Gun owner in an apartment

hj28rules,

Check your lease with your landlord/owner. See if there is a specific clause that gives him a right to enter at anytime, without notice. If he's using a typical "boiler plate" lease agreement, it probably specifies 24 hour notice. If nothing is said about it, check your State's website to see if they include any rights for renters. Or consult a local attorney for $20 on the matter. But know what your rights are under your state laws.
 
I have a snub nosed .38 in a VCR case stored with the other VCR tapes. Most everyone uses DVD's now so there won't be much interest in my VCR tapes.
 
Thank you all very much for the input. When I got home last night I looked at some options people suggested. I already have a fire-safe, one of the smaller document size, nothing huge, but it holds the handgun and spare mags in there fine. I keep it there during the day and just put it somewhere closer at night. May seem to be a pain sometimes, but as rb4browns said "To leave your guns accessable while you are out is irresponsible and inviting trouble."

Thanks,
 
Just because you live in a apartment doesn't mean they can come in anytime they want. Most states require a 24hr notice unless there is a emergency
Click to expand...
This is true except for regularly scheduled maintenance.
You get that schedule when you move in or if you read the complex news letter.

The Supervisor or Maintenence folks can't just snoop.
Click to expand...
Don't trust that
I spent twenty years going into apartments when the tenants weren't home and supervising others who did

You would be surprised what can be snooped and how much I can know about you by simply going in and doing my job and nothing more

One old supervisor told me in the old days they were instructed in Probable Cause. If you see something out in the open you have probable cause to look in the drawer nearest that item, with him it was certain photos.
He was also instructed to close the front doors when you entered an apartment.
You tell the tenant and manager that it is for safety and tell the newbies that it is to keep pets in.
But it was really to give you an extra second or two to recover if someone comes home unexpectedly.

Get a lock box and a nanny-cam

The lock box will keep the typical maintenance worker away from your gun and the nanny-cam would just be a hoot to watch
 
The dilemma of securing a handgun from thieves and having it available for protection was not easy for me. I decided to purchase an inexpensive S&W model 10 revolver ($200) and keep it by my bedside. I do have other guns hidden. I’ll basically sacrifice the model 10 if I’m burglarized. Obviously this only makes sense if you have more than one gun. In a previous thread on this issue someone mentioned keeping a firearm that was junk, non-working in plain sight. The theory is that the thief would realize that he had found his prize and leave immediately. Write down your serial numbers.
 
How could maintenence personnel have probable cause to look through people's things? If I knew a maintenence person looked through my things I would demand immediately to the landlord that that employee be terminated. I would tell them that if they wanted to look through my things then they better call the police and have them acquire a search warrant. I could see them having the right to alert LE personnel if they see something suspicious but maintenece workers don't have the right to determine probable cause and look through people's things. Even if a LEO saw something suspicious he/she wouldn't have the right to act on it if he/she wasn't authorized to be in the residence. Any evidence brought to court without a warrant would be dismissed. That is for LE personnel while maintenence crews don't have the right to be making accusations period.

One old supervisor told me in the old days they were instructed in Probable Cause. If you see something out in the open you have probable cause to look in the drawer nearest that item, with him it was certain photos.
He was also instructed to close the front doors when you entered an apartment.
You tell the tenant and manager that it is for safety and tell the newbies that it is to keep pets in.
But it was really to give you an extra second or two to recover if someone comes home unexpectedly.
Click to expand...
 
I think the small safe is a good approach. You could take the gun with you. Back when I was in college, I was leaving my apartment (in a complex) and noticed a car pulled up to a nearby first floor apartment. It was raining and I was in a hurry to get to class. But it sure seemed odd. Wrote the license plate number down. Got back later and discovered their apartment was robbed and I witnessed a portion of the event. Called the police and gave the license plate number and other information that I had. Never heard another word about it.

In most of the bigger apartment complexes, maintenance or the management people are supposed to leave a note that they entered your apartment. I've never had a problem in the past.

I was doing some work at some section 8 apartments and they often inspect them once a month. They are protecting their investment and looking for indications of drug activitiy, or pets that aren't supposed to be there primarily. The big drug activity of late is meth labs and the inspections are done following a complaint by a neighbor or by the police (with warrant) depending on the circumstance. You don't have a lot of privacy in public housing when it gets down to it.
 
First as someone else already said buy a keyed doorlock and change your bedroom doorknob also reinforce the cutout where the knob latches (whatever its called?) - chances are there will be no reason for a maintenance person to go in there...maybe window air conditioner but then they can set up an appt. - don't tell the apt. mgr or give them a key either.

Second, get some kind of cabinet, rsc, or safe and lock it up when you leave.

Its not that hard to do - I lock my safe every morning and open it when I get home. Its a good habit and you can lock up some other valuables like cameras, etc. at the same time.

I live in Cal. so I can't carry if I could I'd bring a handgun with me but I like knowing its locked in a safe when I'm away.
 
Most states have a Landlord/Tentant statute thats sets forth both tenant rights and obligations as well as those for landlords.

Call the Maryland Bar and they will probably give you a copy. It is always easier and cheaper to avoid a dispute than it is to settle one.
 
Forget tenant rights and what people are supposed to do - SECURE YOUR STUFF.

I live in a small condo (second story, on purpose). I attached a small rugged industrial hasp with a case hardened lock on a closet door; used hardened oversize screws (fill screw slots with epoxy after installing) through the door, oversize washers on screws on inside of door (so screws could not be pulled out), locking nuts on inside of door, and longer screws through door jamb deep into the 2x4 frame. The door itself could still possibly be breached, so.......

THEN, inside the closet I have gunsafe screwed into the studs of the closet wall AND my handguns in a thick metal pistol security box inside the safe. I have another pistol box/safe that I usually leave out in my bedroom but lock in the closet gunsafe also if I'm out of town or away for a night.

All this cost a lot less than one good handgun (the hardware is cheap and the rest is simple labor) and protects the dozen or so firearms I currently own. If I was only securing one or two handguns I might just screw in a good pistol box/safe into the studs of a closet.

Is it burglar proof ? No, but it is a long ways from burglar-friendly.
 
I used to live in an Apartment and my problem wasn't how to secure my guns, it was how to get the #$%@'ng Safe up to the third floor. It pays to have friends that like beer.

If I was to do it again, I would consider a Gun Vault in one of their several sizes. It can be secured to a piece of heavy furniture, floor, wall, etc. It is also light enough you won't have to buy a case of beer in order to get your friends to help move it.
 
My post was kinda off point, and I agree with what others have advised.

I just think anyone who is a renter should be familiar with landlord/tenant law. But you are right, it isn't a solution to the problem the op asked.
 
How could maintenence personnel have probable cause to look through people's things?
Click to expand...
The same way anyone else could have probable cause to look further, I never said anything about it being legal
If I knew a maintenence person looked through my things I would demand immediately to the landlord that that employee be terminated. I would tell them that if they wanted to look through my things then they better call the police and have them acquire a search warrant.
Click to expand...
First you have to catch them, and they do this for a living day in and day out
I could see them having the right to alert LE personnel if they see something suspicious but maintenece workers don't have the right to determine probable cause and look through people's things. Even if a LEO saw something suspicious he/she wouldn't have the right to act on it if he/she wasn't authorized to be in the residence. Any evidence brought to court without a warrant would be dismissed. That is for LE personnel while maintenence crews don't have the right to be making accusations period.
Click to expand...
Get off the legal aspect of it. Probable cause is not always a LEO term. No one is going to take nekid pictures of your girlfriend or your stash of nudie mags to court.
I did this work for over twenty years if you think that you can stop maintenance from snooping around your place when they're bored just because you can spout legalities you are living in fantasy land.

It has slowed down a lot since nanny cams became cheap enough for regulars people to afford, but it still goes on

There was a case in Florida where a pest control worker was enjoying the tenants porn collection while they were away.
They caught him on nanny cam doing that thing that all men do and deny doing while watching and used some of the wifes unmentionables afterwards and put them back in the draw when he was done.

He was prosecuted the company was sued and the industry suffered a black eye after it was show over and over on the local news.
He wasn't the first or last caught committing indiscretions

My point is maintenance snoops , sometimes at the request of management, accept it and act accordingly
 
Another thing that works well, if you have a separate deadbolt on your door, is to get a re-keying kit and change the lock. Don't change the regular knob, just the deadbolt.

This way, if no maintenance is scheduled and the management says "you can't change the lock!" you can ask them why they needed to enter the premesis without notice and without calling you at work (and their explanation better be good).

If they do "routine maintenance" on a/c units, for example, you can put a lock on the closet door... or better, stack up a lot of papers, old VHS tapes, and other stuff so that opening the door spills it out. Top with confetti so it's a ridiculous mess for them to clean up. You can also smear vaseline, veg. oil or some other slime on the underside of the door knob so he leaves nice prints on anything he touches.

One little trick to determine if someone may have entered your place... leave a quarter on the floor just inside the doorway in plain sight. If you return and it's gone you know someone else has been there -- it seems thieves can't resist a quarter they can take easily.
 
leave a quarter on the floor just inside the doorway in plain sight. If you return and it's gone you know someone else has been there -- it seems thieves can't resist a quarter they can take easily.
Click to expand...
If they are experienced they will not touch that quarter

They will snatch a few coins out of that change bowl though
When I was a cliff dweller I kept exactly $7.77 in change in that bowl as a monitoring device

If maintenance type are what you are concerned with the most rudimentary lock box will work
They will typically only snoop what is in the open are in typical hidy holes

Do not keep it in a nightstand
 
When i use to bunk with a buddy at his apartment when leaving I'd stash my piece either under the fridge(if they have an opening in the bottom) or under the sliding drawer of the oven.

Trust me their aint that many places to hide in an apartment. But those are two places the supers and the reason i hid it, burglers look. Trust me when my buddys apartment got broken into they flipped the bed took out the dresser draws even went into the atic. Burglers in central Florida are thurough.

Trust me either under the fridge(depending on the ) or under the stove. My freind had one of those little fire proof safes for documents but those are easyily stolen and broken into with power tools.

People saying safes either have homes, or are setteld into where ever they are. Most young people aren't in this catagory. Best bet is just get a CCW and take it everywhere.

Good luck regardless
 
I'm in an apartment as well. I happen to have a large cache of tools that I keep inside. They are remnants of my days as a dealership tech. I lock my pistols in one of the tool boxes if i'm gone for an extended period, kids are over, or maintenance is coming in.

I am as afraid of coming home to find my pistols gone from a maintenance guy as I am of coming home to find some crackhead pointing my M9 or P 94 at my face.

Texas isn't an open carry state ( :rolleyes: ) and there are complications with me carrying in my vehicle so locking them in a tool box is the best bet.

Safes, to me, scream "steal me...I have something important in here."

Most days, I stash the pistols in a place that is not obvious at all. They are in their respective cases, at condition 4, with a hand towel and some gym shorts thrown over them, on top of a dresser. It looks like a mess not a weapons cache.
 
I respond to lots of emergencies where the tenant isn't home and the property mgr lets me in. The reality of it is, some service people are thieves and look around, some are not. I've worked with the guy who was too busy going thru the wifes underwear drawer to help me work, I got his ass canned so he didn't splash mud on me.

Closets are no good, sometimes we get in closets to open the ceiling for pipe repairs. under the fridge is no good, many times I have to move it to see if the icemaker line is leaking. Dressers and nightstands have to be moved to access walls with piping in them. Stoves have to be moved sometimes, etc..

A safe big enough for the guy to have trouble moving is the best bet. Not something he could tuck under his arm or in a box. Do not leave valuable stuff in plain sight. Some thieves wont go looking but will thieve if the oppurtunity is staring them in the face.

You all would be amazed at the stuff that people just leave laying out in the open. Guns, drugs, sex photos, all sorts of stuff.
 
Alarm

Just because you rent doesn't mean you can't have a monitored alarm service like Brinks or ADT. Installations now don't require running wires to the motion sensor and door, that's all wireless nowadays. And the control boxes now have cell backups in case the phones are down.

I got one from ADT because we also use ADT at the office and I know the local account rep.

So that adds another layer of security to my rented apartment. When I'm going to have work done, I make a temporary code and give it to the property manager. Then I change the temp code after maintenance has finished the repair work.

If there's a break in, the person isn't going to have a long time to look around because of the alarm and someone showing up to investigate (me if I'm nearby, the police if I ask or don't respond, or the property manager). So most likely, they'll grab whatever is in plain sight and bail right away.

For around $400 for equipment and installation and $30/month, I think it is worth it. I got it after our office was burglarized and we had it installed in the office after that event. The janitors at the office set it off once in a while by mistake, but I like having it there and at home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top