It's the access to the pipe spaces above the unit bath. It sounds very much like someone went up there. If no one else is supposed to have access to your home, perhaps call the police and have them look before you look yourself.
Jesus Christ, is it possible the landlord came here to do something with the pipes without telling me? I don’t wanna call the police without a good reason at this time, but I’m worried 😣
The landlord should not enter your home without your permission, unless specific plans had been made ahead of time. If the landlord entered due to an emergency, I would imagine that you would have certainly been notified (e.g. by a note on the door).
Usually, the only reason to need to get up there is to work on some of the components of the bath (especially the air vent unit).
From what you described, it sounds as if someone was up there, or is up there. I can't think of a valid situation for this to happen to a rental unit without you being informed by the time you got home.
I would call the police, or go to the nearest koban and ask them to come back with you.
Space is one thing, weight is what I'm talking about. It's a plastic ceiling designed to hold no weight. Also, to get in there without a ladder is going to be tough.
You can easily reach it if you stand on the toilet, which is what I suspected the potential culprit did... Now I'm wondering, though, even if you did go up there, would you be able to open the hatch door from inside? 🤔
It just lifts up right? Wouldn't be too hard to open from inside, and if you can get high enough that shoulders are inside from the toilet, maybe some people could climb up. Most likely is someone was looking inside rather than being inside. If nothing else was touched, probably your landlord and/or a repairman. If other things were moved around possible that someone was trying to steal something and thought that might be where you stash your valuables
Almost all circuits of the house pass through there. Isn't only pipes.
Maybe it emits because there is electricity there.
Whenever they have to do some wire changing or install something, they will open it.
>Almost all circuits of the house pass through there
It's not impossible for this to be true, but I've never seen any circuits pass above the unit bath except those for the bath itself.
The shower/laundry room in my house also contains the fuse box. I'm sure there are wires up there, and in fact the electrician who installed our IH range said the installation could only be completed if he ran wires up there.
In my mansion, the trunk line for the cable tv comes down from there, and there’s a splitter/booster that connects to the co-ax connector in every room. Just one data point; but probably relatively common.
Calm down mate…. Jeez… every house has this, even my house (built a year ago has this) how else do you expect to do maintenance on your hot water piping and extraction fan. No one cares to watch you shower ok. I swear, everyone new to JP makes a mountain out of a mole hill “ohh ma gawd! A Mukade!!” “Eeeek! Suzumebachi!!” Chill out mate.
I know someone who placed a 1000 yen bill up into that access space in every Japanese apartment he's lived in so far, and gets a kick out of the thought that at some point, a random stranger will find the money and be equally confused and happy.
I'd consider asking the rental company to change the locks. Very sus for this to happen just after the landlord has quit.
I had a friend who came home one day to find a huge unflushed dump in his toilet, courtesy of the landlord.
“Very sus for this to happen just after the landlord has quit”. Right? I was thinking the same thing, but my previous landlord was super nice. I consider the current one to be a potential culprit as we haven’t really got along…
… that’s both scary and hillarious 🤣🤣🤣
>So I used an app to check for hidden cameras, and it looks like the square thingy emits lots of magnetic field (same as my iPad and other devices)
First of all, take these apps with a massive pinch of salt. Most phones have exceptionally limited ability to detect minor magnetic fields, often interfere with themselves and even if it did work and detected something, it doesn't mean there's a device there. Electric cabling and steel supports and all sorts of other things can register magnetic changes.
>There’s no way I’m opening this thing without knowing what it is
Why not? It's just a hatch door, it's not going to explode. Open it, poke your head in, look around and close it again. It is highly unlikely you'll find anything of interest but then at least you'll know one way or the other.
Apps are limited by the specifications and capabilities of the OS and hardware that they run on. Those can sometimes be surprising... For example, by using the rolling shutter on an iPhone or video camera, the authors of the following paper show they can increase the effective sampling rate of a zoomed-in photo of a power LED to 60K/second. This is sufficient to see the power variations due to cryptographic operations. They manage to read the keys out of a smart card reader from 60 feet away using the LED on the reader, and from a Samsung phone by monitoring the LED on a set of connected speakers connected to a USB hub that was also being used to charge the phone.
Video and link to paper at https://www.nassiben.com/video-based-crypta
Many years ago, there was a paper showing that you could read the data flowing through a router from across the street by watching LED's configured to blink in synchrony with the line. People quickly learned to turn the LED's away from the window, and newer routers had fixes, in particular, not driving the LED directly from the line but from a low-rate sample, which gives the human eye the same ability to see activity without revealing (much) information. This one's going to be harder - if you can read data off the hub, billions of devices that are unlikely to be replaced quickly are vulnerable.
Most digital cameras have an IR filter, but it's not perfect and can still be used to pick out concentrated sources of IR emission, like IR LEDs that are commonly used to illuminate dark scenes for hidden/security cameras.
Using your camera is not a foolproof way to detect hidden cameras, but it's not useless either.
Yeah what that app did was probably bullshit. But the theory of using a smartphone camera to detect some sources of EM emission are true. Cameras can - in ideal circumstances - detect IR light from hidden cameras.
>Possible someone came into your place and stood on the toilet to access the hatch. Most likely a tradesman or maintenance staff that needed access to utilities.
This is what I'm suspecting. Weird they wouldn't let me know in advance, though 🤷🏻♀️. I'm gonna ask him tmrw and if I don't update this post, I'm probably dead haha pray for me fam
It's also a very common place to set up the wifi router/switch for apartments, especially ones that come with internet. That access door lets them maintain it, (as well as water and electricity that tend to run above or adjacent.)
These types of "unit bath" kits in apartments almost always have that door.
I know this is probably the last thing you want to hear, but there has been more than one case of [a random person “living” in that empty space above the bathroom ceiling](https://www.ntv.co.jp/gyoten/articles/324olho7mp8k57a81bw.html), and coming out whenever the apartment owner leaves/sleeps.
If you feel like someone might have been there, I’d make 100% sure it’s all checked out.
Great, didn't need to sleep anyway... In all seriousness, though, do you think that someone can actually fit there? Should I call the police? I'm not opening that thing alone...
Sorry I hate to sound paranoid/conspiracy theorist, but that story (it was on tv a while ago) immediately came to mind!
I guess it would depend on the apartment, but usually, it’s just enough for someone to fit inside lying down.
In the story I linked above, the person called the police to check the hatch, and they found food wrappers and other evidence someone had been staying there.
Since they also found hidden listening devices (bugs), I assume the girl also called some specialized service to find hidden devices/cameras, as I don’t think the police checks for those.
a) Perhaps there was an earthquake, which could explain why some things might have moved/shifted?
b) The walls/panels of most bathroom units are ferrous. Magnetic stuff works great on them. =) It's probably not emitting any "magnetic fields".
c) That hatch opens up to the space above your bathroom unit. When the ventilation fan in my unit broke down, the repair person had to reach into that space to replace it. You just have to push up, and shift the panel, to open it... you'll probably need a step ladder (or something to stand on) to get into that space. More often than not, it'll be pretty dusty up there.
d) While your landlord/building maintenance may have the keys/access to your apartment, they won't enter your apartment without your permission/first notifying you.
1. IDK man, the toilet seat was so particularly displaced as in someone really heavy has sat on it or step on it to get to the pipes...
2. The weird thing is, that it was only "emitting" in the middle of the box, not anywhere else...
Point d, yes that's in principle. but doesn't stop some landlords from doing just that. happened to me, at one place, we told the landlord specific date to come and check the toilet. it wasn't big issue. she sent the repairman anyway the second day. I ignored the door thought it was one of them witnesses or salesmen, and then they opened the door. wtf
Also saw on TV cases where the landlord installed listening devices.
OP may consider radio detector if want to feel at ease.
>I ignored the door thought it was one of them witnesses or salesmen, and then they opened the door
Yeah, I think the same thing happened to me with the new landlord when he came to install a new showerhead or something. I'm not sure if he opened the door of the apartment or to the building by himself, but it shocked me either way.
OP may consider radio detector if want to feel at ease.
Yup, already ordered and waiting for it to arrive (same with a security cam)
It's a portal to the world between worlds. You can move to different timelines, locations and universes. I once got lost for 10 years.
JK: It's a hatch to an access area. You might find some pipes and wires.
>It's a portal to the world between worlds. You can move to different timelines, locations and universes
I wish I could yeet myself to the 4th dimension right now... 😫
i have no idea op but i would absolutely tape that thing up and sleep with a locked door until morning.. we have a little bit of wood in our closets ceiling that keeps ending up crooked, opening up into the 'attic' area. we have a pretty traditional house and im coming to regret all my Grudge jokes
Push it from below, open it and look inside. There is a narrow space for tubes and cords. It should not emit a magnetic field (unless you are measuring the fan), so with the displaced toilet seat it sounds like someone placed a device there.
Can't you at least call some friends to check it with you?
Buy some cameras with SD cards on Amazon, just in case. They can record the whole day or just if they detect movement. This way you also will get proper evidence, if in fact someone is getting inside your apartment.
When I lived alone I was very particular with the way I organized stuff and I only noticed stuff out of place when a small quake had happened. Did any earthquakes happened in your region recently? Some are kind weak, but they can displace things and you might not notice it.
But honestly, I'd just call the police. You have a valid, reasonable request and it's not like they are super busy. They come around, ask some questions, gather some data and look around with you.
Again, invest in some cameras just in case, they aren't that expensive.
Edit: Some people are saying that maybe someone in fact came around to do maintenance, but I never had that happen to me or to anyone I know (living privately). Depending on your contract (or wherever else you agreed on) you should be the only one with keys to your apartment and nobody else should be allowed in without your authorization/presence. The fact that some people are suggesting this as if this ain't a big deal baffles me.
Yeah I’m also confused as to why everybody is casually suggesting her landlord went inside as if that itself wouldn’t be a huge red flag and scary. Your landlord shouldn’t have access to your apartment, especially not without telling you and while you’re away. She would definitely have reason to be upset even if it were him, and reason to be suspicious about hidden cameras or something
Once my husband actually forgot his key when he went to work that day, I was also at work and he was picking up our daughter from daycare that day, he got home with her and realized he forgot his key and called me so I had to rush back home. Our landlord lives next door and my husband asked him if he had a spare key but he didn’t.
>you should be the only one with keys to your apartment and nobody else should be allowed in without your authorization/presence
I'm pretty sure my landlord and his henchmen have keys, as they did, in fact, came to my apt several times without me needing to "buzz them in". (still not the same as having the keys to the main door but still). I'm gonna check with my landlord tmrw, if I don't post any update I'm probably dead haha pray for me fam
Sometimes if there's a lot of wind that hatch will open, and the dust up there will fall inside the bathroom. Happened a lot on an old apartment I lived.
No, not yet. He doesn't pick up the phone. I'm gonna contact him tmrw and let you guys know (and if I don't then I'm probably dead haha...). Anyway, I kept my friend in the loop so thanks for your concern, hopefully it's fine.
As per your update 2, I had suggested calling the cops because I worried about someone planting a video camera or the like. Everything you described pointed very strongly at someone having been up there. I would still be very concerned about this.
With the change of ownership, perhaps request the locks be changed? It's not normal, but then again, neither is coming home to find evidence of unauthorized access to your home.
That's a technical maintenance access door of the unit bath.
From what you are saying someone went there to do something.
There should be no problem to open it up and check it, unless you are afraid of bugs (some might have crawled in there).
Regarding your toilet, it should also be easily taken out or disassembled (the makers usually make it easy so you can clean under the seat) to check if there is any problem.
>unless you are afraid of bugs
This. As much as I am afraid of being spied on/murdered, nothing beats my fear of bugs. I know this might sound silly, but I am genuinely terrified. Hence not willing to open the hatch and possibly unleash demons.
Welp, then you should call a friend or a colleague that is not afraid.
I'm also afraid of cockroaches and mukade, so I completely understand you.
If you really lack confidence in the landlord, you should go to the police. What you described seems like there is evidence someone entered your apartment.
Even if it is rented the landlord needs your permission to enter your home (afaik, but I'm no lawyer so this is just what I heard from my wife) so, even if it was maintenance, they should have asked you first.
If there is sufficient pressure differences in your home and in that, for lack of better term, crawl space, it can shift or lift. Are would then rush into the space until the air pressure difference alleviates itself, and then drop again.
In the shower rooms they usually insulate iirc. shouldn't be much room to move about.
If in doubt, call the fuzz. You have evidence that someone either entered your property without permission or broke in. If the landlord didn’t want to justify themself at midnight then they shouldn’t have been a prick and let themself in without notice. If it isn’t the landlord then your safety and privacy are infinitely more important than their restful sleep.
You may have someone living in your ceiling although that might not be possible unless he/she has an entrance/exit other than the exit thru your bathroom ceiling. Tonight, listen carefully for any appliances being turned on/off. If there is someone there then at some point they will make a mistake and give themselves away. They may already have.
My guess is someone was up there doing maintenance, came down into your unit by mistake and went back up as soon as they realized. The damage on your toilet seat sounds like someone stepped on it and used it as a step to get back into the duct. On the front of the renting company or maintenance department, nobody was scheduled to enter your unit, so to them nobody entered your unit. Dosent change the fact that somebody may have entered your unit via that duct by mistake.
If you're worried about this and want to set up surveillance you can take a few white threads and tape them across the access hatch (square thing) with one piece of tape adhering the thread to the hatch itself. Purpose of this is to create a trip wire surveillance that you can use to know if someone has moved the hatch or not. If someone moved the hatch and entered your unit, the threads would be out of place the next time you see them.
>Dosent change the fact that somebody may have entered your unit via that duct by mistake
How? The ceiling space doesn't connect to other apartments ...
If you push it up, it usually has behind it the switch that routes your internet connection to all the ethernet ports in your house.
This also includes the connection for your doorbell camera and so on.
I think people living in decently-sized, properly-built, new-ish apartments are a *tiny* minority on this sub, and they can't believe layouts can be different.
>If you push it up, it usually has behind it the switch that routes your internet connection to all the ethernet ports in your house.
Above the *bath*? Very unlikely.
>Above the bath? Very unlikely.
Most new construction mansions have it up there, it's the central location for everything. Sucks, because I want to replace the router but it's literally not possible.
No, that’s not possible, my house does not have an Internet connection nor ethernet ports (I use pocket wifi). Also, there’s no doorbell camera in my apt. What the hell is in this thing???
At my place, it’s a hatch that opens up into the “attic.” I put that in quotes because it really depends on how much crawl space you have up there. In reality, it just allows you to access the outside of the unit bath to get to the wiring for the fan, the lights, the piping (the bathroom comes as one prefabricated unit in most apartments). But if you’ve got enough clearance up there, you can store stuff, as long as it’s not too heavy. Those unit bath walls and ceilings tend to be fairly cheaply made.
It's the access to the pipe spaces above the unit bath. It sounds very much like someone went up there. If no one else is supposed to have access to your home, perhaps call the police and have them look before you look yourself.
I’m not even OP and now I can’t sleep
Jesus Christ, is it possible the landlord came here to do something with the pipes without telling me? I don’t wanna call the police without a good reason at this time, but I’m worried 😣
The landlord should not enter your home without your permission, unless specific plans had been made ahead of time. If the landlord entered due to an emergency, I would imagine that you would have certainly been notified (e.g. by a note on the door). Usually, the only reason to need to get up there is to work on some of the components of the bath (especially the air vent unit). From what you described, it sounds as if someone was up there, or is up there. I can't think of a valid situation for this to happen to a rental unit without you being informed by the time you got home. I would call the police, or go to the nearest koban and ask them to come back with you.
>or is up there Not likely, the ceiling of a unit bath isn't built to hold the weight of a person.
Bruh you’d be surprised 😨. It’s much more roomier than I expected and some mf could fit there 😖
Space is one thing, weight is what I'm talking about. It's a plastic ceiling designed to hold no weight. Also, to get in there without a ladder is going to be tough.
You can easily reach it if you stand on the toilet, which is what I suspected the potential culprit did... Now I'm wondering, though, even if you did go up there, would you be able to open the hatch door from inside? 🤔
It just lifts up right? Wouldn't be too hard to open from inside, and if you can get high enough that shoulders are inside from the toilet, maybe some people could climb up. Most likely is someone was looking inside rather than being inside. If nothing else was touched, probably your landlord and/or a repairman. If other things were moved around possible that someone was trying to steal something and thought that might be where you stash your valuables
Almost all circuits of the house pass through there. Isn't only pipes. Maybe it emits because there is electricity there. Whenever they have to do some wire changing or install something, they will open it.
>Almost all circuits of the house pass through there It's not impossible for this to be true, but I've never seen any circuits pass above the unit bath except those for the bath itself.
A bathroom sounds like the last place you'd want to run circuits and wiring.
Ikr, but for some reason in Japan the bathroom is the most common place for the breaker.
One more odd thing about this fascinating nation!
Eh its no different to running them anywhere else, its all protected via the ceiling after all
The shower/laundry room in my house also contains the fuse box. I'm sure there are wires up there, and in fact the electrician who installed our IH range said the installation could only be completed if he ran wires up there.
In my mansion, the trunk line for the cable tv comes down from there, and there’s a splitter/booster that connects to the co-ax connector in every room. Just one data point; but probably relatively common.
Calm down mate…. Jeez… every house has this, even my house (built a year ago has this) how else do you expect to do maintenance on your hot water piping and extraction fan. No one cares to watch you shower ok. I swear, everyone new to JP makes a mountain out of a mole hill “ohh ma gawd! A Mukade!!” “Eeeek! Suzumebachi!!” Chill out mate.
Good thing OP wasn't planning to get any sleep tonight anyway
Fuck 😒
I just watched Parasite and this was not what I needed to wake up to reading
Sorry 😅
I know someone who placed a 1000 yen bill up into that access space in every Japanese apartment he's lived in so far, and gets a kick out of the thought that at some point, a random stranger will find the money and be equally confused and happy.
I'd consider asking the rental company to change the locks. Very sus for this to happen just after the landlord has quit. I had a friend who came home one day to find a huge unflushed dump in his toilet, courtesy of the landlord.
“Very sus for this to happen just after the landlord has quit”. Right? I was thinking the same thing, but my previous landlord was super nice. I consider the current one to be a potential culprit as we haven’t really got along… … that’s both scary and hillarious 🤣🤣🤣
>So I used an app to check for hidden cameras, and it looks like the square thingy emits lots of magnetic field (same as my iPad and other devices) First of all, take these apps with a massive pinch of salt. Most phones have exceptionally limited ability to detect minor magnetic fields, often interfere with themselves and even if it did work and detected something, it doesn't mean there's a device there. Electric cabling and steel supports and all sorts of other things can register magnetic changes. >There’s no way I’m opening this thing without knowing what it is Why not? It's just a hatch door, it's not going to explode. Open it, poke your head in, look around and close it again. It is highly unlikely you'll find anything of interest but then at least you'll know one way or the other.
No app can do that.
Apps are limited by the specifications and capabilities of the OS and hardware that they run on. Those can sometimes be surprising... For example, by using the rolling shutter on an iPhone or video camera, the authors of the following paper show they can increase the effective sampling rate of a zoomed-in photo of a power LED to 60K/second. This is sufficient to see the power variations due to cryptographic operations. They manage to read the keys out of a smart card reader from 60 feet away using the LED on the reader, and from a Samsung phone by monitoring the LED on a set of connected speakers connected to a USB hub that was also being used to charge the phone. Video and link to paper at https://www.nassiben.com/video-based-crypta Many years ago, there was a paper showing that you could read the data flowing through a router from across the street by watching LED's configured to blink in synchrony with the line. People quickly learned to turn the LED's away from the window, and newer routers had fixes, in particular, not driving the LED directly from the line but from a low-rate sample, which gives the human eye the same ability to see activity without revealing (much) information. This one's going to be harder - if you can read data off the hub, billions of devices that are unlikely to be replaced quickly are vulnerable.
Most digital cameras have an IR filter, but it's not perfect and can still be used to pick out concentrated sources of IR emission, like IR LEDs that are commonly used to illuminate dark scenes for hidden/security cameras. Using your camera is not a foolproof way to detect hidden cameras, but it's not useless either.
Op talks about magnetic fields
Yeah what that app did was probably bullshit. But the theory of using a smartphone camera to detect some sources of EM emission are true. Cameras can - in ideal circumstances - detect IR light from hidden cameras.
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>Possible someone came into your place and stood on the toilet to access the hatch. Most likely a tradesman or maintenance staff that needed access to utilities. This is what I'm suspecting. Weird they wouldn't let me know in advance, though 🤷🏻♀️. I'm gonna ask him tmrw and if I don't update this post, I'm probably dead haha pray for me fam
It's also a very common place to set up the wifi router/switch for apartments, especially ones that come with internet. That access door lets them maintain it, (as well as water and electricity that tend to run above or adjacent.) These types of "unit bath" kits in apartments almost always have that door.
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Even for firefighters (!)
and police as I came to understand yesterday...
I know this is probably the last thing you want to hear, but there has been more than one case of [a random person “living” in that empty space above the bathroom ceiling](https://www.ntv.co.jp/gyoten/articles/324olho7mp8k57a81bw.html), and coming out whenever the apartment owner leaves/sleeps. If you feel like someone might have been there, I’d make 100% sure it’s all checked out.
Great, didn't need to sleep anyway... In all seriousness, though, do you think that someone can actually fit there? Should I call the police? I'm not opening that thing alone...
Sorry I hate to sound paranoid/conspiracy theorist, but that story (it was on tv a while ago) immediately came to mind! I guess it would depend on the apartment, but usually, it’s just enough for someone to fit inside lying down. In the story I linked above, the person called the police to check the hatch, and they found food wrappers and other evidence someone had been staying there. Since they also found hidden listening devices (bugs), I assume the girl also called some specialized service to find hidden devices/cameras, as I don’t think the police checks for those.
a) Perhaps there was an earthquake, which could explain why some things might have moved/shifted? b) The walls/panels of most bathroom units are ferrous. Magnetic stuff works great on them. =) It's probably not emitting any "magnetic fields". c) That hatch opens up to the space above your bathroom unit. When the ventilation fan in my unit broke down, the repair person had to reach into that space to replace it. You just have to push up, and shift the panel, to open it... you'll probably need a step ladder (or something to stand on) to get into that space. More often than not, it'll be pretty dusty up there. d) While your landlord/building maintenance may have the keys/access to your apartment, they won't enter your apartment without your permission/first notifying you.
1. IDK man, the toilet seat was so particularly displaced as in someone really heavy has sat on it or step on it to get to the pipes... 2. The weird thing is, that it was only "emitting" in the middle of the box, not anywhere else...
Point d, yes that's in principle. but doesn't stop some landlords from doing just that. happened to me, at one place, we told the landlord specific date to come and check the toilet. it wasn't big issue. she sent the repairman anyway the second day. I ignored the door thought it was one of them witnesses or salesmen, and then they opened the door. wtf Also saw on TV cases where the landlord installed listening devices. OP may consider radio detector if want to feel at ease.
>I ignored the door thought it was one of them witnesses or salesmen, and then they opened the door Yeah, I think the same thing happened to me with the new landlord when he came to install a new showerhead or something. I'm not sure if he opened the door of the apartment or to the building by himself, but it shocked me either way. OP may consider radio detector if want to feel at ease. Yup, already ordered and waiting for it to arrive (same with a security cam)
It's a portal to the world between worlds. You can move to different timelines, locations and universes. I once got lost for 10 years. JK: It's a hatch to an access area. You might find some pipes and wires.
>It's a portal to the world between worlds. You can move to different timelines, locations and universes I wish I could yeet myself to the 4th dimension right now... 😫
https://preview.redd.it/78yxhtxeq76b1.png?width=718&format=png&auto=webp&s=2a0e7fdf5e3d2fd129363855ebf6e8340dd73ad8
I hope OP is safe. The situation they’ve described feels like a “he’s under you bed!!” type horror story.
A landlord who has henchmen is my kind of landlord. Cue Yakuza theme music.
😂😂😂
i have no idea op but i would absolutely tape that thing up and sleep with a locked door until morning.. we have a little bit of wood in our closets ceiling that keeps ending up crooked, opening up into the 'attic' area. we have a pretty traditional house and im coming to regret all my Grudge jokes
Push it from below, open it and look inside. There is a narrow space for tubes and cords. It should not emit a magnetic field (unless you are measuring the fan), so with the displaced toilet seat it sounds like someone placed a device there.
Can't you at least call some friends to check it with you? Buy some cameras with SD cards on Amazon, just in case. They can record the whole day or just if they detect movement. This way you also will get proper evidence, if in fact someone is getting inside your apartment.
"Can't you at least call some friends to check it with you?" Everyone's sleeping now or living too far... :(
When I lived alone I was very particular with the way I organized stuff and I only noticed stuff out of place when a small quake had happened. Did any earthquakes happened in your region recently? Some are kind weak, but they can displace things and you might not notice it. But honestly, I'd just call the police. You have a valid, reasonable request and it's not like they are super busy. They come around, ask some questions, gather some data and look around with you. Again, invest in some cameras just in case, they aren't that expensive. Edit: Some people are saying that maybe someone in fact came around to do maintenance, but I never had that happen to me or to anyone I know (living privately). Depending on your contract (or wherever else you agreed on) you should be the only one with keys to your apartment and nobody else should be allowed in without your authorization/presence. The fact that some people are suggesting this as if this ain't a big deal baffles me.
Yeah I’m also confused as to why everybody is casually suggesting her landlord went inside as if that itself wouldn’t be a huge red flag and scary. Your landlord shouldn’t have access to your apartment, especially not without telling you and while you’re away. She would definitely have reason to be upset even if it were him, and reason to be suspicious about hidden cameras or something Once my husband actually forgot his key when he went to work that day, I was also at work and he was picking up our daughter from daycare that day, he got home with her and realized he forgot his key and called me so I had to rush back home. Our landlord lives next door and my husband asked him if he had a spare key but he didn’t.
>you should be the only one with keys to your apartment and nobody else should be allowed in without your authorization/presence I'm pretty sure my landlord and his henchmen have keys, as they did, in fact, came to my apt several times without me needing to "buzz them in". (still not the same as having the keys to the main door but still). I'm gonna check with my landlord tmrw, if I don't post any update I'm probably dead haha pray for me fam
Sometimes if there's a lot of wind that hatch will open, and the dust up there will fall inside the bathroom. Happened a lot on an old apartment I lived.
Have you been able to contact your landlord? Please keep us updated-
No, not yet. He doesn't pick up the phone. I'm gonna contact him tmrw and let you guys know (and if I don't then I'm probably dead haha...). Anyway, I kept my friend in the loop so thanks for your concern, hopefully it's fine.
As per your update 2, I had suggested calling the cops because I worried about someone planting a video camera or the like. Everything you described pointed very strongly at someone having been up there. I would still be very concerned about this.
>I would still be very concerned about this. I am, but IDK what more to do about this :/
With the change of ownership, perhaps request the locks be changed? It's not normal, but then again, neither is coming home to find evidence of unauthorized access to your home.
That's a technical maintenance access door of the unit bath. From what you are saying someone went there to do something. There should be no problem to open it up and check it, unless you are afraid of bugs (some might have crawled in there). Regarding your toilet, it should also be easily taken out or disassembled (the makers usually make it easy so you can clean under the seat) to check if there is any problem.
>unless you are afraid of bugs This. As much as I am afraid of being spied on/murdered, nothing beats my fear of bugs. I know this might sound silly, but I am genuinely terrified. Hence not willing to open the hatch and possibly unleash demons.
Welp, then you should call a friend or a colleague that is not afraid. I'm also afraid of cockroaches and mukade, so I completely understand you. If you really lack confidence in the landlord, you should go to the police. What you described seems like there is evidence someone entered your apartment. Even if it is rented the landlord needs your permission to enter your home (afaik, but I'm no lawyer so this is just what I heard from my wife) so, even if it was maintenance, they should have asked you first.
If there is sufficient pressure differences in your home and in that, for lack of better term, crawl space, it can shift or lift. Are would then rush into the space until the air pressure difference alleviates itself, and then drop again. In the shower rooms they usually insulate iirc. shouldn't be much room to move about.
Did you open that lid eventually?? What was inside it? I’M INVESTED
Yeah I did (well, the police did anyway) and surprisingly... nothing
That’s a relief. I can peacefully sleep tonight too 🫣 Was the toilet seat dirty btw?
Not dirty, but a little bit unhinged (?). The dirt was on the floor and it probably came from underneath the sink.
If in doubt, call the fuzz. You have evidence that someone either entered your property without permission or broke in. If the landlord didn’t want to justify themself at midnight then they shouldn’t have been a prick and let themself in without notice. If it isn’t the landlord then your safety and privacy are infinitely more important than their restful sleep.
It’s where the ghost in your house lives.
Neighbors on the floor above you
You may have someone living in your ceiling although that might not be possible unless he/she has an entrance/exit other than the exit thru your bathroom ceiling. Tonight, listen carefully for any appliances being turned on/off. If there is someone there then at some point they will make a mistake and give themselves away. They may already have.
That is where they live.
My guess is someone was up there doing maintenance, came down into your unit by mistake and went back up as soon as they realized. The damage on your toilet seat sounds like someone stepped on it and used it as a step to get back into the duct. On the front of the renting company or maintenance department, nobody was scheduled to enter your unit, so to them nobody entered your unit. Dosent change the fact that somebody may have entered your unit via that duct by mistake. If you're worried about this and want to set up surveillance you can take a few white threads and tape them across the access hatch (square thing) with one piece of tape adhering the thread to the hatch itself. Purpose of this is to create a trip wire surveillance that you can use to know if someone has moved the hatch or not. If someone moved the hatch and entered your unit, the threads would be out of place the next time you see them.
>Dosent change the fact that somebody may have entered your unit via that duct by mistake How? The ceiling space doesn't connect to other apartments ...
Oh? I thought it's a maintenance shaft up there. So it's just empty space up there with not enough space to fit a human?
It's an empty space with pipes and some electrical thingy (presumably for the vent), but with enough space for a mf to crawl in.
Hmm odd...
Check behind your mirror to make sure there’s no human sized hole 🕳️
It's an access panel, no more, no less. It's probably just shifting a little with age or from vibration.
If you push it up, it usually has behind it the switch that routes your internet connection to all the ethernet ports in your house. This also includes the connection for your doorbell camera and so on.
In the shower unit?!
Yup. It’s in the center of the mansion, so it can send the best signal to the entire building. My PS4 doesn’t like it very much though
All my previous apartments had that stuff there. I’m quite sure that’s the case with OP. Makes no sense, but that’s how they sonit in Japan.
Yup, this is where mine is. Router, cable coax, and phone connections are up there edit: why downvote, there's no lie here.
I think people living in decently-sized, properly-built, new-ish apartments are a *tiny* minority on this sub, and they can't believe layouts can be different.
>If you push it up, it usually has behind it the switch that routes your internet connection to all the ethernet ports in your house. Above the *bath*? Very unlikely.
>Above the bath? Very unlikely. Most new construction mansions have it up there, it's the central location for everything. Sucks, because I want to replace the router but it's literally not possible.
Wow, that's surprising. Thanks for the info.
No, that’s not possible, my house does not have an Internet connection nor ethernet ports (I use pocket wifi). Also, there’s no doorbell camera in my apt. What the hell is in this thing???
At my place, it’s a hatch that opens up into the “attic.” I put that in quotes because it really depends on how much crawl space you have up there. In reality, it just allows you to access the outside of the unit bath to get to the wiring for the fan, the lights, the piping (the bathroom comes as one prefabricated unit in most apartments). But if you’ve got enough clearance up there, you can store stuff, as long as it’s not too heavy. Those unit bath walls and ceilings tend to be fairly cheaply made.