Weirdness in new flat I've just started renting

JustBee

I find it difficult to articulate myself when anxious or angry. Sorry to disappoint the judgemental I'm neither back in school soon or mentally unstable. Thanks for the rest of the advice guys, much appreciated!

ThisIsWeird

bobster2 said:

Looks like a normal Greenbrook thermostat...

https://www.gsmsupplies.co.uk/room-thermostat-greenbrook-th90c-c.html

That model does have a 'pilot' light. 

JustBee, does it light up as you turn the dial up and down?

SarahB16

JustBee said:

I don't have the heating on, it's not cold enough. There's a click when it's turned up but no red light appears in that dot at all. Probably I'd need to turn the heating on eh! I'm not likely to run to the police for anything. I like hard evidence so the installation of a camera is the way to go because a particular item I look at before I leave the flat everytime I leave because it's pretty absolutely could not move the way this had been moved without someone physically touching it.

I have OCD, I know how I leave my stuff and I've been taking photos everyday since just to add for some of my peace of mind.

You are absolutely doing the right thing by sharing your concerns on here.  It's also good to see that some of the replies have been helpful. 

Yes, the installation of a camera is definitely the way to go and you taking the photos was a great idea of yours too.  

My apologies if this has been covered and I've missed it.  I know that a fob is required to get into your flat but are you able to lock it from inside so contractors, etc cannot enter using a fob if you are in your flat? Perhaps you have a bolt or a chain on the back of the door to your flat?  That would at least give you some reassurance that when you are in your flat you can secure the door and nobody can enter your flat.  

elsien

BonaDea said:

elsien said:

BonaDea said:

Yes, I would find that disturbing too.  It certainly is suspicious enough to warrant further investigation.  Spying on someone else in their home is illegal and I assume it's a criminal rather than civil offence.  Cover up the one in your bedroom but try not to handle it.  Then call the local police station tomorrow and explain the situation.  Don't call the letting agency first, if it is indeed a surveillance camera it may be that someone at the agency is implicated.  If it turns out not to be, you may feel slightly silly but don't worry about that.  Spying on young women like this really is a thing (of course I don't know that you are one!) and predatory behaviour thrives where it's always given the benefit of the doubt. 
https://www.spyequipmentuk.co.uk/spy-laws/#:~:text=What is illegal use of,covert cameras for illegal reasons.

Is that a serious suggestion? Because if it is, I’m pretty sure I already know how it will go. 

Yes, it was a serious suggestion.  Informed by my own experience decades ago when I rented a room in shared accommodation and the young man occupying the room next to mine spied on me at nights from within a cupboard inside my own room.  (Corner cupboards in each room, which unbeknown to me were interconnecting but separated by a panel he'd worked out how to remove and replace.)  Discovered only when he had a dramatic mental health crisis one of these nights, emergency medical help had to be called, and he was carted off to hospital never to be seen again.  This kind of thing is probably not as rare as we'd all like to think.

Going to the police would be if you know something is there, surely? Not a vague suspicion that you haven’t actually checked out.
Yes of course it happens, I’m not querying that, but what I am querying is that you need a smidgen of evidence not just a hole in a box that you don’t know what it is.

BarelySentientAI

BonaDea said:

If it turns out not to be, you may feel slightly silly but don't worry about that. 

If it turns out not to be, then you have wasted emergency services time because you had a design of thermostat you hadn't seen before and thought that was worth a police response.

Get someone trusted and competent to pop the front cover off.  Or turn it up and see if the heating comes on.

Call the police if you actually find something.

JustBee said:

I don't have the heating on, it's not cold enough. There's a click when it's turned up but no red light appears in that dot at all. Probably I'd need to turn the heating on eh! I'm not likely to run to the police for anything. I like hard evidence so the installation of a camera is the way to go because a particular item I look at before I leave the flat everytime I leave because it's pretty absolutely could not move the way this had been moved without someone physically touching it.

I have OCD, I know how I leave my stuff and I've been taking photos everyday since just to add for some of my peace of mind.

A much more sensible response.

Grumpy_chap

JustBee said:

I don't have the heating on, it's not cold enough. There's a click when it's turned up but no red light appears in that dot at all. Probably I'd need to turn the heating on eh! 

If it clicks when it passes through the current temperature, that does sound like a genuine thermostats.
To set your mind at ease, can you turn the heating on and repeat the temperature up / down adjustment to see whether the light illuminates?
It will only take a few minutes and the heating can then be turned back off again so there should be no energy cost really used in doing this.

The camera sounds like a good idea.  If it never shows anything, you have peace of mind.  If it shows something, you can then consider what the next steps need to be.

ThisIsWeird

As Grumpy says, it may be that your electric heating was not actually powered up, so 'clicking' the thermostat would not have made the indicator light come on.

Do you know how to operate your heating? It'll likely have a timer on it so it can be set to come on, say, in the morning, and then in the evening. See if you can find this timer/programmer, manually override it to make it come on now, and then try clicking the 'stat.

Chances are, a light will appear.