Private property rights violated?

[Letmeout]

What is the name of your state? MI

Should the city be allowed to enter a home without the owners permission?

A tenant wanted to break their lease after less than 17 days in the home. I think they were unhappy with living in a single-family home and wanted an apartment. I said I would not sue them for the remaining portion of the lease beyond their security deposit. The tenant was unhappy with this. I told them to vacate the home at the end of the month. They remained in the home one day later. On the day they moved out, the tenant had invited the local city inspectors over to the house, probably in retaliation for not releasing their deposit. The home was already vacant at this point. Four city inspectors went through the home finding various violations, most not very serious, some requiring the installation of new fire controls to meet existing standards. The city made no effort to contact the owner, or call the agent listed on the real estate sign out front and knew the tenant no longer lived there. Should the city be allowed to access a home under these circumstances?What is the name of your state?

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by Letmeout

Should the city be allowed to access a home under these circumstances?

Yes*******

[kornball]

Were any of these violations on a list you had prior to their inspection to be corrected?

Did you have prior knowledge of the existing structure and that it was in violation of the current standards?

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by kornball

Were any of these violations on a list you had prior to their inspection to be corrected?

Did you have prior knowledge of the existing structure and that it was in violation of the current standards?

Totally irrelevant to the question at hand. The city inspectors have wide ranging powers.
OP - exactly which city did this take place in?

[Alaska landlord]

Your tenants must have let them in. Regardless, your mistake was to let your tenants know that they would not be getting their deposit back. I always ask where I can mail the deposit and surprise them later with a full account of all the charges and deductions.

[Silverplum]

Originally Posted by Alaska landlord

I always ask where I can mail the deposit and surprise them later with a full account of all the charges and deductions.

If you weren't "Alaska" landlord, I'd think you just might be my Dad.

[Alaska landlord]

Thank you son.

[ecmst12]

You can still surprise them with a lawsuit for rent until you are able to re-rent the space. You tried to do them a favor and they didn't appreciated, no reason to keep being nice!

[acmb05]

Originally Posted by Letmeout

What is the name of your state? MI

Should the city be allowed to enter a home without the owners permission?

A tenant wanted to break their lease after less than 17 days in the home. I think they were unhappy with living in a single-family home and wanted an apartment. I said I would not sue them for the remaining portion of the lease beyond their security deposit. The tenant was unhappy with this. I told them to vacate the home at the end of the month. They remained in the home one day later. On the day they moved out, the tenant had invited the local city inspectors over to the house, probably in retaliation for not releasing their deposit. The home was already vacant at this point. Four city inspectors went through the home finding various violations, most not very serious, some requiring the installation of new fire controls to meet existing standards. The city made no effort to contact the owner, or call the agent listed on the real estate sign out front and knew the tenant no longer lived there. Should the city be allowed to access a home under these circumstances?What is the name of your state?

Or maybe they just did not want to live some where where obvious violations of the city codes were and with a landlord who would not fix them

[Letmeout]

Alaska Landlord, that is great advice. I was actually trying to do that, but they forced the issue prior to moving out.

Acmb05

This is a $70,000 house that I invested $12,000 in, so you can criticize me for being stupid given current real estate conditions but not for not taking care of the house.

Here is an example of the "code violations."

Violation: Provide a safe and dry access to crawl space.

They site PM code: Structural Members: The supporting structural members of every structure shall be maintained structurally sound, and be capable of supporting the imposed loads.

1. how is that relevant to what they cited?

2. There is a crawl space access, they just didn't see it.

Others are similar to this.

[acmb05]

Originally Posted by Letmeout

Alaska Landlord, that is great advice. I was actually trying to do that, but they forced the issue prior to moving out.

Acmb05

This is a $70,000 house that I invested $12,000 in, so you can criticize me for being stupid given current real estate conditions but not for not taking care of the house.

Here is an example of the "code violations."

Violation: Provide a safe and dry access to crawl space.

They site PM code: Structural Members: The supporting structural members of every structure shall be maintained structurally sound, and be capable of supporting the imposed loads.

1. how is that relevant to what they cited?

2. There is a crawl space access, they just didn't see it.

Others are similar to this.

And evidently it was not safe and dry.

As far as the other you mentioned, have you looked at the supporting structural members? Are they in bad shape or some of them?

How exactly did they look at the supporting structural members if they did not see the access for under the house.

[acmb05]

Originally Posted by Letmeout

Acmb05

This is a $70,000 house that I invested $12,000 in, so you can criticize me for being stupid given current real estate conditions but not for not taking care of the house.

So what I just put 60K into a house and still it did not pass electrical inspection. I had to go back and change a few things. Just because you put money into it does not mean it is safe.

Now that being said, unless they found bad enough problems to condemn the house the tenants still owe you for the remainder of the lease and i would do what was suggested and take them to court for it.

[Letmeout]

acmb..you said

Or maybe they just did not want to live some where where obvious violations of the city codes were and with a landlord who would not fix them

I'm pointing out to you this was not the case. At one point this tenant told me I was the best landlord they ever had, they told tenants viewing the house I was great and the house was fine. They had no problems until they found out they may not receive their deposit back. I had the house inspected when I bought it for anything unsafe and did my best to maintain the property, including same day service for this tenant on a slow drain at a cost of $150 to have it snaked. I think this person just found renting a single-family home to be overwhelming.

Also this is the violation:

Violation: Provide a safe and dry access to crawl space.

And this is the code they cite for the violation:

Structural Members: The supporting structural members of every structure shall be maintained structurally sound, and be capable of supporting the imposed loads.

How is the above code relevant to the violation?

[acmb05]

Originally Posted by Letmeout

acmb..you said

Or maybe they just did not want to live some where where obvious violations of the city codes were and with a landlord who would not fix them

I'm pointing out to you this was not the case. At one point this tenant told me I was the best landlord they ever had, they told tenants viewing the house I was great and the house was fine. They had no problems until they found out they may not receive their deposit back. I had the house inspected when I bought it for anything unsafe and did my best to maintain the property, including same day service for this tenant on a slow drain at a cost of $150 to have it snaked. I think this person just found renting a single-family home to be overwhelming.

Also this is the violation:

Violation: Provide a safe and dry access to crawl space.

And this is the code they cite for the violation:

Structural Members: The supporting structural members of every structure shall be maintained structurally sound, and be capable of supporting the imposed loads.

How is the above code relevant to the violation?

They are saying it does not meet code so it was not a safe access point.

I know you are frustrated but it matters not what you did before what matters now is that codes enforcement found problems and you have to fix it.

You can also do as suggested and take them to court after you re rent the place and make them pay for all lost rent plus advertising fees and any other fees you incur

[Alaska landlord]

Ignore ACMB05 with him it's always the LL's fault.