Landlord gave 24 hour notice

Question

the landlord (unless an emergency) gives 24 hour notice to enter the unit for inspections. (that way we know in case we aren't home that someone entered our house) the notice was delivered 07.29.08 with a smoke detector inspection date of 08.01.08. no one ever showed up on the first. today, i wake at some point to a smoke alarm and my 13 year old says there are testing smoke detectors. they asked if we were home and to get one of us. he stated i was sleeping and wasn't going to bother me. they told him why they were here and he told them to just come in and do it. since they did this without notice, could this be an invasion of privacy issue? can a 13 year old give authorization to enter a unit for anything to be done? (repair, inspection, etc) it appears they have violated the lease. what recourse could there be from this?

Answer 1

Anyone in the home may allow entry into the residence. Legally (in most cases) they must give a 24 hour notice before coming into the residence unless there is an emergency. If you agree to let them in at the time they make the notice, that is also acceptable. I would simply ask them to phone you next time before coming over. If you really want to press the issue, you will need to take him to court and probably won't have much luck.

Answer 2

I'm not positive but because a 13 yr old let them in they may be able to say they had consent to enter.

I have a problem with my landlord entering without ANY notice. After several times he did this i went to the police station and filed a report. A investigator contacted him and told him of the report and that there has to be a notice given prior to enetring. You may want to check you local & state laws on this issue.

Answer 3

As a landlord, I would have continued my inspection also.  I had permission to enter and your son decided not to "bother" you. Your 13 yr old certainly knows right from wrong and obviously didnt think it would be a problem with you.  The time to say anything to your son AND the landlord was at the time you got up and went out to see what was going on.  However, I would have made sure you were woken up.  This is not invasion of privacy, nor against the law.  He had permission to enter with you being home.

However, I agree with the fact that he should have notified you again of the date of inspection, since he missed the first one, but They did not void the contract, they had permission to enter.

Answer 4

I think you need an adult there for anything, repairs, inspection, anything.

Answer 5

Let it go. Choose your battles

Answer 6

No, 13 yr olds can not give authorization.  They should have left and came back at a later time that same day.

Answer 7

Invasion of privacy would be a little far fetched since you really have no damages.  They didn't take anything from you, they didn't kick you out.  That is a constitutional argument, and you wouldn't get much for that kind of argument anyway.

What this is is trespassing.  That's a civil tort.  They gave notice for the first, and entered on a different day.  However, again, your damages are small, so filing in court wouldn't get you much.  Probably no more than nominal damages (maybe $1, so that the judge could give you a note saying you win your case) but it costs money to file (usually at least $25, depending on where you live). So it's not worth it yet.

I would write a letter stating your grievances, saying that although they gave notice to enter, it was not for the day they came in and that is trespassing. Say in the letter than in future they do not have permission to enter without notice and without your consent, your 13 year old son cannot give consent. Make everything very clear. Also make it clear that if they enter without your permission again, you will file a police report for trespassing.  Their intent was not to invade your privacy, it was to ensure your safety, but this will make it clear they have to do it legally in future.

Answer 8

this is hard to answer without knowing where you live. statutes vary state to state and country to country. try this...

http://www.thelpa.com/lpa/lllaw.html

try this site. i live in ohio too and i've had the worst luck with landlords! i had former jerk landlords come in my apt. all the time when i was home to "repair" things i asked to be repaired months ago. i used to come home and knew someone was in my apt. i had money and paper work come up missing!!! try this site and good luck!

http://www.dayton-ombudsman.org/llt.htm

Answer 9

By the law, your LL is required to give you another 24 hours notice if he has to come another day for inspection unless the notice say the inspection will be done any time from 8/1 to 8/5. After serving the notice, it's your choice to being there or not during the inspection time.

As we know, nobody is perfect even LL sometimes will make mistakes. Kindly tell your LL what your expectation and get a verbal agreement from him. If you're too harsh he may be harsh to you when you make a mistake. There's no reason to ruin your relationship with him just over this.

Answer 10

Your 13 year old took responsibility. Looks like your trying to cause trouble........your recourse........move.......