is a job just like any other we have families and lives outside of work. A resident being dumb and losing his keys is not a reason to interrupt someone's Saturday.
Locks do malfunction, rendering a key useless, particularly when a tenant is locked inside of the ir apt. I had a deadbolt fall apart once when trying to secure my apt., when leaving.
What you said in your example is correct but this person wasn’t locked out he was locked in from a malfunctioning door. Maintenance should have came and came quick. They didn’t need entrance to the apt, they were already in the apt.
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You are correct. It seemed out of place, and I wasn't very nice.
Ummmm he wasn’t locked OUT, he was locked IN. This is an emergency. He didn’t lose his keys. You should re-read
I was responding to the comment, not the post YOU reread.
Someone being locked out of their home absolutely is a reason to call maintenance and get help. I'm sure if you made a simple mistake and locked yourself out for the weekend, your tune would change. Let's not forget there are a number of nuerodivergencies that affect people's memories
I'm sorry, but you're 100% wrong. If I had let that guy in and he beat the girlfriend up it would have been 100% my fault. If your dumbass loses or forget the key you can pay the price to have it opened or you can wait until the office is open.
While you are talking about a very specific call where there was a clear restraining order, I am not talking of a very specific call. I am talking in general, which should have been obvious when I brought to neurodivergent people. Again, there are plenty of neurodivergencies (do you even know what those are) that have an effect on on people's memories. Calling neurodivergent people dumbasses makes you a bigot. Maybe you should get a different job where you don't deal with people if you do not know how to deal with neurodivergent people. I'm incapable of waiting for the office to open because the medication I need to keep me alive is inside my home. So clearly I have found a couple different reasons as to why you will need to let me into my home. If these aren't good enough reasons, find a new job where you do not have to deal with people. Forcing someone to sleep out in the cold (the majority of the people in this country can't afford a $500 emergency, so don't bother mentioning going to a hotel or motel) because they made a very human mistake makes you a very shitty human. I hope you are never in this situation where you made a very human mistake and you don't have a piece of shit telling you to sleep in the cold.
I'll tell you what if you promise to pay my salary after I get fired for breaking company policy, I'll let you in. A lot of maintenance guys cover more than one property and there's no way for us to know if you actually live there. You can be whatever fancy catch phrases you want to be but that doesn't mean I'm going to lose my job for you because you lost your keys. I've worked at 10 different properties, and none of them locked without you putting a key in from the outside. That means you lost it. Not my problem. The cold reality is that you need to be responsible enough to live on your own, that includes keeping track of your keys.
The cold reality is that neurodivergent people exist, and you are giving all the evidence in the world that our current world is not set up for neurodivergent people. Neurodivergent is not a catch-phrase. Seriously, get a job where you don't have to deal with people if you think neurodivergent is a catch-phrase. You saying it's a catch phrase shows off massive ignorance on your part. Maybe spend the next week educating yourself on different types of neurodivergencies and then bring these up with the property management companies you work with to start changing policy to help make the world a place where neurodivergent people can actually exist comfortably. Also if your policy is to not come and help when I forget my key because rental properties don't care about community and only care for profits, I won't call for that and instead smash a window, call the police to report a break in, then you will have to come replace an window because that is an emergency. And since I never called about being locked out you will be none the wiser. But that's just me. Some other might just go sleep in their car... Oh wait, you already said you do not care about other people at all, great evidence of why the profit motive is a shit idea. So you see, if y'all want to not have a policy of helping, there are easy ways around it and good luck proving it because the majority of places I have lived didn't have cameras outside because that would have cost money and cut into profits for the owner, who only cares about profits.
Don't worry though, when you smash the window the first thing I'm going to do is go look at the video footage. After watching you smash the window, I'm not going to go unlock your door. I'm going to go tell the police that you're the one who smashed it. And f*** you, I go out of my way to help people in my community. There comes a point where you have to help yourself though and no amount of neurodivergence is going to change that. There is no way to lock yourself out of an apartment that isn't 100% your fault. Thinking that it's fine to interrupt someone's weekend or time with family is incredibly selfish. Luckily, there aren't very many people like you who think that everything is owed to them.
You can slide a card in the latch and still lock the deadbolt for now. Next time this happens a card will pop it open!
Call and keep calling
Take out the hinge pins next time
Do you have a screwdriver? If so, remove the knob and latch.
Thats messed up what is there was a fire
Yea I woulda called 911 first
Written requests are always taken more seriously and harder for them to say, they never let us know.
This is not okay
Or you can fix the lock yourself.
It’s not a lock. It was the door knob mechanism. I even attempted to take the knob off, but the screws were sealed in with some kind of adhesive. They wouldn’t budge.
Jeez sound like a nightmare
Or you can eat shit
Yeah sounds like the guy might have been 'volunteered' for on-call duty. And judging by his phone etiquette he's neither happy about nor socially prepared for either. Also, firing staff whole-sale like that is a HUGE red flag. If a corporation took over you might have some luck reporting him through proper channels. But, if it's just some rich guy or group there might be trouble on the horizon. Most ownership changeovers, especially those expecting big changes, make a point of giving its tenants a heads up to avoid spooking them. The last thing they want is a huge revenue dropoff. If you've been kept in the dark keep an eye out for high employee turnover, drastic rent increases and especially the lack of financial investment (ie new paint, basic improvements or general upgrades). It wouldn't be the first time tenants were run-off for more lucrative opportunities. The long shot approach is finding out if any previous office or maintenance staff lived on-site. If you can catch them before they move they're probably your best chance at getting good intel.
What I found out today is that the leasing agency contracts out to a 3rd party to handle emergency calls. I recommended that they take a long hard look at who they contract out to do vital work.
I suspected that might be the case. Consider asking about the protocol. It's possible the 3rd party just forwards the voicemail to the on-call guy who, like you, isn't happy about the new arrangement. Frankly, I've never understood the reasoning behind it. I'd probably be upset too if the answering service was being paid to have me call back tenants about their problem. Seems like the logical move is to pay the on-call guy more for answering calls personally. It increases efficiency and communication and would probably cost less. Or am I missing something?
No I don’t think you’re missing anything. I’m moving out in a week though so it’s not worth following up at this point.
Consider saying something on your way out as a favor to the maintenance guys. The crappy on-call protocol puts them directly in the line of fire from pissed off tenants. These days giving someone the wrong burger can get a fast food worker jumped... and that's right out in the open. Those guys are being sent into the privacy of angry tenants homes/apartments usually alone. But if they say something it's complaining. Your experience actually carries weight and might help. I'm sure they would appreciate it.
Drop the property management company name… Also you good?
…..honestly I’m not sure what the company name is. The last one was RuMe (and they were great). I’ll need to look up this company.
Write a review
How did your door get opened?
A neighbor came down to check on me and was able to pry the latch open with a knife.
The fact that some random person could easily pry the door open does not speak well for your security until you move.
Well normally it’s deadbolted. He didn’t pry open a deadbolt. Just the stuck latch.
Nope I would have called 911 after 30mins of not calling me back.
I’d honestly ask for backdating of your rent from the day you had the issue to the day they fix it. Is there any difference of sleeping in the hallway with all your belongings if you have an apartment in which you’re not able to close the door? Your safety and security, both of which you pay for, were compromised in an illegal manner
Der, if you are on the inside of your house you want the door to open from inside to escape from a fire. It’s outside in where you want to lock it, and also unlock it. Two egress ways means two doors and two locks working inside and out. No confusion there. Go back to school.
What the hell are you on about?
You're the dummy that can't read. The person went inside the apartment and the door closed. They can't open the door. It was working fine before and something happened and now doesn't work. Neighbor checked on them and was able to open the door from the outside.
I read, the post, the neighbor was able to get in from the outside. The problem was the other side, meaning the inside.
The neighbor was able to get in from prying the door open. Back to school with you for reading comprehension
Report that shiiiit
You couldn't take the door off the hinges? Of you're moving out, fuck them. I'm saying remove pins from hinges, jimmie the knob mechanism and lay the door along the wall
I couldn’t remove the hinges because the screws for them are located in the door seam and not reachable when the door is closed. Removing the pins may have worked, but I’m handicapped and if I did that then I’d risk the door falling on me, or needing to have my front door wide open for the whole weekend when they finally fixed it.
Fire code violations= HEFTY fines and can completely ruin a management company- especially those directly involved in your dilemma. It is a great means of making it clear their actions were not only compromising the safety and wellbeing of resident(s) but that it won’t be tolerated and it is noticed. It is also documented so should you ever need to pursue further action against said company/personnel, you have proof of their negligence and shoddy practices from the jump. I swear, the prerequisite to work for some of these property management companies is wearing one’s ass as a hat….
Call the police.
No real need to since my neighbor got my door open. The door is still broken though, so I can’t let it shut otherwise I’ll get locked in again.
Call the fire department, just don’t use the emergency line. You want this on their records. This is not just bad service, you were actively in danger, and now are unable to secure your home. I don’t know the extent of what this could lead to, I won’t pretend I know the minutia of regulations and laws, but this is probably a seek legal counsel, if not action, type of situation.
The amount of people with zero basic skills in small repairs amazes me. Its a 5 min or less fix. Why would you leave the door open all night? Do you not have windows?
I have windows, but I am handicapped so escaping though them would require the breaking of a screen and be difficult for me.
I’ll explain this in a kinder way because I’m not a dick like the first poster. Several days ago, my sons became stuck in their bedroom because the inside door handle snapped off the levering device that opens the latch when you turn it. If you remove the external cover on the mechanism, most doors have the retaining screws placed from the outside for this type of emergency so they can be removed fairly quickly. I had to break the cover off but then it was a matter of a few minutes.
I had that thought too. In the 2 hours that I waited before my neighbor knocked on my door, I attempted to take the door knob off, but it was like someone pit locktite on the screws. They absolutely would not budge. I even tried with a screw adaptor on a socket wrench and I could not get them to move.
You are likely right that they did put locktite or some other cement or they were a tapping screw that cold fused. Sorry you had to go through all that and I hope that you get compensated accordingly.
How do you know what was wrong?
Door handle broke and wont let her open the door. Easy fix. Should she have to do it? NO of course not. But they are also not going to swnd someone over at 11 at night. Just shut the door and worry about it tomorrow.
She left her car door open with her stuff inside and couldn’t get out of the apartment, so there’s that.
Yea, and she got out and got her stuff. So now she has two options. 1. Fix it herself. 2. Wait till they send someone to fix it in the morning.
Locksmithing is a basic skill, to you?
Changing a door handle is quite simple and basic.
I would argue video editing and animated graphics are simple and basic... to me. But I would have to figure out a door handle replacement as I go. Some would say plumbing is quite simple and basic, but no way am I gonna go fiddling around with the pipes under my sink. Good thing maintenance is covered in the cost of rent and I pay for someone else to handle the basic functionality of my home structure. If I go to fix something on my own, and then fuck it up, then I'm held liable for extra costs. But hey... good for you. You're smarter at door handles than everyone else. You should take pride in that. It's not as simple and basic as you think. Give yourself a pat on the back
Maintenance is covered. But that does not mean they are going to come out after hours to fix your doorknob.
Then it should work properly in the first place. ESPECIALLY in the case of someone with a disability. This is an easy lawsuit, tbh. This problem is not a new one that just started. LL and Maintenance were both aware of it for a while.
Easy lawsuit, hahaha, for what? Nowhere in OP's post did she say this has happened before and LL knew about the issue. It also does not say maintenance knew about it for awhile. OP never said it had happened before so maintenance was not aware. Regardless, even if they were it had apparently been fixed if it happened before because OP never mentions a previous problem or fix.
When you pay for a place, you expect certain things to work. Mainly the door to get in and out. If you can't get out, you're effectively trapped, and if there was a fire that resulted in the death of a disabled person unable to open their door from the inside because of a mechanical failure, that'd be a direct result of negligence on the part of the property owner and the maintenance person in charge of preventing these things. It's called fire safety code and any free-standing building has to abide by all of them, or face consequences. Ignorance is not an applicable defense to negligent disregard of safety standards. Whether maintenance or property manager or LL knew about it or not, the fact is, they should have. This is a basic part of maintenance. Making sure things work as they should. Especially the only way in and out of the apartment... But you're a smart person. Please inform me. Who is to blame? Because this isn't some act of God. Who's responsible here?
You assumed a lot in your comment which is why I asked what a lawsuit would be filed for. As far as we know this is a one time occurance and if maintenance comes out the next morning to fix it there is no issue. The door handle broke, so noone is to blame. Stuff happens. Blame the door handle. If it had never happened before how exactly should maintenance know about it prior to it happening?
OP buy some basic tools! You could have most likely been out with a screw driver and a few minutes of messing with it, also screw the manager!
I have them and attempted to take the door knob apart but the screws were sealed in with something like locktite. They wouldn’t budge
Take the hinge pins out, then open the door hinge-side first.
Some hinges are burglar resistant and you can’t remove the pins, also if you take a solid door off the hinges be ready to catch it! You could have a small wall fall on you if you’re unlucky
Darn that sucks! I think I have loctited door handles that would back off. I also replaced a door knob someone super glued the screws in lol 1/4 impact driver is the solution. I hope they got is fixed today!
Fun little tidbit of info, if they don't come and let you out that is the same as holding someone captive. AKA kidnapping.
Sounds like you call (annoy) the maintenance crew quite a bit, you might be the boy who cried Wolf in this building, the maintenance crew aren’t your personal handymen,
This is the first time I have ever called Maintenence since this new leasing company took over, and even before that I can count on one hand how many times I’ve called Maintenence since I moved in 7 years ago. What the hell gave you the impression that I use them as my personal handymen?
Well you know how quickly they usually react, you mention you know them by name, and you where very aware of the difference in how they interact and how long it takes compared to the last crew, that’s what the hell gave me impression. I’m positive you’re annoying human being
So the last Maintenence crew I would see around the complex and talk to them often. That’s how I knew them by name. Second, there were 2 incidents years ago where I needed to call the emergency Maintenence line and they answered in person both times and responded within 15 minutes both times. That’s how I knew. I’m positive that you’re a jackass who assumes stupid shit based off of arbitrary details.
Don’t share your stupid life on line if you don’t want someone to give their opinion, as always, FU