Securing Your Rental Apartment or Home

We'll start at the front door, specifically the lock. For safety, you want there to be a deadbolt on every exterior door, not just the lock on the knob. If the apartment you're looking at doesn't have deadbolts, ask to have them installed or consider looking elsewhere. Deadbolts won't keep out a determined thief, but nothing will. What a deadbolt and a few other common-sense security measures will do is keep out an opportunistic thief, and that's nine-tenths of the battle.

Re-Keying Or Replacing Locks

Some people re-key the locks when they rent a new place, so old tenants who may have kept or copied a key can't break in. Most apartment complexes and rentals don't allow this, however, so if you do it, do it quietly. It's easy, too. Most deadbolts can be removed by taking out two screws on the lock and two on the faceplate, and a deadbolt the same make and size will slip right in. You can even save the old one and reinstall it when you move out, so your landlord will never even know you replaced the deadbolt.

There's a danger with this, of course. If you ever need your landlord to come over and do any work, you'll have to be there or he'll find out you've replaced the lock. And if there's an emergency when you're not home - a water leak for instance - and the landlord can't get in, expect him to bill you for absolutely everything that got damaged.

Other Lock Issues

If your locks are gummed up and sticky, squirt a little WD-40 in the slot and slide your key in and out a few times.

What about when your key goes in, but the door doesn't unlock? I know it sounds stupid, but are you sure you're at the right door? Every year a few folks, most of them really drunk, think they're home but their keys don't work, and they get themselves shot trying to break into a house or apartment they only thought was theirs. If you are at the right place - and using the right key - and the door doesn't unlock, you'll have to call your landlord. The lock needs fixing or replacing, and they are required to do it.

Windows and Sliding Glass Doors

Your windows and sliding glass doors should also lock, and if the locking mechanism is damaged, get them fixed. Some people who live on upstairs floors figure it's not important to get the locks on their sliding glass doors fixed. What they don't realize is that there are people who make a living breaking into upstairs apartments.

If your windows slide open and closed, you can buy little thumbscrew locks you attach to the frame. What they do is let you open your windows only a little, but keep them from being pushed all the way open. If you want a little ventilation but don't want to leave the window all the way open, they're the ticket. The problem is that if your window slides open far enough to offer any decent ventilation, it's also open for enough for someone to get their fingers inside and lift the window out of its frame. So don't rely on them too much. Broom handles or sticks set in the tracks of sliding glass doors or sliding windows work on the same principle.

Low-Cost Alarms

Alarms are an option, but not a common one in most apartment complexes or rentals. There are portable alarms marketed to frequent travelers to use in hotel rooms, which hook over your doorknob and shriek if someone opens the door. In a duplex or rental house, there's another option. A trick a lot of cops use is to buy decals and a dummy alarm box from a local security company. I did it once at a rental where I lived, and it cost me $20. Screw the empty box above the garage where it's nice and visible, and slap a few stickers on the main windows. Most thieves won't chance it. There are too many places out there without alarms to risk hitting a place that might have one. I suppose you could steal one of those yard signs people have that say, "These premises monitored by So and So Alarm Company," and while that would be ironic and amusing, it would also be morally wrong. Possibly more amusing than wrong, but that's for you to decide.

All home security stuff comes down to a balance between safety and convenience. You can lock every door and window all the time - even when you take out the garbage - install alarms and do everything right from a security stand-point but never hear the breeze through the trees at night again. And for certain people and in certain places, this is absolutely the right and responsible thing to do.

Or you can leave your doors and windows open and come and go as you please, knowing that thieves and bad guys can, too. There's no right answer here. You have to do what is right for you, but be smart at the same time. You don't want uninvited people in your apartment, and you can't count on your neighbors to spot a stranger. Apartment complexes are big anonymous places, and people who don't belong there look just like the people who do. If you live somewhere that allows pets, the absolute best home security system you can have is a territorial dog.

Nobody messes with a territorial dog.