The joys of co-op

[granada84]

Maybe someone out there is more knowledgeable than we are...Say, two people are renting apartment and the apartment originally has a lock on the door to which the super of the building has a key to. If the people put their own extra lock on the door do they HAVE TO give super a copy of the key to the new lock? Can the super break into their

Comments

[atlantidax]

I am not an expert on this, but I've never heard of a super having a key to an occupied apartment. It's your apartment - noone should have a permission to enter it while you are not there, including plumbers....

[granada84]

See, that's what I think too...But then the super said, if he needs to come in, in case of emergency, he will break the door, and that would be our responsibility/problem to fix it. So maybe it makes sense to let him have the key right away...It's not like he would be wondering in our apartment any times EXCEPT for emergency.

I think these are co-op rules though because I have heard from several people that their super or owner have the keys to their apartment. But I guess I'm so property-oriented that the mere thought of someone else coming in while I'm not there makes me pissed.

[atlantidax]

What kind of emergency? How often do these emergencies occur?
I know I would have a BIG problem with that.
We needed our super to come in and fix the bathroom one time (it was clogged, we couldn't even take showers) - and even then we wouldn't leave him the key...

[granada84]

Yeah I don't know...I guess flood or fire would be considered emergencies. It's true though, they don't happen often. So probably it's more of a pre-caution measure.

Perhaps it depends on the policy of the building. I guess they can't physically make us leave them the key, but they warned us about the consequences. So it's up to us to choose which path to take...Yeah, I kinda feel weird about that too, but I just don't see what we can do...

If the plumbing problem affects the floor below us as well (say the water would drip), it would be sorta emergency measure if our neighbor's ceiling drops while we are out of the apartment. So then, I guess it would be better to give them a chance to fix the problem without extreme measures. Ehh...It's so complicated all of a sudden. Nu chto zh, dobro pozhalovat' v vzrosluyu zhizn'!

[nymphochka]

in our old building (not a co-op) the super had keys to our apartment, and a few times came in to do some odd job or other (put on window guards, install carbon monoxide detector, look at a plumbing problem, etc) not only when we weren't home, but without our permission. we've had pesticide people come in to spray under his supervision when we weren't home... and somehow, none of this seemed wrong. the way i remember thinking about it was "a little weird, but actually really sweet. and i don't have to waste my time/energy and arrange times to stay home."

Hmmmm....

[granada84]

Hmmm...so it's not just co-op. I guess it depends on a building policy

Re: Hmmmm....

[strelka29]

When we lived in rented apartments (not co-op), the super had the key to our apartment. They didn't normally just walk into the apartment while we weren't there, but we were aware of that possibility. So I think it's normal.

[granada84]

Oh, well, I guess now I'm more knowledgeable. Thanks for the input, guys...It really helped!

Privacy

[rollpicture]

Whoa, having lived in third world countries (Arkansas), I wrote the book on this one. If you install your own security dead bolt/lock for security and safety reasons, you need to supply a key to the super. (Of course, if you're growing hydroponic pot, that's a problem, so I suggest you cut your super into any profits.) As for plumbing emergencies (fire, etc.), the super can enter at any time and they often do -- sometimes just to snoop. It sucks. So, buy a house or live in a van. There are worse things.