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Old 06-02-2017, 09:46 AM
 
Location: Atlanta
5,242 posts, read 6,208,145 times
Reputation: 2778

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I've lived in a handful of apartments in the past, took a nice long break in a SFH, now I'm back into an apartment. I'm trying to figure out if I'm overreacting to the following events.

Last Sunday, I got a call from the complex that the person below me reported a leak near our guest bathroom. I was told they would need to check this out in my place and they would get in touch with me with more details.

Fast forward to the following (this) Wednesday. I'm leaving work at the end of the day and I get a call from my wife that she walked into our place to a plumber in our house. No notification, oh hi, a random person is in my house. Not the maintenance guy that works for the building, a contractor.

Is that normal? It really upset me and I can't wrap my mind around how that's an acceptable policy to allow unannounced, unsupervised contractors in my home. I honestly felt violated and now I'm thinking I need to get a safe for my house. Not to mention the feeling of insecurity of my wife walking home to a random dude in our house.

I wrote an email to the manager and his reply was very dismissive. He did say they would notify me in the future, but it largely brushed off since a work order was put in. I never put in a work order, but even so, you should be notified when someone is going to enter your apt as far as I am concerned.

Fast forward to Friday (today). I get a call that contractors are going to be entering my apt in a couple minutes. Wow, thanks for the heads up. I happen to be home, so it's not too bad. The contractors enter my home and they are three dudes who speak little to no English. I'm ok with the situation...if I'm there. But am I supposed to be ok with three dudes coming into my house when my wife is there, or unsupervised?

This just seems insane to me. We pay a pretty penny to live where we do and I never experienced this in the much less nice places I lived before. Is this normal? Is the apartment complex behaving appropriately? Am I overreacting?
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Old 06-02-2017, 09:50 AM
 
Location: City of Atlanta
1,478 posts, read 1,716,081 times
Reputation: 1536
I don't think you're over reacting at all - I would feel exactly the same way you do. Every apartment I've ever rented, including both homes rented from individuals and apartments in larger complexes, always gave us ample notice when someone would need to enter our apartment. I would always expect this, unless of course there was an emergency that needed immediate attention to protect others in the building.
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Old 06-02-2017, 10:19 AM
 
Location: Atlanta, GA
1,209 posts, read 2,239,904 times
Reputation: 886
My apartment tells me what day maintenance will come by, but not the time. It's not a big deal to me. Nothing has ever been stolen. Nothing wrong with 3 dudes that don't speak English.

You should get a security camera if you are paranoid.
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Old 06-02-2017, 10:27 AM
Status: "Mistress of finance and foods." (set 26 days ago)
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
50,075 posts, read 63,445,200 times
Reputation: 92680
I get why you are upset, and I think it could have been handled better. However, when water is leaking, all bets are off. If the water was leaking into your apartment you'd want it handled asap.
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Old 06-02-2017, 10:42 AM
 
Location: Atlanta
5,618 posts, read 5,892,317 times
Reputation: 4875
We had a water leak at my 2nd to last place. It was coming from upstairs and maintenance took care of it but they still let us know about when they'd be coming or at least which day.

I've lived in 3 different complexes. All would at least let us know what day someone would be entering. It should never be a surprise.
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Old 06-02-2017, 10:49 AM
 
Location: ATL & LA
986 posts, read 1,854,083 times
Reputation: 1597
I would not be ok with your building sending someone without alerting you. I can understand if there was a huge leak, and they had to act fast, and quickly called and told you it was an emergency and they needed to enter your apartment ASAP. But they called you on a Sunday, and the contractor came on Wednesday. They should have absolutely given you heads up and the opportunity to be present if you wanted to be.
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Old 06-02-2017, 10:52 AM
 
475 posts, read 680,840 times
Reputation: 452
Good business/resident relations practice? No. However, I'm almost sure that lease states that they can enter the unit at any time... yada, yada, yada..."

I wouldn't like it either.
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Old 06-02-2017, 11:07 AM
 
Location: Atlanta
5,242 posts, read 6,208,145 times
Reputation: 2778
Quote:
Originally Posted by gentlearts View Post
I get why you are upset, and I think it could have been handled better. However, when water is leaking, all bets are off. If the water was leaking into your apartment you'd want it handled asap.
No doubt and I would fully understand in that situation. I would also expect to be notified as soon as it was happening. But this wasn't an emergency, it was found Sunday and wasn't looked at until Wednesday.
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Old 06-02-2017, 11:12 AM
 
9,008 posts, read 13,984,748 times
Reputation: 7638
This used to happen to me all the time...not that people would come unannounced, but they wouldn't tell me the time. Since I worked odd hours, maintenance people and contractors were often surprised to open my bedroom door and find someone sleeping in bed at 11am. Which I thought was odd....my philosophy would be to just always assume someone might be sleeping in a closed bedroom.

But anyway, my assumption is that someone from your apartment complex let the contractor in. I'd be upset if they just gave the key to the guy (because he could run to Lowes and have it copied), but I don't imagine they did this. Your maintenance people probably let him in and then left.

I'm not dismissing how annoying it is, but this is apartment living. You can complain about it and you might get an apology. But just understand who the people that work in your apartment leasing office are...not exactly Harvard graduates. They're going to make mistakes and forget to do things, and when the plumber shows up, they aren't going to send him back because they forgot to notify you.

Do your maintenance people leave slips? Mine always did. I'd come home to papers that said who was there, what they did, and what time they left.
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Old 06-02-2017, 01:44 PM
 
Location: East Side of ATL
4,586 posts, read 7,675,797 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Do your maintenance people leave slips? Mine always did. I'd come home to papers that said who was there, what they did, and what time they left.
Same here. I get a phone call and they leave their work order sheet on the counter.
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