City: Notice of Rental Inspection

[MtnMan]

From the tenants point of view, no warrant, no entry.

The lease probably specifies landlord right to inspect the property, but only the landlord, not guberment goons.

 

[destrekor]

From the tenants point of view, no warrant, no entry.

The lease probably specifies landlord right to inspect the property, but only the landlord, not guberment goons.

To be fair, that would be the landlord's fault.

If it's a legal action in the city (you'd have to take this to a State court to determine if it is truly illegal, and appeal if necessary all the way to the Supreme Court or be ready for appeals), a landlord should know this and include the possibility in the lease agreement.

And I think city law/charter would overrule any disputes in the lease agreement in a case like this.
But an easy out would be for the landlord to accompany the inspectors with plenty of prior notice to the tenants. Should satisfy everyone on legal grounds.

 

[MtnMan]

To be fair, that would be the landlord's fault.

If it's a legal action in the city (you'd have to take this to a State court to determine if it is truly illegal, and appeal if necessary all the way to the Supreme Court or be ready for appeals), a landlord should know this and include the possibility in the lease agreement.

And I think city law/charter would overrule any disputes in the lease agreement in a case like this.
But an easy out would be for the landlord to accompany the inspectors with plenty of prior notice to the tenants. Should satisfy everyone on legal grounds.

He stated he just bought the property, thus when he bought the property, did he re-lease every unit, or were the existing leases with previous owner just honored as is?

 

[TheGardener]

I'm pretty damn liberal, but this is absolutely infuriating

Reminds me of the saying that "a Conservative is a Liberal who's been mugged."

 

[Red Squirrel]

From the tenants point of view, no warrant, no entry.

The lease probably specifies landlord right to inspect the property, but only the landlord, not guberment goons.

Actually that's the good point, can a tenant refuse entry and require a warrant? Could be the thing of advising the tenants that it's going to happen, and to just keep denying it. They will eventually get in, but may as well send them off through all the wheels of red tape and legislation and make their lives as difficult as possible.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Actually that's the good point, can a tenant refuse entry and require a warrant? Could be the thing of advising the tenants that it's going to happen, and to just keep denying it. They will eventually get in, but may as well send them off through all the wheels of red tape and legislation and make their lives as difficult as possible.

There are OSHA inspectors that can show up at a business unannounced. You have the right to refuse to allow them to come in without a warrant. However everyone says do NOT turn them away because they will go get a warrant and come back 2 hours later pissed off and write up every little thing they see.

 

[Red Squirrel]

There are OSHA inspectors that can show up at a business unannounced. You have the right to refuse to allow them to come in without a warrant. However everyone says do NOT turn them away because they will go get a warrant and come back 2 hours later pissed off and write up every little thing they see.

Yeah guess it's a double edged sword. Those type of inspectors can pretty much find any little thing and write it up if they want. They make those laws complicated and vague for a reason. The legal system as a whole is based on that.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Good to hear that there is a city out there that has a mechanism to rein in the slumlords and actually uses it.

Boston with so many students has been conducting them over the last several years due to the death of students living in unsafe conditions. It's pretty deplorable and unsafe some of the conditions that students spending $40k/yr for school will live in to save money and the slum lords taking advantage of them.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Boston with so many students has been conducting them over the last several years due to the death of students living in unsafe conditions. It's pretty deplorable and unsafe some of the conditions that students spending $40k/yr for school will live in to save money and the slum lords taking advantage of them.

I think it's like that in just about any big college town. Probably worse in the older cities in the east, as ancient homes get converted into shithole apartments. Where I'm living now in Colorado, the entire city's population is booming and they can't build rental units fast enough. Which means that much of it is new, albeit incredibly cheaply constructed, and renting for top dollar.

 

[Herr Kutz]

...

I'm pretty damn liberal, ...

You vote(d) for this. Lube up, this is just the beginning.

 

[ViRGE]

People like you are the downfall of this country for being so stupid about something so important (your rights).

And proud of it. If everyone says we're going to destroy the country anyhow, we may as well do so with our own two hands.

 

[Carson Dyle]

It never ceases to amaze me how many constitutional law scholars the US has mowing lawns and working at Walmart.

 

[freeskier93]

You guys act like some FBI agent will be coming in to snoop around your underwear drawer.

In reality it's probably some dude in a polo contracted by the city to do a two minute walk through and check basic safety.

Only you guys can overblow a well intentioned thing like this.

 

[Eli]

Listen guys, I'm all for responsible landlords.. But.. No... No, no, no no no no. This isn't the right way to do it. It would be VERY easy to bolster tenant laws. Rather than a "Mandatory Inspection Division", how about a very robust hotline/complaint/review division? I'm all for all that kind of stuff, but entering your home? Did any of you read this?

http://ij.org/action-post/does-the-...s-a-primer-on-warrantless-rental-inspections/

http://www.thetimesherald.com/story...rental-inspections-unconstitutional/74544618/

This is not acceptable. This goes against what it means to live in the United States of America. People cannot just enter your home and randomly search your shit just because you are a renter. Are you fucking kidding me? No. Just no. I am saying this as a renter(for 34 years) and now a landlord. If I got a letter like this in the mail as a tenant, I would feel exactly the same way. Your landlord snooping around is bad enough, but the city? How about you get a warrant eh?

I feel like I just accidentally bought a property in some insane HOA and didn't know it. D:

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah the whole concept that some form of authority can just enter your property baffles me. In a non dictatorship country this should not even be a thing. Even police searches should not even be a thing. Your property should be a place where you are 100% safe from everything. I fully agree with castle laws too, you should be able to use any power you have to stop someone from entering if you don't want them to.

 

[Humpy]

How do they know you are renting the property?

 

[Eli]

How do they know you are renting the property?

I wondered that myself.

The only thing I could think of was the tenants turning on utilities.

 

[mrrman]

It's just another cash grab. They want to get as much cash out of you as possible. In my area most of the houses have illegal suites to help with the mortgage. How else can you stay afloat in this overpriced world. I rarely see just a single family home without a suite of some sort. I have one.

 

[HeXen]

What about that pot plant growing nicely in the closet?

 

[Eli]

What about that pot plant growing nicely in the closet?

Perfectly legal in Oregon.

I should go all George Washington and require that people grow marijuana somewhere on the property if they want to rent from me.

Damn, my liberalness is showing again.

/tucks it in

 

[JEDI]

This.

Some smaller towns have mandatory inspections and licensing of ALL rental properties.

so what happened if i don't tell the city you're renting your place out?
and don't report the rent $.

no intrusive inspections + no tax.
win/win?

whats the odds of being caught?
whats the penalty for being caught?

 

[Eli]

so what happened if i don't tell the city you're renting your place out?
and don't report the rent $.

no intrusive inspections + no tax.
win/win?

whats the odds of being caught?
whats the penalty for being caught?

Read the links I posted. These cities get you by requiring a license to have rental units, and then requiring the inspections as part of the license process - except it's not, they call it "random". I would be more OK with this if it was while the units were empty. But with tenants in them? No. They can get a warrant.

Admittedly, this is completely my fault. I didn't do my due diligence. I didn't know I needed to, I had no idea such a thing was even possible in the United States.

It's really disturbing that a little City Council can enact unconstitutional ordinances without any oversight. Yikes.

 

[mrrman]

so what happened if i don't tell the city you're renting your place out?
and don't report the rent $.

no intrusive inspections + no tax.
win/win?

whats the odds of being caught?
whats the penalty for being caught?

F the city...they just want to collect more tax off you. When you talk with the city to fix something that's an issue, they do jack. We had one ahole texting while driving down our street and was speeding, hit a boulder in our yard since he missed the corner and went airborne into the forest. They came and looked at the area since I requested that speed bumps be installed and they did jack. They replaced a small tree on the boulevard. If someone was in our front yard they would have been killed. Two weeks ago same thing again but this time the person was speeding, missed the corner and rolled the car. I went to city hall again requesting speed bumps, nothing has happened to date. I guess we will have to wait until someone gets killed and they maybe they will install slow down signs. City hall is a joke.

 

[Humpy]

I wondered that myself.

The only thing I could think of was the tenants turning on utilities.

I wonder what the process is for informing the city they made an error in classifying/defining the property as a rental?

i.e. you do not have tenants, you have guests at a private club who pay a membership fee.

Or form a 501c3 and transfer ownership of the property to your new religious organization. Your flock can live there until they are saved and your expenses get paid from their tithing.

 

[sdifox]

I was made aware of this lovely correspondence from my city today.

To me:

To tenants:

What in the fucking what? Where in the hell is the checkbox for "I think this is a blatant invasion of privacy, and if you step onto my property without a search warrant, I WILL press trespass charges."?

http://greshamoregon.gov/rentalhousing/

ORLY?

I'm pretty damn liberal, but this is absolutely infuriating. I've always rented until fairly recently in my life, and always had to deal with landlord inspections and other such blatant invasions of privacy. I bought my own house(s) so I wouldn't have to deal with that kind of bullshit anymore! (I get to dish it) Further, I know what shitty landlords are like. I'm going to be the best fucking landlord ever... No government oversight needed.

This must be fairly new, as all of the landlord inspections I've been involved with prior had absolutely nothing to do with the city, just the landlord checking on their stuff. The city has no right to randomly peer into my homes.

My tenants don't want to have anything to do with this nonsense either. They just moved in!

Now I have to call my attorney to figure out my rights and fight against my own city wanting to do an "inspection"? OMFG. Did not see that one coming.

The funny thing is that I'd be fine if this was a program that I could sign up with to invite them in and show them how awesome a landlord I am, to earn "awards". But to be forced against my will to comply with "inspections" when no evidence of any wrongdoing exists? Wow, I mean maybe the folks saying our rights are being stripped away left and right are correct...

From what I'm reading there's probably not much hope, they'll just eventually levy fines against the property if I refuse them forever. Ugh.

/moves to Texas lol

Err this is for the tenant's protection. To ensure the rental property is to code and safe.