i did. did you?
Is it legal to put CCTV in front of my room to collect evidence about slamming door loudly at night?
Is the door being slammed because of the wind? Iām asking because at my new place the front door is open, but last few days itās been windy and the wind would slam the door shut. So I put something heavy in front of the door to keep that from happening, and no more slamming.
You missed this part that I didnāt:
If you had really read the post you wouldnātāve have asked if OP at any point tried to talk to the neighbor directly, because OP said they did.
No. Actually itās because the door is kinda old, so itās loose a little. If we lift up a little, it wonāt make a hard slamming door sounds.
I already did my part to close the door slowly by lift the door a little. I even already tell and taught my landlord to do so. But is it just me, or doing something like that (close the door slowly by lift up the old door by a little bit), is something that crossed their line. I already tried to talk as polite as I can. But closing the door slowly seems just impossible, for them.
My concern is, I would like to collect the evidence at that time when I took a bath like around 1 am, the roommate seems slam the door intentionally (the shared bathroom wall and the glass ceiling was also shaking). I shocked but I canāt do anything about it, without evidence. At least if I have the recording, I can show the proof to my landlordās, or to whoever authorized to handling this kind of matter, thatās thereās something wrong about my roommate.
My room position is shared wall with the bathroom on the left side, and my roommate is on the right side (so the bathroom is between us). Actually this is something that I have no idea previously that it will cause quite some noise during nighttime (above 11 pm). Beside that, the noise of the slamming door of my roommate, is something I also not predicted will make such a quite noise during the same time. But again, although I already tried to tell them, that, well, letās say, to make them understand that by slamming the door is disturbingly, itās like thereās no hope.
Iām already okay to pay gas although I never use it. Iām okay with 80% of the fridge already filled full with the landlord and the other tenant items before I have my stocks. And now, I just feel unsafe (especially to my roommate), if Iām not going back home before they fallen asleep (around 1 AM), and I will lose evidence that might happen if Iām not turned on the CCTV (I already adjusted the time the CCTV from 1 AM - 5 AM only). I might a little paranoid. But I already experienced with three different person from three different places, either kicking wall or slamming the door on purpose, and when I asked them, these locals all asking back the same exactly questions: āDo you have any proof?ā. So now Iām collecting proof.
Iām sorry if a bit too long or crossing the line for some. I just shared my experiences. But beside that, until I able to afford to move from here, somehow, I need to survive and stay safe on my current situation.
If you have to lift the door to close it properly, itās likely because somehow the wall or frame somehow shifted causing this problem.
If you want to stop this, the landlord or whoever gotta fix that. Asking the roommate to be more careful might not work because they might forget to follow the rule, or canāt be arsed to. But the fault is the door itself, and I doubt you can accuse the roommate of maliciously slamming doors at night.
Can your landlord fix the door so it doesnāt have to be slammed in order to close? I mean fixing the wall may be a bit too much, but perhaps planing down the door so it fits better and not require considerable force to close, assuming itās a wooden door of course (it likely is). Weāre talking about 2mm at most here. Close the door gently and see where the door is rubbing against the frame, and plane those extra wood off. Ask the landlord if you can do it, and offer to do it for the roommate.
And also install felt pads where the door meets the frame, so that the door doesnāt make so much noise being closed.
Yes itās frustrating as hell when the door wonāt close properly and needs to be slammed to close it, but it happens.
I looked at a few doors at my new place, and often the source of the poor fit is often at the top of the frame. You can see from the inside with the door closed the gap between the door and the frame. If the gap is too small (less than about 2mm) then it will require some force to close, thus the door slamming. They should close with little force otherwise.
One other issue I found in my old place bedroom door is that it wouldnāt even latch properly (something the cats exploited). It turns out the door mortise is about 3mm off from where they should be, and so you had to lift the door to latch it. I fixed the misalignment and the door latches properly.
Any such issue can be a source of door slamming.
If the door will close with minimal force and latch, and heās still slamming the door, then you can blame him for it. If the issue is because it closes too easily and he often use a bit more force, then sticking some foam padding between the frame and the door will solve that issue. It will also reduce AC cost in the summer.
Thank you for sharing your experiences.
Yes, I think thatās the issue. I already suggested the landlord to do something about the door (and even showed the cost of the door is around 2K NTD). But I remember at that time he intended to exchange my good door with the bad bathroom door (which at that time I think thatās doesnāt make any sense even to the conversation). If itās subjected to me for the cost, I wonder whereās my mistake on this part since Iām the one who couldnāt rest well due the slamming door sounds of the current property.
About the padding (I think itās cost less than 100 NTD), I already installed myself with my landlord permission. But still, the slamming sounds hit so hard. Even when my landlord just now took a bath at 2 AM, I still can hear the door slammed hard.
For my roommate door, I donāt know if the door has some disadvantages as the bathroom door. But if his door just like mine (which is its doesnāt have loose 2-3mm below), then it can be close slowly.
I wonder should landlord do as he please since itās his house and we canāt do anything if we felt unsafe and uncomfortable although already tried to obey the contract, or we as tenants do have any protection, especially, in my kind of cases?
it might be the roommate is expressing their frustration on the noise you cause by taking a bath such late at night.
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At the first months, I tried to like take a bath at 10 PM something like that. But their activities wonāt stopped until around 1 AM or even 2 AM. Including the frequent slamming door sounds. I ever tried to talk to landlord about their nightās activities, but he said I need to adjust if youāre a late sleeper. When I tried to adjust, now they like dislike it.
I thought by becoming a landlord they can adjust or at least respecting their tenants rest time. This is my first time living with a landlord (previously they just owned the house and just came for cleaning). Now I experienced that living together with the landlord is not a good idea.
Itās never a good idea to have the landlord at or near the property. The problem is the landlord watch you like a hawk and complain about every little thing.
Always rent from a landlord that doesnāt live nearby.
Update:
With the previous things I mentioned recently, is it still okay to put the CCTV in front of my room for safety reason?
Now I feel a little threatened since I have no proof of what makes my roommate dislike me. I even tried to find a time where I better not meet my roommate (even I chose to not take a bath there if heās around).
I now its seems a little paranoid, but with seems unresolved conflicts between me and the roommate, his attitude that I recently mentioned (I tried to talk politely but he just slammed the door while I was standing there waiting for his response), the recent news from Kaohsiung, and Iām not sure if I get my landlord support or not, is it still okay to put my CCTV when I was around and when I want to come home, as a precaution if anything bad happen and the evidence of the incident (hopefully not happening) is needed?
This is all I can do before I afford to move from here.
Only pointing at your door, and no possibility of causing privacy concerns with your roommate? Maybe.
I would consult with a lawyer, or even ask the police. They wonāt shoot you dead here or try to look for an excuse to arrest you.
There was a time when I called police for my first kind alike case (roommate kicking and punching our shared board wall). I report to police like almost 24 hour after the incident. But the police said I should report immediately when the incident just happened and provide evidence like video recording footage. So at that time, I only able to share my experience to police without any evidence. But the police still came to give me aid when my roommate at home and mediated us.
I should consult for legal advice first. Hope I can find the free one cause it would become a challenge if it has a high cost, especially for a foreign student like me.
I think legal aid foundation can help with this.
Why not just move out? How much longer will you be in Taiwan?
ok?
If you feel threatened or unsafe just move out, the roomate may even feel their privacy is under attack by the installation of the camera. Installing a camera could land you in trouble with the police, and in a worst case scenario all the camera would do is record your untimely demise.
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Thank you for the suggestion
Yesterday I went to legal aid service and I already talked to the lawyer about my issue.
The lawyer said as long as the landlord already gave permission in his/her property to put CCTV in front of my room (I shared the screenshot of me and my landlord conversation about the agreement), as long as the camera not pointed to record other tenants rooms inside (just pointed in public spaces is okay), Iāve been given permission to collect the evidence.
If the noise of slamming door also disturbing while sleeping or even damaging emotionally, the lawyer said I can sue my roommate if enough evidence is available.
If I feel threatened, the lawyer said I can talk to police about this and the police can inform the roommate to not making noise or doing so.
My goal is to make the roommate understand to not making noise by slamming door or threatening me by doing so. Until I afford to move from there, I will collect the evidence, show it to my landlord, show it to the lawyer, and hopefully I can close this case.
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I very much agree with this, move out. Sometimes things go out of control like this story in North Taiwan. Its trouble to move, but also safer and no need waste time on CCTV
omg this is another goosebumps.
I havenāt back for around 3 days (perhaps counting). Waiting the time for his not at home and gradually take my stuffs (my bad itās pretty a lot). Call me paranoid, but this just now shared news (beside the Kaohsiung one), the suspected might have similar background with my roommate. Kinda like an old man too.
This morning I already went to police, and police officer said itās okay to put the CCTV that way to collect evidence. I also told to the officer that I even already went to legal aid and talk to lawyer about this. Unfortunately, if itās not something criminal, police cannot do anything about it either. The officers may able to mediate and told to the roommate about my worries, but the other officer said it could also possibly alarming the roommate, which is also not safe from my side (if it were true that the roommate has other motives than just angry about the leak shower sound due to the not good soundproofing). A fair perspective from my point. I remember the landlord also ever said that he complained if I took a bath 2 times a day, which is I wonder is it just because cultural differences or thereās something else under the iceberg.
I agree that I needed to move. It just my items and where to go (around 5-6k in Taipei) that Iām still collecting to move from there. And tried to afford myself to do so too. I never knew that background check for prospective roommates could be this important. Sometimes itās hard to find this type of roommate information in the website also.
But again, thank you for sharing this news and the suggestions.
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