At my shared apt. the landlady comes in the house when she wants and enters anybody's room with her key. I want to double-lock my door. How?

It depends on your rental agreement really. Some landlords put in their agreements that they can enter their property at any time, others say they will give notice unless it’s an emergency. First thing to do is check your agreement and see exactly what it says about her entering the property. Also, many agreements also discuss adding additional locks to the property, so check for that too. It could be against your agreement to do so.

What state do you live in? In CA, property owners and managers must give you 24hrs. notice before entering the property, except during emergencies. Emergencies must be proven. It doesn’t matter what the lease says; it’s illegal.

If you do double lock your door (you could put in a chain lock) chances are the landlord will make you take it off as soon as it is discovered.

When I was in college my neighbor called the police twice because of the landlord entering the property without permission. The cops said next time they would arrest him for breaking and entering. Doh!

I live in a European country where sadly laws are often bent… and in this case whatever I do from this point on, justice will be in my favor, I have decent legal representation available and the landlady is breaking a bunch of laws… just help me identify that type of gadget please :)

Thanks for the advice nonetheless!!

In the UK these locks are called ‘dead locks’. Not sure if that’s the official name though.
They’re good, and discreet.

Here

You’ll need to check the landlord tenant laws for your state. They shopuld be easily available online. As well, check in your lease to see if such things are mentioned.

If you know you won’t get in trouble for essentially changing the lock, I would just change the actual doorknob/lock. That way, when you move, you can just put her old one back on and you don’t risk damaging her property (by putting something into the keylock) and having to pay for it.

Do you want to prevent it from opening only when you are inside the room or both when you are inside and outside the room? Did the device you saw add onto the existing lock or replace it?

Are you willing to add hardware? There are plenty of hardware solutions for if you only want to prevent access when you are inside the room. Sliding bolts or the mechanism that @psychocandy linked to will do that.

Is this more what you’re talking about?

Just check your lease/rental contract before doing anything. The above would require you drill a hole into the door in order to provide key-access from the outside.

Lifeblock or Howsar

She has the right to go into your apartment if there is an emergency. You can’t change the lock without giving her a key.
I would purchase an inexpensive Deer Camera or similar from Gander Mountain. You will have an irrefutable record of what she was doing. If no emergency took place, email the pictures to her just once and ask that she stop the home invasions.

Do you live in her house? Is the landlord also your roommate? In FL, and most states I am guessing from some of the answers above, a landlord must give notice they are going to enter the apartment, unless there is an emergency that could cause destruction to the property. If you live in an apartment that is part of their house, or you are essentially a rommate or renting a room, the law might be different? Have you tried to ask the landlord to give you warning? I would try to talk to them first. In FL warning is not the whole thing, landlords cannot be asking every week to enter the property. The tenant is entitled to some rights as the legal person residing in the dwelling, including quiet enjoyment of the property.

Find out the law in your state, look over your lease agreement.

Just this afternoon she came in the house to show a room that is about to be vacated to a potential new flatmate. The landlady had told this leaving person that she would give prior notice if she would come to show the room. She didn’t. She just opened the door and showed the room to the girl and her father. The room was not empty, it was with this leaving flatmate’s stuff still. She’s only leaving in two weeks, you know? This is slightly an abuse of trust, I think.

accuse her of causing something being missing after one of her incursions and see what she says. Buy a crapload of s&m tools and ballgags in strategic locations in your place to get a reaction from her. Make her be afraid of what she might see in there.

Not about the lock, but about the situation… maybe you and/or your flatmates can arrange to show the place to prospective tenants? You’re the ones who will be living with them anyway, so you might as well find out if you’re compatible and be able to show them around.

@rexpresso So then maybe have the place be really messy, dirty dishes in the sink, underwear everywhere – nothing that can’t be fixed in an hour or so, but enough that potential tenants look at it and say “Ok, well, thanks, and I’ll let you know…” before walking briskly back to their car. Then you can say to her “Well, if you’d give me some notice like you’re supposed to, you wouldn’t be loosing all this money”.

A friend of a friend is keeping one room. An extremely friendly couple came here and he’s keeping another. The other room is maybe being kept by the girl the landlady showed the rooms this afternoon, not sure, waiting for her callback to know for sure.

@papayalily whenever I have temptations of that sort, I resist saying to myself “don’t be passive-agressive, don’t be passive-agressive, don’t be passive-agressive” ... but thanks anyway :)

Sorry, must run, can’t answer everyone…

You have to confront her I think.

You might be looking for a double cylander deadbolt lock.

lol , screwdriver and a big ass PADLOCK. perhaps some garlic too. definitely have a word because that is outrageous behaviour!!! i knew an italian who had her mail opened by her landlady . one day the landlady asked to borrow money , the italian refused by saying she did not have enough money, anyone want to guess what happened next. ” your bank statements say you do!” cringe , what’s wrong with these people.

putting up that extra lock will only escalate the situation.
use a camera that turns on when there is movement. Use it as evidence when needed.

I like that passive-agressive approach because it means being “ugly”, without being mean. I would just call her out on how rude and disrespectful she is being, alone at first then if she does this again, do it in front of potential tenants. Then maybe “just be passive-agressive” Sounds like you are being respectful and she owes you that same respect!