Problems with Jenny in Bouwel
As owners of both the Astrid apartments in Mechelen and the Mathilda apartments in Bouwel, my brother and I have experienced quite a lot over the years. But this story stands head and shoulders above the rest. Read here how a simple LED light strip helped us unmask tenants who were misusing our properties under different names.
It began with a booking via Booking.com from a certain Jenny, for two people in our M3-Mathilda apartment in Bouwel. She properly paid the first week’s rent through the platform and then asked if she could stay longer, directly through us to avoid booking fees. That didn’t seem unusual to us. Initially, little stood out: Jenny behaved like a normal tenant, although we rarely saw her. It was only when we wanted to do the weekly maintenance and cleaning – something that is standard for all our apartments – that we began to smell a rat.
Jenny came up with all sorts of excuses why cleaning wasn’t convenient. She valued her privacy, said she would clean herself, and used her own bedding and towels because of sensitive skin. After insisting, we were finally allowed in for an inspection. What we found was an unpleasant surprise: the apartment was full of mess, the sofa covers had been removed as if they were being used elsewhere, and there were vague paint marks on the walls, as if someone had been painting. When we confronted Jenny with this, she gave a confused explanation: her children would have been visiting and had made a mess, but she would solve it herself. Because we can’t just barge in and had enough work ourselves, we let it slide for a while. Days turned into weeks, payments remained outstanding, and our concerns grew.
The situation deteriorated. Besides the overdue rent and the chaos, we wondered what was really going on. When there was no improvement and Jenny showed increasingly strange behavior, we urgently requested her to leave. During the inspection after her departure, we found adhesive residue on baseboards and other places – traces of LED light strips that she had hung up and then removed to take with her. My brother ran the apartments in Bouwel; I rarely came there and never saw Jenny myself, only the photos of the damage.
Anna in Mechelen and the unmasking
Around that time, a new booking came in for an Astrid apartment in Mechelen, from a certain Anna, for two people for a week. Nothing indicated a link with Jenny: the name was different, the location too, and communication via the booking platform seemed normal. Access was via locker boxes, contact via email, so we welcomed Anna without suspicion. During a routine check, I noticed that the internet connection in her studio had gone down, while the rest of the building was still online. I decided to stop by to check the router and also to see if everything was in order.
After repeated knocking, Anna reluctantly let me in. I assured her that I was only checking the router due to a technical problem. When the door opened, I saw the same chaos as in the photos from Bouwel: scattered clothes, an unmade bed, and a strong smell of cleaning products. Anna and her partner looked nervous and reserved. The router was in a cabinet under a shelf. When I lifted it, I found an LED light strip next to the connection.
It took a while for the puzzle pieces to fall into place. Those strips, the mess, the strange behavior – this couldn’t be a coincidence. I asked outright: “Aren’t you the same people who left our apartment in Bouwel?” They denied it, but their reaction said enough. They were shocked when they realized that both properties were ours. Here they stood, unmasked: the same tenants who had deceived us in Bouwel, now under a different name in Mechelen. The LED light strips had confirmed my suspicions.
Being friendly no longer made sense. In Bouwel, they already owed us rent and compensation for damages, and now it was happening again. I made it clear that this was unacceptable and that they had to leave immediately. I had two names and addresses, but probably neither was real. Since I couldn’t verify their identity, I called the police. At first they protested, but when I said “police,” panic struck. They began gathering their things, drove their car to the door, and hurriedly dragged bags and boxes outside. They even tried to take items that clearly belonged to the apartment.
Fortunately, the police arrived quickly. I explained how they had caused damage and nuisance under the name Jenny in Bouwel and were now in Mechelen under false pretenses. To my surprise, the police already knew them; they were “flagged.” They had to leave everything behind and come along. The car remained fully loaded, the studio in chaos. Later, acquaintances of Jenny came to pick up belongings and offered to clean, which took longer than planned.
Our apartments have security cameras, including in the central entrance hall and the basement. The basement camera turned out to be offline due to a removed battery and cut cables. While cleaning up, we found items from Bouwel and masses of small items from a hotel chain. The damage was substantial: in Bouwel we had to paint walls, cabinets were damaged, and there were burn marks on furniture. In Mechelen it was no different.
Looking back, it’s almost unbelievable how a detail like an LED light strip turned out to be the key to unraveling this whole story.
Nice Girls: a digression in our story
Over the years, we have learned to recognize a pattern: the behavior of what we call the “Nice Girls” – girls who receive men, often for prostitution.
MO: You see someone entering the hall, someone who doesn’t belong there, nervously looking at their screen, waiting to be let in by the guest. About half an hour later, he’s gone again. And if shortly after a new visitor appears and the same scenario repeats itself, then you’ve hit the jackpot. Good chance that a couple of “Nice Girls,” usually in pairs, have rented your apartment.
There are more indications. Often it involves exotic names – Spanish, Portuguese – with an address in their country of origin, but a mobile number from here. That’s an extra red flag. Sometimes they make it very clear: their mobile number is also their WhatsApp, complete with a profile picture that speaks for itself. Add one and one together, and you know what it’s all about. More about Sweet Girls here
That brings us back to Jenny. On the camera footage – specifically from the central entrance hall in the Astrid studio in Mechelen – we saw exactly this happening. At one point, Jenny’s partner left the building, and shortly after, a strange man went inside. A short time later, he was gone again, and her partner returned. This repeated itself multiple times. Unknown men rang the bell, were let in, left after a short time.
