renting privacy

May 9, 2005 1:23 PM

I've been renting an apartment for two years and am moving out when my lease is up at the end of July...

Our landlords (a large realty company) send us at least two notices per week, telling us that our apartment might be shown on a given day or days, within a time frame of six hours. Without any exaggeration here, there are usually three days each week, including Saturday, where the company could stop by with prospective renters--a six hour period for each day. We find this incredibly disruptive. If we want to do anything private, we run the risk of having that interrupted by strangers coming through our house. We live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have read the building code, and have looked at our tenants union website. Nothing clarifies whether or not this is "legal"... I have mentioned to them that it is incredibly disruptive, and basically gotten a "Oh we know, we are sorry" in return. Can anyone tell me if this sounds wacky to them, too? And then what we can do about it? I know we only have three months left to "put up with it" but I think this is an extreme disruption of our privacy.

posted by fabesfaves to law & government (18 comments total)

I meant to say I've read the housing code...
posted by fabesfaves at 1:24 PM on May 9, 2005

Does your lease have any language about when the landlords are allowed into the apartment?
posted by HiddenInput at 1:40 PM on May 9, 2005

I've been through similar stuff with my landlord (in Ann Arbor, even!).

With respect, this is straight from the Ann Arbor Tenant's Union site:


What is "reasonable notice" before entering?

You should set standards for your landlord to follow. Write your landlord a letter making clear your expectations. You might demand one to three days written or verbal advance notice for permission to enter. The landlord's request should state who is entering, at what time, and for what reason. You have the right to be present whenever someone enters and the right to refuse entry.

If it is not an emergency, and your landlord enters without permission or notice, she or he is trespassing. Potential remedies include calling the police at the time the illegal entry occurs and withholding rent the next time it is due. Write a letter explaining that you are withholding rent until the landlord stops entering without permission and agrees to set terms for entering. Keep a copy of this letter. Put your rent money into a savings account until you are able to work out a reasonable agreement and you feel sure your landlord will not violate your privacy. Then negotiate your compensation for the privacy invasions.


Also, if you're a student at UofM, you might consider contacting Student Legal Services.

Don't let your landlord push you around. Document everything.

Best wishes.
posted by funkbrain at 1:44 PM on May 9, 2005

Lock the door; I'm guessing you have a single cylinder Deadbolt, only unlock able from the inside. Say, “guessing”, as it’s a law for the doors her in Texas regarding rental housing. Which is how I kept my landlords out.

What is the policy for entering your apartment for non-emergencies? I’m betting since a proper notice was given nothing.
posted by thomcatspike at 2:00 PM on May 9, 2005

fabes, I've rented in a lot of places, and this seems about par for the course. Agreeing to allow the landlord to show your place after you give notice is probably in the lease. Have you tried asking whether they could have brokers call you when they're actually on the way over with someone to show the place?

They'll probably stop bringing people around once they have a replacement's deposit in the bank, so if you want to speed up the search, put an ad on craigslist and send the replies to your landlord. A quick replacement is about the best you can hope for, IMO.
posted by nyterrant at 2:01 PM on May 9, 2005

With all due respect, nyterrant, I don't think "renting in a lot of places" qualifies you to contradict the advice of the Ann Arbor Tenant's Union.

Agreeing to allow the landlord to show your place after you give notice is probably in the lease.

Probably, although not always. A friend of mine realized that it wasn't in her lease, so she stopped letting the landlords in (especially since they started showing up with zero notice). But in any case, I doubt fabes's lease contains any clauses saying that he has to be ready for the landlords to show up at any time within six hours.

I'll paraphrase my friend's lawyer by saying that control of entry is the essence of a rental agreement.
posted by grouse at 2:16 PM on May 9, 2005

control of entry is the essence of a rental agreement.


Not Texas yet may be similar.
"After a tenant has given notice of termination, a landlord has the right to enter the unit to show it to prospective renters".

After I read the question, the first thought was you should have given your notice at 30 days to keep them out.
posted by thomcatspike at 2:35 PM on May 9, 2005

Have you tried just saying no? Be firm about it. In most municipalities (including, apparently, Ann Arbor), the landlord has no right to enter your apartment except in an emergency. That's what you're paying for. If you want to be less of an asshole, give them a limited window of time during which they can bring people by, but you set the window.

Agreeing to allow the landlord to show your place after you give notice is probably in the lease.

Even if it is, this clause is possibly overridden by the local landlord/tenant law. You can't agree to something that's against the law. Besides, what are they going to do, evict you?
posted by mr_roboto at 2:39 PM on May 9, 2005

The Student Legal Services will help you out even if you are not a UofM student. Ann Arbor Tenants' Union is pretty strong, too. I guess just a mention of those two will be enough to convince your landlord that he should limit his visits to once a week, or give you a call when a broker is on his way. You will most likely not even need to talk to the Union or SLS at all. You do not need to put up with six hour windows two or three times a week.

One annoying thing about large realty companies in Ann Arbor seems to be that they like to say "it's company policy" a lot. I find that asking to speak to the supervisor until you reach someone with enough discretionary power is often necessary.
posted by copperbleu at 2:42 PM on May 9, 2005

thomcatspike, quoting an unnamed source: "After a tenant has given notice of termination, a landlord has the right to enter the unit to show it to prospective renters."

And what exactly is your source for that? Cause it sure isn't the Texas Property Code.
posted by grouse at 3:12 PM on May 9, 2005

Also, the agreement is still in place and its terms should control, even if you send notice that it will be terminated in 30 days.
posted by grouse at 3:13 PM on May 9, 2005

With all due respect, nyterrant, I don't think "renting in a lot of places" qualifies you to contradict the advice of the Ann Arbor Tenant's Union.

I'm not sure what qualifications I need to contradict the good people at the Ann Arbor Tenants Association, but it has been my experience that, regardless of local tenant covenants, these kinds of shenanigans are pretty standard fare. That doesn't mean they can't be challenged, I'm just saying it's what happens.

When I had a landlord who was pulling the same with me, I just kept taking up their time on the phone complaining about it. Eventually they agreed to give me a courtesy call one hour before any showings, and that was that.
posted by nyterrant at 3:18 PM on May 9, 2005

When they show the apartment, they have one of the office staff with the prospective renters, right?

You could try sabotaging them, I suppose, in full view of the management. Let the place be really messy, talk about how the management are a pack of miserable cocksuckers, be rude to the people looking at the place, have loud fights in front of them, if they ask if they were interrupting anything answer bluntly "Yes, we were fucking," and so on, and see if they take the hint and stop showing until you leave. But that would be very rude and un-karmic.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 3:28 PM on May 9, 2005

Before walking around with your genitals hanging out in front of strangers, try a little more firmness in your phone calls to the realty company. If you say you want 48 (or 24, whatever) hours notice, and mention that you'd prefer not to call a lawyer/Better Business Bureau/Tenant's Union/city council members/etc, but will if this reasonable request is not honored, you might see results.

Still, the most immediately relevant document is your lease, as HiddenInput notes. If it doesn't have language about when the landlord can enter, it would be a very unusual lease, in my experience as a lifelong renter.

So, fabesfaves, what does your lease say?
posted by mediareport at 3:54 PM on May 9, 2005

Thanks to all for the helpful suggestions. First, thomcatspike, I did see all of those laws online for Texas. Unfortunately, the same does not exist here in Ann Arbor. We do have a single deadbolt--but that's the only lock on our door, and that means the landlords also have a key. Second, to all who asked about my lease--it's very vague. It says that the tenant authorizes the landlord to enter to show the property for lease, sale, or inspection, but does not have any guidelines listed about this type of entry. It is so frustrating. We are going to call tomorrow and do what nyterrant suggested--coax them into giving us a call before they come by. It makes no sense--they call before they come by to make repairs! We were pushed over the edge when we received a notice today saying that someone could come tomorrow between 3:30 and 5:00. I know that at the very least you have to give your tenant 24 hours notice, and they didn't do that.

To ROU_Xenophobe--we have almost sabotaged their visits--but by accident! That's why we are so concerned..... to be afraid to take a shower or shit or have sex on any given Saturday afternoon is really, REALLY irritating.
posted by fabesfaves at 8:19 PM on May 9, 2005

It says that the tenant authorizes the landlord to enter to show the property for lease, sale, or inspection, but does not have any guidelines listed about this type of entry.

Dang, that's too bad. You might want to make sure the next lease you sign has that kind of clear language built in - at least 24 hours notice, etc. Again, it's not an unusual thing to find in a lease, in my experience, and just makes sense to ask for.
posted by mediareport at 6:56 AM on May 10, 2005

And what exactly is your source for that? Cause it sure isn't the Texas Property Code.
Sheesh didn't think to link the Texas site. Can't find it but here is one that adds more to the list too.
* showing apartment to prospective residents (after move-out or vacate notice has been given)
posted by thomcatspike at 12:00 PM on May 10, 2005

That is only if you accept a lease using the form provided by the Texas Apartment Association. It's not the law. Not that it matters at all to a case in another state where the lease does give the landlord the right to enter. The question is when.

Have you called the tenant's union? Seriously.
posted by grouse at 2:57 PM on May 10, 2005