Are there rules governing inspections by landlords?

[TMF610]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[STEPHAN]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[adjusterjack]

In addition to the state please explain the situation that you are in that gives rise to the question.

 

[TMF610]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

Missouri

I apologize. It seems my text didn't save after I previewed it last night. I'll do my best to incorporate everything I had before.

I live in a complex that receives funds from MHDC. I was told when I signed my lease that we have a few inspections each year -- one for MHDC and one or two for investors. The first year wasn't a problem. Since October 2015, we have had 6 inspections and 3 of those have been since December 21st 2016. The one on the 21st was for the manager and maintenance to note anything that needed repaired and make sure the tenants were taking care of the property. The manager raved over how clean my place was and even went so far as to ask me how I keep such a clean microwave and fridge with kids in the house. When I received my "to-do list" for our follow-up inspection on the 28th, she noted my microwave and fridge needed to be cleaned. I didn't touch either item. She'd told me I was "in the clear" and thanked me for maintaining the place, especially since we have pets (2 emotional support dogs for my kids). When she arrived at my apartment on the 28th, I asked her why she had noted the two kitchen items when she'd told me I had nothing I needed to do. She said, "If I remember correctly, there WAS something, or else I wouldn't have noted it." I told her she was more than welcome to look and informed her I had not cleaned them since she'd been there. She looked and then said, "Oh, I must have you confused with someone else." Seriously?

I understand things need to be clean and free from filth and clutter, but I think this woman is taking things too far. She gave a woman with a special needs child a lease violation because of the toys in her house. The tenant took photographs before the manager arrived because she is also involved with a case worker and wanted to make sure she had her bases covered. All toys were organized in tubs, save for the bigger ones. Everything was neatly placed along the wall, away from the middle of the floors and major traffic areas. The manager cited her for "dirty home and multiple trip hazards." Considering the tenant has a case worker in her home 2-3 times a week for her son, the case worker would have already done something if there were issues such as the manager stated. This young mom has nowhere else to go and the toys are necessities for her child as they provide stimulation for him.

Other tenants have said she was opening dresser drawers upon entering bedrooms and she also poked through the closet in my room when she entered. I've already had to fight this company using Legal Aid. They tried to evict me over my ESAs. Although I had done everything the right way and filled out the appropriate paperwork with the previous manager, she apparently never put the papers in my file. I really don't want to have to use legal action again, but I will if I have to. There are young couples. single parents, and senior citizens in this complex. None of us can really afford to live elsewhere, but it's becoming a hassle to live here.

On January 5th, we received a notice telling us we were having another inspection on the 9th. This time, corporate office came down to inspect the apartments. Someone else conducted my inspection and nitpicked every little thing. I keep a clean home, as stated above, but this woman was writing down things like "I found dog hair on her couch" or "dust on the edge of the buffet." Mind you, I had dusted the day before and vaccum at least twice a day due to the dogs. I asked her if this was our MHDC inspection and she said that one was scheduled for the 20th of this month and there might actually be ANOTHER inspection prior to that. That would make 5 inspections in 30 days.

Is this legal? Can we deny access to our apartments for any reason? If so, what? When is enough enough?

 

[FarmerJ]

You know either they really do know exactly what they are doing and don't give a crap OR they truly have their heads up in the sunless place. Document over and over again and each time they write about housekeeping issues have pictures available for your records and protest their report findings via certified mail and mention in your letter that courts might find that them looking inside your closets is abusive & plan on having a nanny cam to monitor entry to your apartment and tell your neighbors they should plan on taking video of them by being ready to get it should this inspections person ever open drawers again. On your end of things id say should you quietly treat all business with them as if you were preparing for a eventual court problem , then in the end if there ever is such a problem you would be able to show the courts your history with them. BTW as to the microwave oven If it was my personal property Id love to know what reason they would offer as to why they would look in it ( hint next time have a Barbie type doll in the microwave doing something super odd like being in a hangmans noose or in position with a tiny toy axe at the neck of another Barbie and plan on taking a video of them opening it if they did. BTW last do any of your larger cities have so called city owned public housing and if they did Im wondering if you can get from them for your records should you ever need to have it guidelines of things that inspection type tours can and cant do? reason being is that city owned public housing authorities would be much more aware of what they cant do since they likely had been around a lot longer than non city owned lower income properties.

 

[TMF610]

Don't want to poke the bear

BTW as to the microwave oven If it was my personal property Id love to know what reason they would offer as to why they would look in it ( hint next time have a Barbie type doll in the microwave doing something super odd like being in a hangmans noose or in position with a tiny toy axe at the neck of another Barbie and plan on taking a video of them opening it if they did.

Stove, fridge, microwave, and dishwasher all belong to the complex. I'm pretty sure I don't want to piss them off by doing something like this. Like I said in my original post, they don't like me already due to the ESA issue we've had with them.

 

[FarmerJ]

You may have to consider moving to get this nonsense to stop , some landlords really do get a so called `im g_d complex` and think every thing they do is okay when it is not. but do keep detailed records / paper trails with them and consider adding nanny cams and video recording them the next time they are there even if you do not tell them you are recording them since its your home , you are free to record all activity with in the walls of the space you pay for.

 

[TMF610]

Thank you

You may have to consider moving to get this nonsense to stop , some landlords really do get a so called `im g_d complex` and think every thing they do is okay when it is not. but do keep detailed records / paper trails with them and consider adding nanny cams and video recording them the next time they are there even if you do not tell them you are recording them since its your home , you are free to record all activity with in the walls of the space you pay for.

Thank you. For the most part, I'm pretty thorough. I keep all notices/announcements from the landlord in a file. I also turned on my voice recorder when they were here for the last inspection. Next time, I'll use video. I communicate with the landlord through email, too. That is what really saved me with the ESA situation. She tried to play dumb and act like she knew nothing about the fact they were ESAs and not "just pets" as she calls them.

 

[adjusterjack]

The landlord tenant statutes of most states address and/or restrict the landlord's right of entry.

Unfortunately, MO has no such statutory provision:

http://law.justia.com/codes/missouri/2015/title-xxix/chapter-441/

If you googled the topic for MO you will find (as I did) many websites explaining the landlord's right of entry but none that I find cite any authority for those comments.

I did, however, find one site that says the following for MO:

A landlord has no inherent right to enter his tenant’s dwelling unit. The essence of the lease is that it transfers the right of occupancy from the landlord to the tenant. This right of occupancy is what the tenant pays for when he pays his rent. In connection with this right is an implied or explicit covenant of quiet enjoyment of the premises, which binds the landlord to leave the tenant to hold the premises in peace for the term for which the premises are let to him.

In the absence of a statute, which most states have, permitting the landlord a right to enter under specified circumstances, the parties may contract to confer this right on the landlord as a condition of tenancy. Keep in mind, also, that there may be rules pertaining to a landlord’s right to enter the dwelling unit related to rent control, if the landlord’s property is covered by it.

For the sake of retention of one’s tenants and the avoidance of strife during tenancy, the keys to exercise of the right to entry are as follows. 1. Enter as infrequently as possible. 2. Always give ample notice and, if possible, allow rescheduling of the entry at least once to accommodate the tenant. 3. Always enter with a clearly defined objective in mind, and notify the tenant of it unless there is a strong reason not to do so.

A tenant must recognize that the landlord has entrusted a serious portion of his net worth to him for use as his residence. Even if there are no obvious repairs, it is important for a landlord to view his property from time to time, say, twice a year, perhaps to do occasional routine maintenance that might not be obvious, or even just to ensure that there are no small problems that threaten to become large ones if not tended to early on. The covenant of quiet enjoyment is meant to protect a tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment of the benefit of the rental agreement, not to enforce a landlord’s neglect of his property.

http://www.landlord.com/landlord_right_of_entry_by_state.htm#MISSOURI:_

So, the next question is: What does your lease say about the landlord's right of entry?

If there is such a provision please quote it word for word for further analysis.