Someone entered my room - how to approach it

P

PaddyW

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Hi all,

So the story is I'm currently living in a house share. I've been there about 6 months. Up until recently there were just 4 of us in the house and a couple just moved in recently. I had a bit of an uneasy feeling for some reason and as our house doesn't have any bedroom door keys (I know, silly) I wanted to make sure no one entered into my room. So, for my own peace of mind, every morning I have been leaving an open bottle of water just behind my door.

Yesterday, I entered into my room after work and didn't cop at first that the bottle was half empty, as it was in a standing position. I then noticed that half the water was gone and that attempts had been made to cover up the spill, objects moved ever so slightly etc.

I am fuming over this, but have not yet said anything as I want to think through what to say. How would you approach the situation if it were you. I would greatly appreciate any advice as I do not want things to get too out of hand, as I now plan to move out next month.
 
It used to be that a lot of internal doors were lockable with one of a small number of standard keys. Perhaps you could get the brand off the plate to the side of the door and purchase one from a locksmith. It may help until you move out.
 
Are you 100% certain objects were moved and an attempt was made to clean up the spillage. Don't forget how windy it's been in Ireland in recent days. Doors are very easily opened and closed by even slight draughts.
 
On the plus side they may well have copped on that you know now and have learnt their lesson. You could just throw it out there casually by asking someone in front of them all 'By the way, did you borrow some deoderant from me the other day ? i think someone may have been in my room'. Do you all be in the kitchen at any time ?
 
landlord said:
Are you 100% certain objects were moved and an attempt was made to clean up the spillage. Don't forget how windy it's been in Ireland in recent days. Doors are very easily opened and closed by even slight draughts.
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Hi landlord, I know without doubt they attempted to cover up the spill. I have a mirror, that is quite heavy and sits on the floor which is carpeted so it leaves a groove in it. You could see that the mirror had been moved a good bit, as the groove it had been sitting in was out in the open. Also, the bottle of water was back in a standing position and the wet patch on the carpet was covered over!
 
elcato said:
On the plus side they may well have copped on that you know now and have learnt their lesson. You could just throw it out there casually by asking someone in front of them all 'By the way, did you borrow some deoderant from me the other day ? i think someone may have been in my room'. Do you all be in the kitchen at any time ?
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Hi Elcato, no, they spend a lot of time in their rooms so I would only ever see 1 or 2 of them at any time. I will be saying something this evening, just to let them know that I know and that I find it extremely unacceptable. I've done house shares for a good while now and never once had any problems like this. Generally people respect my privacy as much as I do theirs.
 
Very clever of you to put the bottle of water there!

If I want to know if someone's snooping, I usually put a long head-hair in the door jam or at the side of a drawer. You'd be surprised at the results.

Even though you're planning on leaving next month, I would put a lock on the door.

If there's already a lock there with no key, you can change it for €10 easily with a screwdriver. http://www.woodiesdiy.com/category/door-locks-security/6.2.0 (Internal door locks in Woodies.)

Worth it for peace of mind.
 
Can I suggest this
[broken link removed]

- it should solve your problem once and for all.
 
most bedroom keys are Basta type keys. you can get the full basta key set from your friendly local hardware shop for a small deposit and find the one that fits. Couple of euro for the key..
 
Is there a maplin store in Ireland. I'm interested in getting something like this. Perhaps something smaller and more discreet. Anyone any suggestions for something that could direct images to an I pad.
 
There's a Maplin store in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre in one of the retail park thingys. Beside Mamas & Papas
 
There's also a maplins between Henry St and Parnell st, can't remember the name of the street it's on, close to Smyths.
 
Oh yes, forgot to tell you all what happened.

So, I talked to the girl who has been there all along (the new couple were out for the evening). She knew about it already! One of the new couple (they declined to tell me who it was) said that they went into my room by mistake as they thought it was the bathroom. Of course that is a lie as the bathroom door is right beside it and the door is open to the bathroom. They had also opened the door on the next room ( where a girl resides) and had said they were looking for the bathroom just the day before (the girl was in her room at that time). Nothing has been taken from my room, I have double checked.

So I said I knew that they were lying and that I was extremely angry as I would never do that to anyone. It still has not been fully resolved (they have not even approached me to apologise) but I have let it be known in no uncertain circumstances that this is not the end of it. I am going to approach the landlord about it and should something happen like this again things will be taken to another level.

I'm leaving next month, so in another way I am not too bothered, but I am horrified that someone entered my room without my permission.
 
I believe this happens more often than one might imagine. Did it happen to you before and is that why you set "traps"? Why are you involving the landlord? It's a really annoying thing to happen, but there's not much you can do after the event. You may feel you now know who entered your room, but do you? Anyway, I'd forget about it if I was you as you'll be leaving and if you have to give notice they'll probably know this.
 
Call it intuition, noproblem. Something gnawed at me and I just had a bad feeling about it. Turns out I was right. I do not believe this has ever happened to me as I have always trusted any house mates I have ever had. I would hate for it to happen to whoever moves in instead of me, which is why I was going to let the landlord know about it. I'm sure they wouldn't like any unsightly incidents in the future, as this will probably happen to someone in the house again.

I've also given my notice now, so they know just how annoyed I am.
 
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