So, I'm locked out of my own apartment...

[Praetor]

I'm sitting out in the hallway of my apartment building surfing the 'net on my company laptop right now, not because it's fun (it is), but because I'm locked out of my apartment.

My key opened the doorknob lock easily and without problem, but the deadbolt was giving me some resistance. I figured it was just because of the weather or dirt, so I tried putting some effort into turning the key. Now it's stuck in there.

The management charges $35 to come out, after hours, and open the doors. I'm assuming that's if our keys are locked inside the apartment. MY keys are outside the unit, but inside the lock. Will they charge me?

Poll in place to amuse me until the management guy finally shows up.

 

[userman]

YES

 

[yosuke188]

I don't see why not.

 

[dartworth]

I would pay $35 to get out of the hallway...


or sleep there to save it...

 

[Praetor]

What's bad is I really have to use the bathroom, but I can't leave because who knows when the guy will show up.

 

[Furyline]

They will probably charge you more, actually.

 

[MX2]

Do a Chuck Norris on that door...STAT!

 

[Kelvrick]

So did the key break off in the lock?

 

[olds]

I am going with no.

 

[bobdelt]

theyre gonna charge you extra, you broke the lock, possibly.

 

[Captante]

If you were having problems with the lock previously & reported it to them but they failed to fix it they shouldn't charge you and if the lock broke due to normal wear & tear that should also be on them, however if you broke the lock by forcing it its 100% your problem.

 

[Jeff7]

Depends what the manager was doing.

 

[Juno]

no roommates?

 

[Praetor]

My wife is still at work, so there's no one inside. My key is just physically stuck inside the lock, I tried to turn it, hit some serious resistance, it refused to turn anymore, so I quit and called. Maintenance guy just showed up, so let's see what happens.

 

[Tiamat]

if you an assure them that you didnt use an ungodly amount of force, they will probably buy a new lock and give you new keys for no charge.

 

[Praetor]

Okay, that was fun. A little WD40 later and I'm back inside. He said I need to have the lock "re-pinned" tomorrow. No charges, yay!

</end blog>

 

[FoBoT]

yay! i voted correctly!

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
yay! i voted correctly!

We owned them!

 

[Raincity]

If they where going to charge you for a lockout, then it's time to rethink a lease renewal.

 

[drum]

hopefully you aren't too attatched to that 35 bucks

 

[mrjminer]

Originally posted by: drum
hopefully you aren't too attatched to that 35 bucks

.....four posts up, an hour and a half ago

 

[AgentJean]

Well I know when my dad used to work apartment maintance the unlock door fee was for stupid people dumb enough to leave their keys are home.

If the lock was broken(like in this case) no fee. I'm sure if a landlord try to charge a fee for unlocking the door when the lock was broken and it went to court they would lose, but no one is going to go to court for $35 bucks.

Question. Are the locks installed upside down? If they are they always jam up because of water getting in side. This problem does not exist(as much) when the lock is installed properly.