Forbidden Spaces Allure and Amen

I double-verify what Peter Neilson was talking about 'rentals and
renters' [170916 MMDigest] and their going anywhere they are not
supposed to go, via signs or by simple request, even inclusion in
a rental agreement!

Our apartment below the house has an access door to the crawl space
below the house; it is dirty, cobwebby, dark, with a sloping dirt
floor.  It was also our cool, dark canned food storage pantry and
it's where I kept stored pieces of my Regina music box, and a large
case of discs.  I had a sign on the entry door to please _not_ go
in there due to dirt, slipping hazard, privacy, etc., and although
I told all our tenants _not_ to go in there, every one _did!_

Some even opened boxes of our stuff, or took food.  If that same
impulse is around when they find Pandora's box, we are doomed!

We allowed a few people in bad circumstances to stay down there
for short times to help them out.  One young man who stayed there
went in, helped himself to our emergency pantry goods, ate almost
all the jars of pickles my wife had canned and put the empty jars
back on the shelf so we wouldn't notice!  His mother, who was there
also, must have noticed and, I guess, thought it okay.

I finally fastened some wood blocks to the inside of the door and
screwed it shut from within, to prevent it being accessed except by
the landlord (me).

So, this advice to rental owners and landlords: put _locks_ on any
"No Access" areas!

Tom Detweiler
Grass Valley, California