Landlord

[Jakefrediani]

California. Can my landlord give consent to the police to search my home without a warrant, with or without probable cause, and without consent?

 

[thepizzaguy]

California. Can my landlord give consent to the police to search my home without a warrant, with or without probable cause, and without consent?

He can give all the consent he wants, but the search won't stand up in court.

 

[thepizzaguy]

California. Can my landlord give consent to the police to search my home without a warrant, with or without probable cause, and without consent?

The determination of who has lawful authority to consent to a
search will depend initially on the object of the intended
search. If law enforcement officers want permission to search a
person, then only the person to be searched has the authority to
consent. If, on the other hand, officers desire to search
premises, vehicles, or items of personal property that can be
shared by two or more people, the determination of who may
consent to the search will require an analysis of who has a
fourth amendment right of privacy in the area.9


Because consent is a waiver of the fourth amendment right of
privacy, only an individual with that right of privacy may
consent to a search. The fourth amendment right of privacy,
however, is not a function of ownership. Thus, the fact that an
individual owns an apartment building does not automatically give
this individual a fourth amendment right of privacy in a rented
apartment that he can waive by consent.


Rather than ownership, the courts look for lawful access and
control when determining authority to consent. If individuals
share access and control over an area, there is common authority
to consent to search of that area.10

source http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/1996/aug967.txt

 

[CdwJava]

California. Can my landlord give consent to the police to search my home without a warrant, with or without probable cause, and without consent?

What, exactly, happened?

I can think of many ways that such consent would be unlawful, and more than a few where it would be lawful. It depends on the details.

- Carl

 

[Jakefrediani]

California. The cops were suspicious that there might be drugs in my house which there are not and they could not get a warrant. They asked my landlord for consent and he told them ok and they entered. They searched the house and seized my perscription medication for ADD. I finally got it back but did my landlord have the authority to give consent to search the appartment without my knowledge?

 

[CdwJava]

Ws the landlord already there for a lawful prupose? Does he live there?

if the landlord does not reside at the residence - and the officers knew that - then they should never have entered based on his permission.

But, if there was some other exigency that justified the entry (or if you or another resident are on probation or parole) then the entry would likely be okay.

- Carl

 

[Jakefrediani]

thanks.....i will be contacting a lawyer beacuse the search was not legal

 

[CdwJava]

I'm not sure there's a big enough case to interest an attorney, but you can certainly ask around. This is the type of thing that might get you $5k to $10k of "go away" money in an out of court settlement (most going to an attorney), if there is any merit to it at all.

- Carl