RESOLUTION:

[toodleskitty.livejournal.com]

===

Isn't there a law that says a landlord cannot enter your apartment without your permission unless he smells gas or something?

I just got an email from my landlord letting me know he replaced all the batteries in the smoke alarms and then he let me know some stuff he needs to fix. He never let me know he was going in my apartment before hand. I am not aware of when he does his annual replacing of batteries... He lives on the first floor. Because he lives in the house itself, does that make a difference?



Thank you.


===

I wrote:

(Landlordy),

I'm all set. I don't need to see you tonight.

I just want to thank you for taking care of the batteries for me. Could you let me know in advance next time though? I'd feel better if I had a chance to clean up a bit. I'm a little horrified at what you possibly witnessed. I didn't even make my bed this morning!


Thanks,
(me)

---

He wrote:

I understand. Of course I can let you know in the future, it's just that I had a half day (for other reasons) and realized that I had a window of time to take care of it.
Besides, your place wasn't that bad, believe me! You should see how our tenants that we're evicting live! No worries.


---

RESOLVED!

Thank you all so much for your great insights. MUCH appreciated!


Take care,
Abby

Comments

[curly-chick.livejournal.com]

By law, a landlord must give you at least 24 hours notice before entering your apartment, even if he or she lives in the same dwelling or even if she or he is doing something "nice" like fixing your smoke alarms.

[toodleskitty.livejournal.com]

Seriously? Because I'm going to confront him on this and I want it to be in person and not email. If this is iron-clad, true I need to know.

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

You might want to wait until you calm down to talk to him. I know it's not like anyone likes their privacy invaded, but no one likes to be yelled at as well. Considering you live in close proximity, you don't want to do anything to make the situation worse or to not get renewed next year. Of course, it might be that I jealous that you actually have a helpful landlord. In my years in Davis, I never had a landlord who fixed anything.

BTW, I know that curly_chick is right, but I think the standard lease agreement has some language in it as well.

[nuns.livejournal.com]

When you confront the landlord, it might be better to start off with just asking for notice in advance rather than shooting right to legalities. Most people will be reasonable about privacy stuff as long as you are flexible about letting them in to do necessary work; but people are far less inclined to reason when accused of crimes (even if they have committed crimes). Chances are good it never occurred to your landlord that you would mind.

I might open with "hey thanks for taking care of those batteries for me! Could you let me know in advance next time though? I'd feel better if I had a chance to clean up a bit..."

[toodleskitty.livejournal.com]

AWESOME advice! Thanks!

[tisana.livejournal.com]

Having done it the wrong way around and gotten one very defensive landlady, let me second this.

no time limit set

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

From the state webpage (http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocaterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Consumer&L2=Housing+Information&L3=Tenant+%26+Landlord&sid=Eoca&b=terminalcontent&f=tenants_rights_and_responsibilities&csid=Eoca):
Tenants’ rights
Rights Against Unlawful Entry

Your landlord, or an agent for your landlord, may only enter your apartment for the following reasons:

* To inspect the premises;
* To make repairs;
* To show the apartment to a prospective tenant, purchaser, mortgagee or its agents;
* In accordance with a court order;
* If the premises appear to be abandoned; or
* To inspect the premises within the last 30 days of tenancy in order to determine the amount of damage to be deducted from the security deposit.

The landlord should be reasonable and attempt to arrange a mutually convenient time to visit the apartment. If the landlord insists on entering your apartment in an unreasonable fashion, you may file for a temporary restraining order at your local district court (M.G.L. c. 186, §§ 14 and 15B).

In short, what does your lease say?

Re: no time limit set

[toodleskitty.livejournal.com]

Gotta check when I get home...

Re: no time limit set

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

http://tenantlawcenter.com/articles/NoticeReq.htm

shows no notice.
Sorry to give you bad news, but, you may be in luck if your agreement says otherwise.

Re: no time limit set

[toodleskitty.livejournal.com]

I just sent him this email:


(Landlordy),

I'm all set. I don't need to see you tonight.

I just want to thank you for taking care of the batteries for me. Could you let me know in advance next time though? I'd feel better if I had a chance to clean up a bit. I'm a little horrified at what you possibly witnessed. I didn't even make my bed this morning!


Thanks,
(me)


==============

Re: no time limit set

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Always better to try nice, before confrontational, which is something I usually forget.

Re: no time limit set

[toodleskitty.livejournal.com]

I've learned the hard way. ;-)

Re: no time limit set

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

As a landlord who lives downstairs from my tenants, I agree with the above sentiments. Some of my tenants are all --- "go for it" so it's easy to forget and realize not everyone wants his/her life out for the landlord to see.

But I did go ahead and change the batteries in your "friend", just to be nice.

My apartments were much more fun when they were full of young single girls. {sigh}

Re: no time limit set

[toodleskitty.livejournal.com]

LOL

You rock! A landlord with a sense of humor is a must!

[toodleskitty.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

the law does not say that.

[curly-chick.livejournal.com]

The statute that you quoted does not require a 24 hour notice period. However, subsequent case law has said that reasonable notice, absent a contrary provision in your lease, is generally twenty four hours notice. That being said, being reasonable before becoming all legal is probably the best route to go.

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

I don't think this is true. Do you have any citations on this? My last lease stated that the landlord could enter as needed. I had a real estate broker come in while I was in my underwear and learned about the law that way -- apparently they can enter if it says so in your lease. You should check your lease before you yell at the landlord.

[toodleskitty.livejournal.com]

Please see the resolution I wrote above.

Thanks for your concern though. He had to fix some things and he gave me ample notice this time. :)

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Legally, you are supposed to get 24-hours notice. But, wow, a proactive landlord who fixes things without being asked? I'm a little jealous!

[toodleskitty.livejournal.com]

Normally, I would be thrilled but I had a zillian pairs of underwear drying in the bathroom, dishes in the sink, my bed wasn't made, dirty underwear on my bedroom floor (yes, I realize I am describing a ridiculous amount of underwear), something out in the open for MY eyes only in my bedroom, and affirmation messages to myself tacked to the walls...

I'm horrified... None of this is any of his business!

okay

[cthulhia]

so, how much underwear do you have?

*ducks*

Re: okay

[toodleskitty.livejournal.com]

I try and wash them every night. I put on a pair for day and I'll wear a different pair with my pajamas at night.

I just counted them in my head and I have eleven pairs of undies.

Re: okay

[nungnung.livejournal.com]

Wait...you can count your undies in your head? Color me impressed!

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

The law in question (http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/186-15b.htm).

You are correct, a landlord cannot enter your apartment without your permission except in a few instances. One of these is to "make repairs", though, which I think replacing smoke alarm batteries (which he is obligated by law to have and maintain) falls under.

Another is to "inspect the premises". Given that he let you know a list of stuff he needs to fix, I think this definitely falls under that category.

As far as notification goes, there is no requirement for that written into the law.

I think speaking to him after you calm down a bit is the best idea, just politely asking that he let you know before he is going to enter the apartment to make the repairs he mentioned.

[xuth.livejournal.com]

As it was stated above, that under case law, barring emergencies, the landlord needs to give 24 hours notice as part of that arranging a mutually convenient time.

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

Can you give a reference for that?

The only thing I found was a vague paragraph saying the landlord had to make a "reasonable" attempt at notifying the tenant beforehand, but even that did not give a specific reference.

[xuth.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, When I moved to MA about 5 years ago and was looking at the various MA tennant guides, at least several of them said that the Right Against Unlawful Entry was interpretted to include giving 24 hour notice. Now all of the guides that I can find seem to be a reformatting some common text that says "The landlord should be "reasonable." S/He should attempt to arrange a mutually convenient time to visit the apartment." Since I can't see a reasonable way of arranging a mutually agreed upon time without either:

• at least allowing 24 hours to respond if you don't get a hold of the tenant immediately and
• the tenant should certainly be able to offer the option of tomorrow instead of today if the tenant is available immediately.

On the other hand this isn't written into MGL either and I don't know of any good way of searching case law to find what the guides are basing this on.

[dominika-kretek.livejournal.com]

I think you're misreading the statute. I think that list is not a list of times when a landlord is allowed to enter your apartment, but an exhaustive list of the things that are allowed to be put in a lease to grant a landlord certain rights to enter your apartment. So, for example, if your landlord put a term in your lease that said "Landlord can enter when tenant leaves their TV on" it would be unenforceable.

I could be wrong, but I suspect that if there is no language saying when a landlord can enter your apartment, your landlord can never enter your apartment. (Unless it's specified in the lease, your landlord doesn't even have a right to a key.)

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

You are correct. I misread the first part of the statute.

I would guess that the original poster's lease includes something about allowing the landlord entry for repairs, etc.