Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
No it doesn't. Such confusion reigns over this clause, the covenant of quiet enjoyment! Read up on it but be sure to read carefully and completely. Taking a few sentences out of context completely changes its meaning and intent. In any case, in this instance, the LL is legally allowed to show the premises with the required notice. And why are you assuming "no supervision"?
1) Why would you assume I don't know what I'm talking about?
2) Why would you assume that there will be supervision of every person at an open house?
For your reading pleasure. In case you might want to "read up on it but be sure to read carefully and completely."
Quiet Enjoyment:
In the covenant of quiet enjoyment, the landlord promises that during the term of the tenancy no one will disturb the tenant in the tenant's use and enjoyment of the premises. Quiet enjoyment includes the right to exclude others from the premises, the right to peace and quiet, the right to clean premises, and the right to basic services such as heat and hot water and, for high-rise buildings, elevator service. In many respects the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment is similar to an Implied Warranty of habitability, which warrants that the landlord will keep the leased premises in good repair. For example, the failure to provide heat would be a breach of the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment because the lack of heat would interfere with the tenant's use of the premises and would also make the premises uninhabitable, especially in a cold climate.
Other rights related to quiet enjoyment may be tailored to specific situations. For example, at least one court has found that the ringing of smoke alarms for more than a day is an interference with a tenant's quiet enjoyment of leased premises (Manzaro v. McCann, 401 Mass. 880, 519 N.E.2d 1337 [1988]).
Tenants have at least two remedies for a landlord's breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment: the tenant can cease to pay rent until the problem is solved, or the tenant can move out. A tenant who moves out may be liable for any rent owing under the agreement if a court decides that the landlord did not breach the covenant of quiet enjoyment.
Showings are NOT open houses!! 2 totally different items!
A trouble I see here is if the OP (or some other tenant) does not want to cooperate with an open house and called the police claiming trespass, NO, the tenant would not be on the hook for "interference with business". The strange people waltzing in & out of that person's home would be asked to leave by the cops. It doesn't matter if it's an owner or tenant--if anyone in possession of a space tells someone to GET OUT of their home, and they do not, that's trespass, which is a crime not even under the umbrella of tenant/LL law.
Yeah, I'm sure open houses can be agreed upon between an LL and tenant who have a functional business relationship.But there are some LLs and tenants that do not have good dealings with one another.
The main trouble is with possession laws.
Once the LL rents out a place, they forfeit the rights to posses that place. That's what the tenant is buying when they sign a lease and pay rent, and why an LL has to give notice for entry. Entry doesn't mean going in and hanging out for 3 hours; it means going in, doing your business and getting out. Yes, quiet enjoyment is included there. That's how police see it, in any event. When police get a call from someone saying "this person won't get out of my home", the police go and kick the intruders out. The person who has legal posession over the premises stays. That's the tenant.
The LL or his agents can enter the premises to show the unit with 24 hours notice...random people off the street wandering in and out for three hours are not the LLs agents, and that is not a showing.
I credit my tenant for being cooperative with showings and those that are not receive no rent credit.
A satisfied resident is great for marketing just as a difficult tenant can hurt marketing.
The below is cut from the California Landlord Tenant handbook through the Department of Consumer Affairs.
Unit Access:
To show the rental unit to prospective tenants, purchasers, or lenders, to provide entry to contractors or workers who are to perform work on the unit, or to conduct an initial inspection before the end of the tenancy
I credit my tenant for being cooperative with showings and those that are not receive no rent credit.
A satisfied resident is great for marketing just as a difficult tenant can hurt marketing.
The below is cut from the California Landlord Tenant handbook through the Department of Consumer Affairs.
Unit Access:
To show the rental unit to prospective tenants, purchasers, or lenders, to provide entry to contractors or workers who are to perform work on the unit, or to conduct an initial inspection before the end of the tenancy
Washington may or may not be similar.
Ultrarunner, You are absolutely correct. A landlord has the right to entry with notice, but the law is all about what is "reasonable."
It's reasonable for a landlord/agent to give notice, and enter with a person or small group, that the agent stays with while they walk through the premises and then leave.
It's not reasonable to open the doors wide open to the public for 3 hours.
Have you been to an open house recently? I went last summer to a bunch of them with my daughter in the SF Bay Area, who was looking to buy a house. They were jam packed with people in every room, bathroom, yard, garage, opening closets, children running around unsupervised, and the doors literally wide open because of the amount of people coming and going...total mayhem. And the market has gotten even hotter since then.
It's just not reasonable to invade a tenant's home like that.
Ultrarunner, You are absolutely correct. A landlord has the right to entry with notice, but the law is all about what is "reasonable."
It's reasonable for a landlord/agent to give notice, and enter with a person or small group, that the agent stays with while they walk through the premises and then leave.
It's not reasonable to open the doors wide open to the public for 3 hours.
Have you been to an open house recently? I went last summer to a bunch of them with my daughter in the SF Bay Area, who was looking to buy a house. They were jam packed with people in every room, bathroom, yard, garage, opening closets, children running around unsupervised, and the doors literally wide open because of the amount of people coming and going...total mayhem. And the market has gotten even hotter since then.
It's just not reasonable to invade a tenant's home like that.
Yes. Public event is different from a showing.
I've been condo shopping for a year in Los Angeles, where the market is mania. What I see at open houses is exactly what is described above. Masses of people, doors wide open, balloons on the sidewalk with a sign. All types of characters walking in and out, most of whom are not even approved or even pre-approved for a loan. Rubber-neckers. Sketchy people. Business looking people, newlywed looking people, children unsupervised, etc... Opening every drawer and cabinet in the kitchens, bathrooms, closets, hallways, flushing toilets, turning things on and off, playing with switches, etc...
I watched some real low-brow people at a couple places opening dresser drawers. Not built-ins, but going into the furniture. At one place I saw someone actually going though clothes that were hung in a bedroom closet. You don't need an approval or any credentials -not even an ID- to go into an open house.
At almost every place I saw, the agent was nowhere in sight; too busy handing out business cards by the front door, trying to get lookers to hire them as buyer's agent. Not one actually bothered showing any features of the units. It's literally "hello here's my card" at the door, and then you're free to roam around at will.
Ultrarunner, You are absolutely correct. A landlord has the right to entry with notice, but the law is all about what is "reasonable."
It's reasonable for a landlord/agent to give notice, and enter with a person or small group, that the agent stays with while they walk through the premises and then leave.
It's not reasonable to open the doors wide open to the public for 3 hours.
Have you been to an open house recently? I went last summer to a bunch of them with my daughter in the SF Bay Area, who was looking to buy a house. They were jam packed with people in every room, bathroom, yard, garage, opening closets, children running around unsupervised, and the doors literally wide open because of the amount of people coming and going...total mayhem. And the market has gotten even hotter since then.
It's just not reasonable to invade a tenant's home like that.
Just went to one last Sunday... resident is moving to a nursing home.
The Realtors or Realtor and her assistant personally escorted people past the living room... front and back yards were not supervised. No one was allowed to wander the home.
I've held open houses many times... mostly on vacant or staged homes... a few times with occupants and every time the occupant was right there... no wandering... one had ny-locks on cabinet doors which was fine with me.
I do think the Bay Area market has softened a little in the last couple of weeks... at least my Realtor said inventory is up and my Mortgage Broker said new loan apps are down...
I personally like it when the owner is present... even if Realtors don't.
It gives me a chance to strike up a repore and a few times made the difference in getting my offer accepted.
As a perspective tenant I also like it when the occupant is there... nothing like body language and the chance to ask a few pertinent questions for the other side of the coin...
I don't imagine anyone likes having stangers in their home...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
