I am baffled.

Tenant just called. For those who read a prior post on him, he thought another tenant got gotten into his apartment and put toilet water in his medication.

He called just now and said he went to get something to eat and came back. Both of the doors to his apartment has an inside chain lock. He keeps one locked and comes out the other door. He said that the blind on the door he comes out of, is hanging inside the door and the inside chain has been locked so he can't get in.

Another tenant that I trust was there trying to help him figure out what happened. We are wondering if the person is still in there, if he managed to lock the chain door and there is no sign he came out a window since both doors have the chain lock fastened.

I told him to call the cops and let me know what they say. He is hoping the person who broke in, is still in there.

No matter what, I will probably have damage to one of the doors to get someone in there but don't want anyone going in, until the police are there.

If it was your place, would you go over or just wait for the police to get back to you and have them deal with it?

This has me very baffled as to how they got out, if they are not still in there.

UPDATE.

The tenant just called me back and said the cops were there. They broke the screws in the chain lock to get in but otherwise no damage. The tenant who was also helping him get in, called me as well and he is baffled too.

Police checked the unit out but no one in there. They are just as baffled as the rest of us are.

Someone had to be inside to chain lock both doors. Windows were all locked. I am going to go over tomorrow so it is light outside and so some checking. I am also going to check the basement although I don't think there would be any access down there. I just have no idea what happened.

Is a ghost considered a pet or an additional tenant?/:)

I have to admit that when the tenant first told me a few weeks ago, that he thought someone was in the apartment, it sounded bizarre as he was accusing another tenant, telling me that he heard him plotting to put something in his food, etc. The other tenant had been with me over 2 years and I really cold not see him harming anyone. I thought maybe he had a dream or was having mental issues but of course I don't know.

When he called me, I told him to call the police right away which he did. I wanted to get another take on it and the cop was just as baffled when he called and talked to me.

LOL on the ghost. I have owned the property since 2002 and no reports of ghosts. No one has died in there, that I know of.

He has a girlfriend but would not explain why both doors were chain locked and windows all locked as to how the person got out. The attic is above the second floor and this apartment is on the first floor. A person would need to get into another apartment upstairs to get to the attic and then somehow go down two floors to get into his apartment.

Since his window blind was hanging down, he thinks the person came in through the kitchen door that he uses to go in and out and then chained it after he got in there. We just do not know how he got out.

I did not go over tonight NE. I let the cops check it out and they were as baffled as everyone one else.

I can't just ignore the problem. I need to be sure the unit is secure and that no one can get in. I am still trying to figure this out. I am going over tomorrow during the day, so I can check every possibly entry point, although other than doors and windows, I don't know of any.

I don't understand your answer. Chew him out for reporting a break in? I do not know what the situation is but as a landlord I have to check it out. Tenants have a right to feel secure in their own apartment.

I am think it has to be someone nearby as he just took a quick trip to get something to eat and then back and couldn't get in. This is during the day.

True story. Upstairs and downstairs tenants got along reasonably well. Separate gas heat.

In December upstairs tenant calls to complain saying downstairs tenant must have gotten into her apartment - raising her thermostat because her heat bill went up.

I talked with downstairs tenant who said they had no issues and he's scratching his head as am I.

On a different day I visited the upstairs tenant and - ever so gently - asked if she ever had problems with paranoia. She said she used to but that was a long time ago.

I explained that the change of seasons was the reason for the increased gas bill and downstairs tenant had no way to control upstairs tenant thermostat. This worked fairly well.

I see SortaBlonde reads the right kind of books! :P

I am going to check out the door tomorrow as I don't recall how long the chain was or how it was positioned.

I don't understand why anyone would even want to break into this building. Lower income tenants for the most part. I don't think any of them would have much of value to steal.

If someone broke in, I have no clue why they would target this one tenant unless something personal.

I contacted the other tenants so they could take precautions and keep their eyes and ears open. I did not contact my newest tenant. He had nothing in his background but I noticed that his friend who helped him move in, looked a little rough. The tenant lives right next to the one having the issues. I could be entirely wrong but just kept him out of the conversation for the time being since I don't know him that well. Other tenants have been with me from 2 yrs to over 18 yrs.

I am not sure if they waited for the police to get there before breaking the chain or if they did it before the cops got there. I know the tenant said he could probably use his shoulder against the door to get in but I told him to call the cops. He is over 6 ft tall and decent weight. I think he wanted to try to catch someone in there.

Easy. Take a piece of stiff wire (coat hanger) and put a loop in the end that the thumb knob on the end of the chain fits in. With the door slightly open and standing inside, put the knob in the loop and inserted into door latch but pushed all the way to the "unlock" end bend the wire around the edge of the door from the inside. This will allow you to lay the wire along the edge of the door to properly align the latch on the end of the chain to hole on the slide. Now the wire is finished. Simply go outside, lay the wire on the edge of the door and pull it slightly to get male end into the female end, pull the wire down the door and it slides it down the latch, push up quickly to disengage the wire loop from the latch and remove the wire.

Anyone that is good at this prank can do the entire process in about 2 minutes. While it makes a good prank, I don't see a thief doing it, their mindset is to get in and out as quick as possible so they don't get caught.

I don't think his girlfriend lives there.

Another tenant was with him and would have told me if there was someone in the apartment. Not to mention with both doors latched from the inside, she would have had to get out and I don't see her leaving without the other tenant seeing her and the cops missing her when they looked.

Windows were locked and both door were latched on the inside.

This is a corner lot property a block from downtown with traffic going by and neighbors. Six tenant rentals with one of them empty so five chances that someone in the building could have see the person. This entire thing just has me baffled. I am waiting to hear back from my long term tenant whose sofa faces the basement to see if she saw anyone around there or anyone going into the basement, etc.

I have tried to look at the possibility that he may be conning me but he was in the apartment about 1 1/2 years before he thought someone was coming into the apartment. He is on a month to month so if he wanted to move, he could do so with 30 day notice. He has told me before that he didn't want to move. With the cops checking it out and the other tenant there, I don't see how he could have manipulated it to have both latches locked on both doors.

I am considering every possible scenario to try to figure this out, including that the tenant is doing this himself.

I will be over there today and check everything, including how long the chains are on the chain latches and how far the doors open up with it on.

Right now I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. He has told me over and over that he has had multiple brain surgeries. I did not ask what for. Didn't think it would be legal/appropriate. He has also told other people this. He told me a few months ago what his medication was for. I do not remember what he told me, but it was for a physical ailment not a mental medication, not that knowing that means anything. He could have mental issues and not on medication.

My choices seem to be one or more of the following.

1. To figure this out, if it is not him doing it.

2. To figure out if he is doing all this.

3. To let him know that he is free to look for another place but I cannot really deal with one more vacancy and if I cannot figure out who is doing this, I would feel like I may need to disclose it to anyone else looking, not to mention, if I don't, another tenant would.

4. To try to legally get him out but I have no reason to do that, unless I have proof he is doing this. He pays his rent a week early, is not a problem tenant at all, other than this and I do not know if he is the guilty party, etc.

4. Talk to the police officer and find out if he suspected the tenant or had any other breakins, etc in the area.

5. Talk again to the other tenant to see if he noticed anything unusual while trying to help get him in there.

6. Find out if it was the officer or someone else got the chain lock open.

I will know more once I get over there and get more info, check out the basement and other possible access, see if he is missing anything, etc.

Plenty.

I specially asked the police officer that I talked to, if he looked under the bed. He said yes he did.

Cat interest when i googled How do you unchain a door from the outside?

I am going to talk to the police officer if I can reach him, later today.

New information. I thought the secondary lock on the doors were chain locks but they are not. They are the barrel bolt latches (not deadbolt), also called a sliding bolt. It is tight to the door, and no way to get anything in there, like a wire or string. Nothing else is any kind of an access point.

After checking everything and listening to the tenant today, unless the police officer tells me something else, I suspect it is the tenant. It does not make sense otherwise.

The door where the blind was hanging, is the one he has been going out. He said that he and the police officer figured out that the barrel bolt that was on the door had originally been put on upside down so the sliding bolt handle was at the top. They supposedly felt that the person who left went out that same door but had put the bolt just close enough to the latch to then slam the door and the bolt jumped into the bolt lock area. That does not make sense to me at all. I am going to get the info from the cop to see what he actually said and observed.

I asked the tenant that my concern was how a person got in and he said he didn't know the answer to that.

I personally think the tenant went out, slammed the door, knocked his own blind down and by slamming the door, it caught the edge of the lock so wouldn't open. He may or may not have known that that he knocked down the blind and latched it, if he was in a hurry and did not pay attention. He acted convincing that he was confused as to why it was locked. He does have memory issues.

To top it all off and this is the kicker, he said he had his own theory and proceeded to tell me. He said the former sheriff's brother was involved in a drug operation in a nearby town and the tenant turned him in. He was sent to prison and the former sheriff was out for revenge.

I thought the person he mentioned was still sheriff so I just said I didn't realize he was not sheriff anymore. He said no he wasn't. I checked when I got home and it appears that he was still sheriff as I had thought. Tenant also suspected the sheriff of doing things to his car which sounded silly and normal maintenance needed to me (shock absorbers, etc.

Anyway, I put the barrel lock back on the kitchen door right side up and double checked the other door which was snug and latching correctly, etc. The barrel lock was also tight so no way to get in that way.

I just think he is starting to lose it and I think I am going to give him the option to move, if he does not feel safe there. I really hate to have 3 units empty but at this point, I don't want him to snap and hurt someone. I do want to talk to the police officer first to get his take.

Me (CA). The units do not connect to each other and there would be no attic access to this apartment.

Update.

I spoke with the police officer who went to the apartment to be sure no one was in there.

Without giving him information on what I suspected, I asked him for his take on the situation.

He said that he did not believe that anyone else had been in the apartment. He said he thought that the tenant had gone out the door, shut it too hard so the blind was then hanging and the lock was just at the edge of where it latches and the jarring caused it to barely clip the latch, enough to lock it.

He said he had even told the tenant that he did not think anyone had been in there and that he thought the tenant himself may have caused the blind to drop on one side and the door latch to clip the latch enough to lock it. He said the tenant was not believing that, even though he told me the same scenario, minus the part that he may have done that.

The cop told me that he thought that the tenant had brain issues in the past. I am not sure who told him that but I didn't. The tenant told a lot of people before though.

Anyway the cop said that he didn't think he appeared to be a danger to himself or others and I never got the feeling that he was either. Of course we could be wrong. You never know.

Anyway, we have come to the conclusion of the saga and the questions that were baffling me. Glad it wasn't anyone breaking in there, to be concerned about that. If this tenant calls me again with these stories, I am just going to tell him that I have done all I can, that the doors are secure and if he prefers to search for another place where he may feel safer, all he has to do is give me a 30 day notice as per lease terms. The drama is going to need to stop, one way or the other.

Jkj. You didn't read my last reply.

When I checked it out, they were NOT chain locks but barrel locks so they held the door shut tightly. No way to even get a string or wire in there.

I have already pointed out that if he complains about someone being in his unit again, or hearing someone plotting against him, etc, I will let him know that he may want to look for another place, if he doesn't feel safe in mine.