At the apartment I live in we used to have 3 security gates. Lower class people have moved in the building and security is not their first concern. The owner or manager puts new locks every 3 months or so, but they get taken off in about a day or so, the entire lock. There are people in this building and across the back alleyway who sell drugs and I think the gates are a way for them to get back and forth.

I am glad I will not be living there too much longer but I don't think the manager has a clue how to prevent this. The door has not been changed, I think they weld the lock on because around the lock the paint is charred.

They took off the lock last night so I had to stand out in the dark for 30 minutes while I called my brother to open the front gate.

Also the managers don't care whether you have a key or not. They will change the lock and not even tell anyone. So for me when I get off work at midnight and come home and if nobody is home I have to wait till someone comes with a key or hope that someone propped the door open. Also you get people in the building who never have keys. They have no problem screaming at the top of their lungs for someone to come open the door, no matter what time of the night it is.

These two statements appear to be contradictory. If 'they' remove the 'entire' lock, how can you be locked out and need to call your brother to get in? Just wondering.

There are (expensive) locks available that are more resistant to tampering. You didn't say if the lock was a deadbolt or lockset (doorknob). I question the welding theory because it would be difficult to weld an cheaper lock onto metal and if successfully so, it would be very difficult to remove the lock, without a torch or much, much effort. I can't tell you the last time I saw a lock welded to its mount.

It's a good thing that you'll only be there a short time. It seems that the owner isn't taking your security very seriously. That attitude can be changed when Mr/Mrs owner gets sued for neglecting to provide a minimum level of security or reasonable access to your apartment.

The strikeplate and bolt was still there, and the mechanism that you need to turn it. You could stick your finger in the space where the knob used to be and get the bolt to retract. And the front lock was different so we could not get in.

I took from the 'entire' description that the lock, including the bolt was removed. I can see where you would have trouble retracting the bolt with your fingers. Hopefully Mr/Mrs owner will fix it soon. I can see all kinds of liability issues with non-functioning locks in-place.

The photos show there there was no lock welding done. Interesting steel collar around the knob, presumably on the outside of the gate. I guess that was to protect the knob from being tampered with.

I'm willing to bet that the knob lock that was on the gate was an el cheapo, destined to fail under hard use.

They put a new lock on. I wonder how long it will last. I say it will be gone in 3 days.

I'm curious as to how the installed the lock to prevent theft or tampering. Did the shield the mounting screws in any way or use tamper-resistant screws?