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Outside my front door


What should I put outside my front door for luck? |

(Image credit: Benjamin Moore)

Accentuating your front door has its benefits for your home's curb appeal – but with the right tricks – you may improve your good fortune, too.

If you're already interested in feng shui front door colors, you may already know that your chosen hues influence your home's energy. However, some of the most aesthetic (and practical) front door ideas are also thought to bring good luck to your home – from white lights to a fragrant lemon tree.

Here's what spiritual and well-being experts put outside their front door for luck – and what these front door design tricks could mean for you. 

What should I put outside my front door for luck?

You may have heard that blowing cinnamon at your front door at the start of a month is a spiritual way to promote positive beginnings. But there are some design decisions that you try at any point in the calendar. The experts begin with these five tips.  

1. Windchimes

(Image credit: Alamy)

In feng shui teaching, windchimes are admired for their ability to invite 'chi' into your home – meaning they are loved by those in the spiritual world. However, spiritual coach Tara Bennet from Mediumchat Group warns that you need to place your chimes carefully. 

'If you hang chimes, it's important to hang a mirror opposite your front door as it opens. This will reflect bad chi outwards and allow only positive chi to enter,' she explains. 

'Windchimes come in many shapes, styles, and colors, but they all create a positive energy that will bring good things to you and your home.'

2.  Lemon trees 

(Image credit: GettyImages)

It's easy to see the appeal behind a lemon tree. With their escapist aesthetic and citrus scent, these trees are a welcome addition to any terrace or porch. But this tree is even more than good-looking. 

'Lemon trees are powerful plants symbolizing fertility, prosperity, and good health. Placing a lemon tree outside your front door protects your home and invites positivity inside,' Tara says. She adds that, alongside their good fortune, you can also benefit from their fragrant blossom and fresh lemons, which you can include in your cleansing drinks.

3. White Lights 

(Image credit: Sadolin)

The best front porch lighting ideas are those that are not only practical but lucky, too. This is the case with white lights, which Tara suggests are the most beneficial for your front door.

'Surrounding your door with white lights illuminates the way home, allowing those that are lost to find their way back to you,' she says. 'White lights draw opportunities into your home, which can seem like good luck.'

4. Bells 

(Image credit: GettyImages)

Bells are famous for bringing good luck to your home, and all for a good reason. Michele Lefler, a shamanic coach, and owner of Living Moon Meditation, recommends hanging them on your door handle as a 'talisman of protection' against evil spirits. She explains that their sound is believed to 'ward off evil spirits' and 'provide luck to those who live in your home. 

'If bells are not an option (or in addition to them), wind chimes are good. The wind chime stirs up energy and attracts good fortune,' she emphasizes. 

5. Lucky bamboo

(Image credit: Alamy)

Almost all plants have the ability to improve your wellbeing in some way, but (arguably) none more so than lucky bamboo. The auspicious plant, which derives from Chinese culture, is popular among wellness experts, including Michele, who recommends placing one outside your front door for good luck. 

'Add a potted bamboo to your porch to draw in luck and prosperity. It’s also beautiful and easy to care for' – in case you needed any other reason to bring this powerful plant into your exteriors. 

Megan is the News and Trends Editor at Homes & Gardens. She first joined Future Plc as a News Writer across their interiors titles, including Livingetc and Real Homes. As the News Editor, she often focuses on emerging microtrends, sleep and wellbeing stories, and celebrity-focused pieces. Before joining Future, Megan worked as a News Explainer at The Telegraph, following her MA in International Journalism at the University of Leeds. During her BA in English Literature and Creative Writing, she gained writing experience in the US while studying in New York. Megan also focused on travel writing during her time living in Paris, where she produced content for a French travel site. She currently lives in London with her antique typewriter and an expansive collection of houseplants. 

How to Replace an Exterior Door (DIY)

DIY techniques for a weathertight exterior door installation

Time

Multiple Days

Complexity

Intermediate

Cost

Varies

Introduction

Replace a worn, drafty front door with a stylish new energy-efficient one. Replacement doors come pre-hung in a weatherstripped frame and you don't have to be a master carpenter to do a first-class job. We'll show you the techniques that will result in a perfect, weathertight installation.

Tools Required

Materials Required

Prehung Exterior Door Installation

Family Handyman

Rarely can you complete a project in a weekend that will save you money and dramatically improve the looks of your house like hanging a new front door. In this article we’ll show you how to order a prehung exterior door that fits like a glove. Then we’ll show you, step by step, how to get your old door out and the new one in.

If you can handle basic carpentry tasks, you’ll have no trouble installing a new pre-hung entry door in a day. Figure on another day to finish the details and start painting the door. Front door paint adds personality and curb appeal.

Video: How to Hang a Door

Project step-by-step (19)

Figure A: Measure Your Old Door

In most cases, simply order a new door the same size as the old one. If you alter the size or add sidelights, you’ll have to reframe the opening and alter many details. This usually doubles or triples the size of the job. Here are the four sets of measurements you’ll need to order a door (refer to Figure A for extra details):

Door size

Jamb width

Rough opening

Exterior opening (or “masonry opening” if you have a brick or stone door surround)

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Do It Right, Do It Yourself!

Originally Published: May 20, 2020

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Thieves' signs on the doors ᐈ Attention! Your apartment is being watched!

Have you ever noticed simple symbols/signs drawn in chalk on the door, adjacent walls next to the entrance to the apartment or mailbox? We are sure that if you noticed this, you would attribute what you saw to children's pranks. But what if it’s not the children playing around, but the criminals who left thieves’ signs on the doors in order to pay a visit in the near future and steal all your property? We recommend that you read our article to the end and find out if burglars intend to rob you. For our part, we will try to consider the issue of thieves' marks and what you should pay attention to in order to be ready in case of an unauthorized entry attempt.

Contents of the article:

  1. Maybe it seemed?
  2. Apartment at risk;
  3. Members of a criminal gang;
  4. Robbery plan;
  5. You are under surveillance;
  6. Life story;
  7. Robbed! What to do?
  8. How to protect your home?

The debate over whether or not to pay attention to the mark at the door / mailbox / house wall / garage / gate has been going on for over two decades. Personally, our opinion is that thieves' signs on the doors are, although a rather old criminal trick, but still actively used by criminal elements. Surprisingly, many criminals even today prefer to leave marks for their accomplices in a similar way, and not, say, transmit information orally or through other means of communication (telephone conversation, instant messengers, etc.).

It is interesting that the reality of such "marks" was noted even in the annual report of the British police. It is also curious that many of the signs described by the police of Foggy Albion outwardly coincided with those left by criminals in Ukraine, Spain, Chile, China, Cyprus and many other parts of the world. Thus, a certain “beacon” means that there is nothing worthwhile in the apartment, and a drawn cross is already a very interesting target and there is “something to take”.

Thief marks on doors

It is worth noting that burglars are not limited to chalk alone, and in order to highlight the “most delicious”, they draw strange characters with a marker, pen, dirt, and also mark them with matches, trade stickers, coins, and even ... cookies! But let's not get ahead of ourselves and talk about everything in more detail.

Apartment in the risk zone

You may well ask a question:

Why would a criminal monitor apartments, and then make some marks and leave beacons? What's the point of this?

Indeed, there are criminals who act differently, without prior preparation, and if they are interested in some apartment / house, they immediately commit a crime. Such spontaneous thefts are usually carried out by drug addicts and alcoholics. They will bury themselves in the most visually unprotected objects, i.e. with a flimsy door and a simple lock. It is worth noting that, as a rule, amateur robbers or the so-called touring thieves also operate in a similar way. If we talk about hardened recidivists and professional burglars, then “complications” in the form of owners who did not go to work, the presence of an aggressive dog or an installed security alarm system for an apartment are of no use to them, so they are more than balanced about the issue of choosing a victim.

More possible meanings of "marks"
Members of a criminal gang

So, the system with thieves' marks is used precisely by professional criminals, whose robberies are put on stream. Such criminal elements are real organized crime, where each member of the group performs a specific role. Thus, in their organization there are:

  1. Scouts. The main task of this gang member is to figure out the most interesting targets for the robbery, and then install surveillance on the residents in order to find out the daily schedule of the residents.
  2. Talker. Gang member with high communication skills, psychologist. The main task is to talk to the right people without arousing suspicion to find out important circumstances about the apartment, its vulnerabilities, as well as to find out any other information that will complement the report from the “scout”.
  3. Burglar, i.e. lock specialist. As a rule, they "work" in tandem with a partner.
  4. The driver is a criminal, waiting for burglars somewhere nearby in order to quickly escape with "prey".
  5. Distributor. A person who organizes the operational sale of stolen goods. It is only a desperate drug addict who will take your laptop to the nearest pawnshop. The actions of the distributor are carried out in such a way that the investigators could in no way get on the trail of a gang of robbers.
Robbery plan

Typically, experienced burglars act according to the following scenario:

A "scout" gets into an apartment building. It is not difficult to do this, even if there is a caretaker grandmother in the corridor. It is enough for a charming criminal to pretend to be, for example, a courier. And if no one is on duty at the entrance, then getting into the house even without the key to the intercom will not be difficult at all: the criminal will simply call all the apartments in turn, introducing himself, for example, as an “electrician from the housing office”, until someone is gullible, finally will not let him into the house.

By the way, situations are not rare when a "scout" is let into a house with a certain "dossier" on the tenants. Thus, there were cases when employees of the housing office, for example, checking meters / gas equipment / ventilation, etc. transmitted information to attackers about which of the apartments have something to profit from. Sometimes watchmen themselves or employees of private companies such as couriers for the delivery of water, plumbing, etc. become accomplices in the crime. So before you let a stranger into the apartment, make sure that when he enters he does not see anything superfluous and stays in the apartment for a minimum amount of time.

Next, the thief purposefully goes through all the floors, first examining from a distance all the nuances and features of the entrance, landings, doors and door locks. An experienced eye immediately identifies for itself the places where cameras are installed and / or LED lights are on, signaling that the “object is under protection”. As a rule, this is where the first visit ends.

Then

At the next stage, the “scout” goes to certain apartments and examines closer what locks are installed on the front door, how secure the door itself is, whether anti-burglary fittings are installed, etc. If it’s quiet around, then based on the “survey”, thieves’ signs are left on the doors or other “beacons” that will help them understand your routine and highlight your apartment as a “robbing option”. Thus, an inconspicuous small coin left on the rug, a cookie, or a hair or thread stuck in the doorway will be able to tell the attackers whether the owner is there or, say, gone on vacation. Having installed the “gunner” (aka “gatekeeper”), the thief leaves, but at the same time he will visit you again during the day and check whether his beacon has remained intact.

Your electricity meter installed in the common hallway is another excellent "informant" because by following the change in indicators, you can easily find out whether someone was in place or not.

Further, when you come next time and find that the coin left the day before was shifted / the cookie hidden under the rug is crushed / there are no threads or hairs or it is torn, it is concluded that someone was clearly in the apartment. After a certain time, based on the data received, they decide to switch to another apartment or continue monitoring this one. We draw your attention to the fact that apartments are “worked through” for at least several days, and in exceptional cases, such attention to you can drag on for months.

Keeping watch

But it's not just the doors that the intruders are eyeing! A separate issue is a visual analysis of the well-being of residents. Therefore, burglars pay their close attention to the following things:

Do not forget that the villains will certainly try to look into your windows, so the presence of thick curtains on the first floors is a must. Otherwise, nothing will escape their sight: neither your flat-screen TV on the wall in the room, nor a good repair in the kitchen. So, due to the fact that you forgot to close the window with a curtain, criminal elements will be able to find out in a matter of seconds that you are making good money. A car is another excellent marker of your wealth. A pro can easily stay "in the shadows" to follow you to the very door of the apartment. If you have a good car, then most likely you also have a lot of expensive things at home.

You are being watched
You are being watched

So, let's assume that the villains decide to choose your apartment. At this stage, the real shadowing begins for you. And do not expect that they will catch your eye, as the criminals will act with extreme caution. As we said earlier, not only the door to the room will be under scrutiny, but also your mailbox. Thus, an overflowing mailbox or a long seizure of correspondence is another of the important “beacons” that signal that the owner is away or rarely appears on the spot.

By the way, burglars often check the “presence of owners” by inserting an advertising flyer into the gap between the door and the door frame, and then, by the speed with which it disappears, they will be able to draw certain conclusions for themselves.

Be sure to pay attention to everything "new" on your door, even if there are stains and small scuffs. The fact is that some intruders may try to make a cast of your castle. Incomprehensible calls to a home phone or intercom are also an occasion to think about the safety of your home. But let's be honest, you most likely will not pay any attention to other people's attempts to clarify the schedule of your life. Well, someone called the intercom with an offer to replace plastic windows / insulate the facade, or in general, after the removal, a reset immediately went off. It seems like nothing remarkable happened, and after two minutes this episode will simply disappear from your memory. This is the calculation ...


Watch this video on YouTube

Thief's Signs on Doors: A Life Story

One of our clients told us about an incident that happened to her last year. On one weekday, she went home early, as the office center where she worked at that time turned out to be de-energized and all employees were allowed to go home. The unsuspecting hostess was spinning in the kitchen, when suddenly, closer to three o'clock in the afternoon, someone began to ring at her door. The woman did not wait for anyone and did not want to communicate with the next sellers of armored doors or representatives of the manufacturer of plastic windows, so she did not react to the four rather long presses on the doorbell. But what made her jump up was the strange sounds that followed after the bells: someone was picking her lock. Approaching the door a little audibly, she looked through the peephole and saw two figures with hoods pulled up to their eyes. Seeing that they were trying to break into her door, the woman began to wail that she had already called the police and the robbers, having heard her screams, rushed headlong down the stairs. Later, when examining the damage to the castle, she noticed previously unnoticed thieves' signs on the doors: a sticker pasted at its very base.

Official statistics say that 8 out of 10 burglaries are carried out on weekdays from 09:00 to 17:00.

Robbed! What to do?

If, approaching your door, you find signs of forced entry, do not enter under any circumstances, but immediately call the police. The only thing you can do solely at your own peril and risk is to try to close the front door without removing the key from the keyhole, thereby preventing the criminals from leaving. But there are many nuances here and you can eventually come face to face with the bandits.

If, passing by your windows, you notice that they are open (and this despite the fact that no one should be at home), do not rush to rush inside to clarify the circumstances. This may end badly for you, as the criminals are most likely armed! Don't be a hero and call the police. Yes, about windows - a separate conversation. Somehow, our citizens got the confidence that plastic windows are difficult to crack. Unfortunately, everything is exactly the opposite, since you can open a plastic window with an ordinary screwdriver, and it is much faster and easier to do this than it would be with an old wooden window. The perpetrator will simply knock off the plastic trim where the handle is located, and then turn the screwdriver and open the window. Therefore, we strongly recommend that residents of the first, second, last floors and those whose windows are adjacent to a chimney or fire escape, get window bars!

"Surprise" upon returning home

Anything can happen in life. It can happen the same as in the story where the burglars managed to find one of our clients at home. What to do in this case? What to do if, even after hearing your voice, they do not leave their intentions to rob an apartment, and, accordingly, most likely, also cause significant damage to your health? Do not waste a second in vain and barricade the front door, pulling cabinets and other furniture to it that prevent opening. Along the way, call the police and never stop talking for a moment, attracting the attention of neighbors. Having securely closed the door, run to the window and call passers-by for help.

How to protect your home?

Be attentive to details and you may be able to notice the preparation of criminals to rob an apartment. First of all, you should pay attention to the indirect signs of a criminal interest in your property, i.e. to such seemingly insignificant things like:

By the way, some particularly impudent burglars go even further - they can even call the owner of the apartment, for example, to urgently receive a document at the post office or send it to some state structure, say, to the military registration and enlistment office. While you are dealing with officials, finding out the details and reasons for a non-existent call, your apartment will be cleaned. So, before heading off somewhere, be sure to find the official phone number and call the office to clarify the details and whether such a call really takes place.

In addition
Thieves' signs on the doors and the selection of the necessary master key
And also
And most importantly
  1. Do not be lazy and close all windows and doors to the balcony;
  2. Install a good metal door with two different locks, not the cheapest "China";
  3. Install a security camera;

In general, always be on the alert and do not leave your home unattended! And better - do not live in constant fear and tension, but order the installation of an alarm system with a connection to the centralized security control panel and, in case of penetration (or its attempt), a rapid response team will be sent to you to detain the burglar. Stop hoping that trouble will bypass your house - play it safe. Moreover, the price of security is more than affordable.

Tatyana Yakovenko

Head of Sales at Alliance-Security

Ask a question

Notice something suspicious? In this case, we want to give you a free consultation! Please use the chat with the manager or the feedback form and we will call you back.

How to legally put a door on the stairwell? — questions from readers

Many years ago, we fenced off a part of the public corridor that leads from the elevator to the apartments with a separate entrance door. Now a neighbor who lives opposite is demanding that it be dismantled. The door leads only to our apartment, it does not block the neighbor's passage. Usually we don't even lock the door, we just close it. Is it possible to legalize it somehow? Maybe this is not required?

By the way, the neighbor has put a lock on both doors that all residents use: the entrance from the elevator and the door leading to the fire escape.

Natalia

It so happened that residents of apartment buildings across the country enclose "vestibules" for several apartments with a common door. In 90% of cases, this is done without agreement. In the nineties, such doors were installed to protect against thieves. Utilities and supervisory services turned a blind eye to this.

Dmitry Kornev

lawyer

Author's profile

Now they have begun to follow this a little stricter, although no one specifically goes around and does not force to dismantle the doors. But both management companies and fire supervision respond to complaints from citizens.

It is quite difficult to legally obtain permission to install such a door, although it is possible.

Let's figure out how to get permission to install a common door in the corridor, if you really want to, or how to legalize an already installed door that suddenly began to interfere with neighbors.

Your stairwell belongs to all residents

In an apartment building, stairwells, elevator lobbies and other rooms are the common property of all residents of the building. Common property implies that all tenants can use it. Even if it makes absolutely no sense - who would need to use a square meter of floor near your door? However, from the point of view of the law, any resident of the house has the right to demand the removal of an obstacle in the form of a door - and he will be right.

Art. 247 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation
st. 290 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation
Art. 36 ZhK RF

A logical question that arises after reading the law: if I am the owner of an apartment, then I also have a share in the common property in the house. Is it possible to present this share in the form of a piece of a staircase and enclose it with a door as my property?

Answer: no, you can't.

The Housing Code prohibits allocating a certain share in common property to oneself. This share exists, one might say, virtually. You have it, but you cannot dispose of it. For example, it cannot be sold or allocated.

Part 4 37 ZhK RF

It turns out that the staircase in front of the apartment is a common one. In order for at least part of it to become yours, you need the permission of the other tenants. If part of the common property ceases to be common and becomes yours, this means that the area of ​​the common property of all residents will decrease. The law says that such a reduction is permissible only with the consent of all residents of the house. Not a floor, not an entrance, but a house, and not ⅔ of the tenants, as they sometimes write, but in general all.

Part 3 Art. 36 ZhK RF

Therefore, in order to legalize such a door, a general meeting of residents will have to be held.

How to hold a general meeting of owners

It is very difficult to hold a general meeting on your own. Especially if there are 2000 apartments in the building: it is necessary that they all agree. But an absentee meeting, theoretically, is possible. You will have to personally go around everyone and collect signatures.

Of course, you can try to enlist support in holding the meeting from the management company, but there are no guarantees: they may simply not want to help you. If there are a lot of apartments in the house, absentee voting may take 3-4 months, or maybe more. For example, in my house, the absentee voting for the installation of a parking fence took 3.5 months, and there are only 185 apartments in the house.

/perfect-yard/

How to improve the yard at the expense of the state

There are cases when it is impossible to hold a meeting to the end at all. For example, there are apartment owners (or even 2-3), but they live somewhere in Spain, and the apartments are rented out. Tenants do not have the right to vote, and you will not find the owner, and if you do, they are unlikely to come from Spain to vote at your door.

It is precisely because of the extreme difficulty of obtaining the consent of all owners that most of the installed doors do not pass any approvals and are installed with the tacit consent of the neighbors.

p. 3, part 3, art. 44 ZhK RF
Art. 45 ZhK RF
Art. 46 ZhK RF

You can read some tricks and nuances of holding general meetings in our articles:

  1. Nuances of holding general meetings.
  2. What happens if not everyone gave consent.

Let's say you held a meeting of owners and secured their consent to install a door. In addition to this consent, a project for redevelopment or reconstruction will also be needed.

What is a redevelopment project

Any change in the configuration of a room is a redevelopment, including the installation of a door on a staircase. Redevelopment is properly carried out according to a special project. It all depends on the design of the house. Somewhere there is already an opening for installing a door, somewhere you need to build an additional wall in order to install a door into it. All this is done in the redevelopment project: door, installation site, materials, dimensions.

/replan/

How to legalize redevelopment in a new building

This project can be done before the tenants' meeting, or after. However, in order to coordinate the project in various public services, the approval of the general meeting will be required without it, nothing will be agreed upon. The law prohibits redevelopment without a project.

Art. 26 ZhK RF

p. 1.7.1. Decrees of the Gosstroy of the Russian Federation dated September 27, 2003

clause 4.6 of the code of rules on fire protection systems

A redevelopment project is prepared, for example, by a technical inventory office. You can also contact any private design organization that has the appropriate design permits, but it is more convenient to work with BTI, because a private company will still coordinate this project with BTI. There are even individual organizations that undertake to carry out the entire process of turnkey approvals from the installation project to approval with government services.

The door installation and installation project itself can cost from 5000 R and more - it all depends on the city of residence. But the services of companies by agreement, most likely, will only start from 20,000 R. Complex work costs from 30,000 R. The terms can be up to 6 months, this does not take into account the terms for obtaining the decision of the general meeting of residents.

Nuances: fire regulations

It also happens that it is not always possible to install a door according to the law, even if there is the consent of the other owners. There are many design standards that limit such redevelopment. For example, the main one is the fire safety standard. If the fire department says that the installation of the door violates fire safety standards, no one will ever be able to agree on such a project.

Art. 34 fire safety laws

Technical regulation on fire safety requirements

Nuances: public utilities

Utilities should have free access to equipment and appliances that are located in common areas. If the entrance electrical panel is located in your vestibule, you cannot fence it off, because not only your power lines, but also all neighbors pass through it.

paras. d p. 10 of the rules for maintaining property in an apartment building

Important: it is forbidden by law to store the property of residents on stairwells and platforms under the first flight of stairs. Bicycles, strollers, shovels, sacks of potatoes, sleds and all other things that most Russians store there cannot be stored there.

clause 3.2.15-3.2.16 of the Decree of the Gosstroy of the Russian Federation dated September 27, 2003

What will happen if you do not agree

As a result, if you do not receive all these documents (the consent of the owners, the redevelopment project, coordination with firemen), any the tenant of your house can file a lawsuit, and the court will oblige you to dismantle the door, although usually such disputes arise only between neighbors in the stairwell.

Part 3 Art. 29 ZhK RF

Here, for example, are the court decisions that I found: The Volzhsky District Court of Samara in 2017 ordered the owner of the apartment to demolish the unauthorized partition in the common corridor, because there is no consent from all apartment owners, and the door prevents neighbors from accessing the apartments . A similar decision was made by the Sterlitamaksky District Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan in 2014. Judicial practice across the country is unambiguous. There is no consent to dismantle, especially if it interferes with a neighbor.

In addition, unauthorized installation of a door without permits and approvals is considered an administrative offense. A small fine of 100-300 R is provided for this. But for violation of fire safety standards (since the door can block access to fire exits and create an obstacle for fire brigades to access the apartment), the fine will be higher: 2000-3000 R.

Art. . 19.1. Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation
Art. 20.4. Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation

If the door was installed a long time ago, maybe not even you

If you installed the door, then the approval procedure is the same. We'll have to collect signatures, make a project. It is not necessary to legalize the installation through the court, it is enough to collect all the documents in case one of the neighbors sues you with a demand to dismantle the door.

It may be that you bought an apartment, but there was already a door. Then you are not responsible for it. The Supreme Court recently upheld tenants who were being ordered to remove a door installed by a previous apartment owner. The court explained that it was necessary to establish a specific person responsible for unauthorized redevelopment, and not thoughtlessly oblige residents to eliminate other people's alterations at their own expense.

/break-in/

How to protect your apartment from burglars

Therefore, you can safely refuse to do anything if you did not install this door. You can even say about your door that it is not yours. But then one fine day, the management company or a neighbor can simply cut down this door, and you won’t do anything to them for this - the door is not yours.

When you definitely don't need to ask anyone

The only time you can install a door without asking anyone is if it was originally there, and then it was removed for one reason or another. That is, if the original project of the house provided for the presence of a vestibule door for several apartments (for example, for a common pram), then such a door can be returned to its place without the consent of the owners.

But you need to remember that according to the regulations, such a door should not be closed if common house property (meters, fire hydrants) or emergency exits remain behind it. Of course, no one is monitoring this, but you yourself may suffer from the fact that public utilities will not have access.

So what? 07/13/18

You can pay for heating by meters. Even if the neighbors do not have them

What should the author of the question do

You write that the neighbor put locks on the common doors in the entrance. You can make the same claims to him. A neighbor in the same way breaks the law by blocking the passage to the fire escape. A fine is unambiguously imposed for this, and the fire department will certainly demand to dismantle the lock, or even the entire door.

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