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When there isn't a specific statute, case law (or common law) would be used. And at minimum, the court would go by what is "reasonable."
This is exactly what "quiet enjoyment" actually is, too. A tenant is allowed to live in the rented place in peace, without interference by the landlord.
Anytime I've rented there has always been a stipulation that I must be given X number of hours notice before someone enters.
I'd call the police now, file a report, and have it forwarded to the management company. Clearly someone broke in and removed something which is a crime. I'd also check that place really good for video equipment. You never know what kind of creepy guy the landlord may be.
Anytime I've rented there has always been a stipulation that I must be given X number of hours notice before someone enters.
I'd call the police now, file a report, and have it forwarded to the management company. Clearly someone broke in and removed something which is a crime. I'd also check that place really good for video equipment. You never know what kind of creepy guy the landlord may be.
You make a good point. The OP assumes that it is the landlord who is coming in and taking the small items. What if it isn't? Could be a former tenant? Or someone else who obtained a key illegally?
Maybe if a police report is filed, if it is the landlord he will stop doing it.
Uhmmm, MA has no law that a landlrod must give notice to enter because the law says they can not enter.
General Law Part II, Title I, Chapter 186, Section 15B. (1) (a) No lease relating to residential real property shall contain a provision that a lessor may, except to inspect the premises, to make repairs thereto or to show the same to a prospective tenant, purchaser, mortgagee or its agents, enter the premises before the termination date of such lease.
The permissible reasons are further restricted in the explanations. Basically, if it's not an emergency, you need the tenant's permission.
As for videotaping, in MA it is legal to videotape in your home. It is legal to record voice openly. It is illegal to secretly record voice without permission. A Nanny-cam that records voice would be illegal unless you post a notice that it it being recorded before the person enters the recording area.
........ What is the LL going to do about it?.........
Evict you. Sue you for the damages if there is an emergency and he can't get the door open.
What he is most likely to do, and this is a legal response, is to call out a locksmith, have the door opened and the locks replaced. The tenant gets billed for this call and a locksmith doing a house call is expensive. The tenant also gets billed for the cost of the locks that were removed, unless the tenant can produce them undamaged.
Then the landlord has to give a copy of the new key to the tenant, but he doesn't have to hang out waiting for the tenant to come home. He leaves a written notice about where the new keys can be picked up and the tenant has to go and get them.
If it happens again, he will evict the tenant for conspicuous waste, again a legal grounds for eviction.
OP, give the landlord a written notice that you are requesting that he give you a 24 hour notice before entering. If your state law requires a notice, then enclose a copy of that law.
Seriously? Your landlord stole a coffee cup? Why would anyone steal a coffee cup?
I lived in a complex where the property manager would enter the female tenants units when they were at work. He would target the ones with a regular work schedule, watch them leave for work, then wait until he was sure they weren't coming back, and go in. He was witnessed by several other tenants, but the property owner wouldn't get rid of him.
Since I didn't have regular working hours, he couldn't come in my place, so he would unlock the door in the middle of the night, thinking that I wouldn't notice it.
So all of us just changed our locks, and that was the end of that problem.
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