Just got the heart pumping!

[denwego]

I'm home today, and the dog started to whine about needing to walk around 11am, so we head on out for a few minutes. When I come back to the apartment door, as I'm reaching for the lock with my keys, I notice the door is ajar... I admit I might be just dumb enough to maybe unlock it once in a while, but never dumb enough to leave it open. I have my SR9c on me, but I know that I have my shotgun hidden just behind the laundry room door on the right side of the front door, in case I need it in the middle of the night when someone's trying to jimmy the door open (which has happened once before, oy). I'm planning on calling the police rather than exploring myself, but if some guy suddenly rushes into me in the hallway, I'd like as much gun as possible. So, I push the door open slightly, quickly grab the shotgun, and pump the slide to get a round chambered as I pull out my cellphone to call 911. As I do so, I hear a voice from inside the apartment with a heavy Mexican accent, "please! Do not shoot! I am maintenance!"

Now my fiancée and I hadn't put in any work orders, and they're not supposed to just come inside without permission unless it's an emergency, so I'm skeptical. I see motion around the corner of the kitchen wall, and for a quick second, I see a flash of maintenance-uniform blue and a tool belt. I tell him to come around to the front door where I can see him, and sure enough, Miguel, a maintenance guy I've met before, comes around. I immediately apologize, but ask him what he was doing here... apparently, they saw a broken window screen on one of my windows and tried to replace it with a ladder, but couldn't get the old one off; he popped in for a moment to flick the switch locking it to the frame, and it just so happened that the five minutes I was out of the apartment were the ones where he knocked on the door and came in for a second when I didn't answer.

So, I'm somewhat irritated that anyone, no matter how innocently their intentions, just came on in to my apartment, but I'm equally remorseful for scaring poor Miguel... he's a nice guy and no one likes to go to work and have a gun pulled on them out of the blue! It also made me think about how even if I never intended to "clear my place" and wait for the cops, it still isn't something to rely upon time-wise.

Hope no one else's blood pressure was likewise raised so far today!

[KC5AV]

I bet Miguel will follow proper protocol from now on.

[Purplehood]

I bet Miguel will follow proper protocol from now on.

And pass the word on to others also...

[Dave2]

I bet Miguel will follow proper protocol from now on.

You know, I think you might be right on that one...

I just hope the apartment complex doesn't get all indignant about it.

[speedsix]

...you handled it very well...calmly and fairly...congrats...

[Hoi Polloi]

Many complexes have their maintenance crew place signs on the door to alert the resident that maintenance is inside. I bet Miguel would like to look into these options now!

[denwego]

I bet Miguel will follow proper protocol from now on.

You know, I think you might be right on that one...

I just hope the apartment complex doesn't get all indignant about it.

That's actually a mild concern of mine now. He didn't seem very upset about it, rather understanding that I reacted the way I did, but you never know if that means he still might tell someone in the office that "the tenant in #XXXXXX just pulled a shotgun on me" or the like.

Edit for that sign - the lease says that if they come in and no one's home, they're supposed to leave some paperwork saying that they were there and what they did, but that implies that they'd be gone by the time the occupant returned. I guess they don't have too many people show up in medias res, but if the office folk ever mention anything to me, such a sign is a good idea!

[cowboymd]

Since he wasn't following proper protocol, I assume you verified the broken screen?

[mgood]

I'm not digging out my lease, but I think it's a standard clause in the TAA (Texas Apartment Association or whatever it's called) lease, which generally looks like the same lease everywhere in the state, that if they need to do work inside your apartment and you're not home, they're supposed to leave you written notice 24 hours in advance. "We're going to repair/inspect/change/spray whatever tomorrow, May 18" or some such. Obviously there are exceptions for when water is running out from under your door or something. I know that they don't always do this and it may depend on the apartment management just how closely they adhere to the rules.

I live alone. I lock the door the exact same way every time. I turn the deadbolt all the way and then turn the key straight up and down and pull it out. Most people will turn it back just far enough to get the key out, which is almost, but not quite, the same. The instant I stick my key in the lock, I can feel the resistance on one side of it and know that I was not the one who locked it last. (This is not really a safety precaution, just one of my weird little OCD quirks.) After I make sure no one is actually in my apartment, I start looking for what they did. I'll typically find something like little dust fuzzies around the air conditioner where they came in to change the filter or something, obviously an emergency that could not wait the 24 hours notice.

[MasterOfNone]

they're not supposed to just come inside without permission unless it's an emergency

It sounds like a safety emergency. As the nights get warmer, you might leave the window open. A bat, wasp, or other dangerous critter could enter through the broken screen and cause harm during the night. What kind of landlord would allow their tenants to face that kind of risk?

[denwego]

Since he wasn't following proper protocol, I assume you verified the broken screen?

I knew they were broken; they had tears in them from a branch falling on them last summer. But we so rarely open the windows, it was needless to repair them on our end. That said, the repair itself was legitimate, if untoward thanks to people just walking on in. To wit:

I'm not digging out my lease, but I think it's a standard clause in the TAA (Texas Apartment Association or whatever it's called) lease, which generally looks like the same lease everywhere in the state, that if they need to do work inside your apartment and you're not home, they're supposed to leave you written notice 24 hours in advance.

That's the same lease template we have here as well. It's not so huge a deal I'm planning on making a stink about it right now, but if it were to happen again, there may be some legal action in it. However, as I read through it again now, it doesn't seem like there's any requirement for such a notice... any contract experts care to chim in?

[schufflerbot]

i think you handled that perfectly. he's lucky he didn't have headphones on or something and missed the racking of the shotty... otherwise, he might have had a reaalllly bad day.

[Gunner21]

Many complexes have their maintenance crew place signs on the door to alert the resident that maintenance is inside. I bet Miguel would like to look into these options now!

I was going to say.. yeah a door handle thingy would have gone a long way. Also a quick call to your Cell phone might have saved him from messing his shorts.

[denwego]

Funny update - there was a letter on my door this afternoon, saying that they'd be doing AC maintenance on all the apartments next Thursday. "No notice" became "a full week's notice" pretty quickly

[Hoi Polloi]

Funny update - there was a letter on my door this afternoon, saying that they'd be doing AC maintenance on all the apartments next Thursday. "No notice" became "a full week's notice" pretty quickly

The next question is if you were the only one to receive the notice! (I'm joking.)