Off campus apartment rental - safety consideration

Parents Forum
1

<p>D1 is going to a school in a fairly safe, small college town. She rented her apartment with her best friend when they were studying abroad. The apartment is on the first floor of an apartment building, without a doorman and their door faced the street (there is no apartment hallway to their apartment)</p>

<p>The first week D1 was at the apartment, she said to me that she felt "exposed." She felt anyone off the street could break into their apartment. I told her not to worry because it´s a safe town, but to always make sure the door is locked.</p>

<p>This morning she called me very upset. At 2am this morning D1´s roommate found a man with his face pressed to her bedroom window watching her. The bedrooms face the back alley (yard), and according to D1 there was no reason anyone should be there. D1´s blind has a large crack on it, and she wouldn´t be surprised if the peeping tom also watched her. The 2 girls slept in the same bed last ngith, and didn´t get much sleep.</p>

<p>They did call the police, but of course the guy was gone by the time police got there. I advised D1 to see the landlord and I also spoke with him. The landlord was very concerned and he is taking these measures:</p>

<p>1) Putting up a safety guard on the windows so they could only be opened 6 inches.
2) Sensor detecting light outside those windows
3) Black film on the windows so people couldn´t look in.
4) Fix shades.</p>

<p>The landlord has also offered to move the girls to an apartment upstairs next semester when it becomes available.</p>

<p>I am wondering if what the landlord is doing is enough, and if the girls need to move to a different apartment on a higher floor, possibly with a doorman. Financially, it could be very costly to move, and at this time there may not be an apartment available (this school does not guarantee housing for upperclassmen, off campus housing is premium).</p>

<p>I would welcome input from people on what else the landlord could do to make the apartment safer (he is a very nice, considerate landlord), and if it would be necessary to move.</p>

<p>Advice from me if your kid is renting - don´t rent without checking it out first, and if your kid is a girl try to stay away from the first floor.</p>

2

<p>I would ask for a motion-activated light in the back yard (the kind people have over garage doors)</p>

3

<p>How terrifying for the girls! I think I would try to last out the semester and then move upstairs. Hopefully this guy was just a peeping Tom and not violent. I agree that the lights/sensors should be a huge help.</p>

4

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<p>That’s item #2 in the OP’s list.</p>

<p>I think that this landlord is being very responsive in offering the measures.</p>

<p>Do they have a lease or is it a tenancy at will? If the former, breaking the lease could be a pain and moving out and in during the semester could be a pain too.</p>

<p>The only other thing that I could think of would be to install security cameras but this would be a fairly expensive proposition.</p>

5

<p>yuck, very creepy. I second or third the motion light. The landlord is very nice to offer the upstairs apartment next semester. I was going to suggest bars on the window, but I worry about fire safety and the ability to escape.</p>

6

<p>It sounds as if the landlord is being very responsive. For this issue a doorman would have been of no value.</p>

<p>For both of my Ds I insisted their apartments not be ground floor units. There’s a lot more safety in upper floor units and they have the added benefit that windows can be left open. Sometimes the upper floor apts cost a bit more but it’s worth it.</p>

<p>Pretty much every college town can’t be considered completely safe even if it’s upscale. Weirdos know that colleges are chock full of young women. Some of the weirdos are fellow classmates.</p>

7

<p>Do peeping Tom escalate to something more? He obviously know what the girls look like now.</p>

8

<p>There’s something disturbed about any guy who would peep so it’s hard to say what he’d do next. I think the girls should at least take the manager up on the offer to move to an upper floor apartment - they shouldn’t stay in that apt. Even if nothing else happens the girls will never feel comfortable and safe in it after this experience.</p>

9

<p>I would suggest that they not travel to and from the apartment alone either. But then, I would suggest this ALWAYS for students whether on or off campus. I would DEFINITELY request that second floor apartment as soon as it becomes available. Does this building have a locked foyer so that folk have to use a key to get access to the hallway where the apartments are?</p>

<p>I hope this gets resolved quickly. This is such a worry.</p>