Please don't enter my apartment, Mr. Landlord!

As a building manager, you might own a rental apartment, but once an occupant begins living there, you can’t enter the building any time you would like to. The fact of the matter is, occupant privacy rights are very speciically watched over, even though the legalities are diferent from state to state. This holds true even if you don’t have a written residential lease agreement.

 

But, while there are variances in the manner every state looks out for tenants’ rights, there are some overall boundaries that apply in nearly all circumstances.

Even though the rental lease agreement says that the building manager can have unlimited accessibility to the property, the building manager has to supply adequate

advanced notice, either in writing or verbally, that she wants to enter the property and the reason for entering. If it is not an emergency, the two circumstances for entering are to ix something or to display the property to a potential occupant.

“Reasonable notice” is most of the time understood to demonstrate that the occupant is given adequate preparation to vacate the property if they decide to, or at least not be surprised by a humiliating circumstance.

There happens to be another valuable thing to make note of involving advanced notice. Although you have notiied the occupant you may be entering, you do not have the ability to go into the apartment any time of day or night unless it happens to be a genuine crisis. To go in whenever you want would violate the renter’s right to the “quiet enjoyment” of the property, and the renter’s right to have full dominion over the unit. If a building manager takes away these rights by consistently coming into the building with his or her own keys and without posting notice, the occupant may ile a lawsuit provided he or she can demonstrate tenants have sufered damages because of this landlord. This, for example, applies if the occupant works out of his or her apartment, and the apartment manager’s entering has resulted in the occupant not being able to complete work.

Having the knowledge to know when you as building manager are able to go into a property is not as challenging as it might appear. Here’s how it’s explained:

1) If it is a blatant crisis such as ire coming out of the property, the building manager must enter and the occupant would not be able to complain.

2) If it is a substantial repair, but not a crisis such as replacing a broken appliance, the building manager should be able to enter, though the occupant does have some say as to the timing of the job.

3) If it is to display the property to a potential occupant, here is where the occupant has the most say, and the building manager will have to understand the tenant’s rights when setting up a time to show the property. You might want to lay out the rules for entering in your rental lease agreement.

Every state may have varying requirements regarding how the building manager can enter the leased apartment. So what is the ideal way to make sure you don’t get taken to court for ignoring a renter’s right to privacy? Have a rental lease agreement that clarifies when the building manager is allowed to gain entry, and be familiar with your state’s privacy laws and regulations. Google your State Attorney General’s office or Consumer Protection Agency to learn about occupant privacy laws.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Author Stirling Gardner is a writer and property management expert. He consults for EZ Landlord Forms.com, an online resource for state-specific residential lease agreement and eviction notices.