Legally can I enter the tenants home?

Question

I am a landlord and in our lease it states I can enter the premesis for any reason with 24 hours notice. She is denying me entry. She says I harass her ect. I have belongings stored in the basement I am never ALLOWED to access either. I have her 5 days to pick from this week to be home for me to enter when our lease just says I have to give 24 hours notice. Can I legally enter and inspect the premises with her there or not? What is the legal way to serve the 24 hour notice?

This tenant is nothing but hassle!

Answer 1

As a landord, here is how you LEGALLY deal with clients like that.

1.  If worse comes to worse, take a witness with you and take a dated picture of when you put the notice on her door AND call from a cell phone and leave her a message....a cell phone b/c it leaves a record of when you called....have 2 copies and leave one for your records if they are being difficult

If she doesn't check the message, that isn't your fault, nor is it a requirement.

2.  If the locks are changed, bring a locksmith with you...AND you can access the property.  If she acts like she is getting violent, call the police, she cannot deny you access to your own property....bring along the notice that you gave her the day before.

You can legally take this expense out of her deposit to.

3.  In easier way to do all of this:  File for an eviction based on her violation the lease from destroying your property and denying you access.

You DO NOT need her permission to enter once you have given her notice.

Answer 2

If you did not include this as a part of the rental agreement, you will probably ned to go to the court to get permission to enter.  In the future I'd suggest having that written in.  My mom rented a place where the owner used his garage behind the house, it was included in papers she signed that she must allow him entry into her backyard without requiring notice so he could get into the garage.  That was in California.  It sounds like theres other things going on with the tenant, you may want to see what it would take to evict her.  You may have good reason with her not letting you into your basement area.  

Answer 3

You can phone her or leave a note on the door, but if she's paying rent for the house, you should store your stuff somewhere else. Tenants usually aren't allowed to change locks and lock the landlord out.

Answer 4

Think about it from her point of view.  Why do you have stuff stored there to begin with?  Either rent the property or use it as a storage shed, you shouldn't do both.  If you are calling constantly to access your things I would be upset too.

ETA: Verbal agreements don't qualify as legal agreements.  It has to be noted in her lease.

Answer 5

Give 72 hours notice that you will be by, then go by when she is not home.

You do not need her permission to enter.   But, you have to enter during reasonable hours, not before 7 am or after 8 pm.

Answer 6

NEVER store your stuff in a tenant's place, whether in the actual "living space" or not.

That said you give her 24 hour written notice that you will be doing a general inspection and more specifically the work done that was required.

"This is your 24 hour notice that I will be doing a general walk-through inspection and more specifically the repair work that was done. You are not required to be present but if you have a time on [that day] that is convenient to you we can do it then.

"If no time is convenient I will let myself in with my copy of the key. If the lock was changed I will engage a locksmith to open the door and make a new key for me. You will be charged immediately for this service (most locksmiths will charge about $100)."

Do a professional, effecient job, mindful that tenants often have access to spycams.

Answer 7

You seem to be in a pickle of a situation. You need to talk to an attorney for legal advice. I do not know what State you live in but if your tenant knows you have items stored there and it is in the lease that you can have access to remove or store new items then you have a foot to stand on....... It all goes back to the lease. Nothing verbal will count in court.  

Answer 8

I would take this to court, because this was the agreement, and she should let you. If she's destroying your property, I would turn to legal advice and not yahoo answers.