STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

jettie · Kate Spade

Real Estate Law Question/Problems - LONG

relrel · Marc Jacobs

I'm not a lawyer, nor am I a landlord. However, I've been renting apartments for 8 years or so with various people in various cities and my first reaction to your story was WTF??

I mean, is this guy serious? I have never ever heard of such a thing and I honestly think that I asked/told my landlord that he would laugh at me.

It's not illegal to keep a copy of the key to your tenant's apartment, how on earth are they supposed to get in for repairs and such if need be? What's probably illegal is him changing the locks- if he does that you might have grounds for kicking him out and getting rid of his issue-prone ass.

I know there's tenant unions around, does your city have some sort of landlord group that perhaps you could query about this? I tried looking through Google but most of what came back is about the landlord changing the lock on a tenant not the other way around.

Good luck!

cahabo · Kate Spade

I'm no lawyer either, but I'd be sneaky and have the brother-in-law make a copy of the key and give one to the tenant to shut him up! Totally ridiculous. Landlords always have copies. It is illegal however for a landlord to enter the place without tenant's permission. Not like that was your intent though. Sheesh, who is he to give you an ultimatum!?

ILoveChoo · Hermes

My landlord/ maintanance person has always had a copy. Also every lease I've signed has said that under no circumstances can I fix the locks.

Mandy · Kate Spade

Same here. Every place I've ever rented my landlord has had a key. In some apartment complexes they can enter when you aren't there without permission. Besides repairs, you need a key in case you need to evict him and toss his stuff to the curb.

subwolley · Kate Spade

My landlord does not have a key. If he needs to come over he calls and we leave a key for him. However, I would not have a problem if my landlord had a key. He is never around anyway. I rent a house, which may be different for apartment/condo units.

luckylily · Gucci

I've never heard of such a thing. Every place I've ever rented the owner has a key. My lease always says that he gives me 24 hours notice if he needs to enter or they can enter in case of an emergency. This is consistent w/ the law in my city and state. I'd try to look into the local laws, but I seriously doubt there is anything that prevents you from keeping a key.

theotherjess · Chanel

I'm just wondering what kind of shady stuff he's doing if he doesn't even want the landlord to have a key... hmm

NCshopper · Hermes

theotherjess wrote:

I'm just wondering what kind of shady stuff he's doing if he doesn't even want the landlord to have a key...

Ditto. He has a reason for not wanting you to have a key and IMO, it's probably not good.

shopgirl82 · Chanel

theotherjess wrote:

I'm just wondering what kind of shady stuff he's doing if he doesn't even want the landlord to have a key...

this is my thought too. this reminds me of a friend of a friend's situation. we were out one night at the bar talking about ex bfs. well, her ex-bf was growing pot in his apt when they were together. the gf was so nervous of the landlord coming in and catching the bf that she would always make sure someone was home to block the door with a dresser or something so he wouldn't get caught growing weed. what a way to live and what an idiot for growing pot in a RENTED apt.

anyway, why would you be so paranoid if you didn't have anything to hide? it should be in a lease, and if not, YOU OWN THE PROPERTY. it's yours, not his.

i would keep a close eye on this guy. do you have the option of not allowing him to renew the lease when it expires (if you have no reason before then of kicking him out)? i only rented for one year, so i'm not sure if landlords can just stop renting once the lease is up (probably, right??), but it might be worth not having the anxiety of leasing to someone you don't really trust.

jettie · Kate Spade

Thank you all for the comments. He was really making me feel like I'm at fault for having a key and really, it shouldn't be that way. I don't think he is doing anything illegal, I just think he is being an a** (but then again, who knows). I'm just worried this guy is going to get an attorney involved, he has already copied his counsel on an email to me....

And regarding lease renewal, the lease ends in June and that will be it. I already found someone else to move in. I just need to research how to end the lease (it goes month to month at the end of June).

The big kicker in the story is that this guy works at my company, as a senior manager! Thank goodness we work in totally different parts of the company.

erin · Chanel

jettie wrote:

I'm just worried this guy is going to get an attorney involved, he has already copied his counsel on an email to me....

he could have just done that as a bit of puffery. my old roommate used to tell me to cc "joe q. public, esq" on stuff like this.

seriously, though, what a douche!

Kelly · Hermes

WTF? And his lease is over in June? Why is he even bothering?

My landlord has a key. My lease also says that the maintenance men can come in whether I'm home or not, which honestly kind of bothered me at first just because it's uncomfortable to know someone is in my home while I'm not. -but- I'm fully aware that that's just the price I pay for renting. I'm glad my landlord has a key! What if I'm gone for the weekend and the pipes bust or there's a leak and the building starts to flood? Things like that are going to be especially real concerns in a setup like a condo, where a mistake by one person living there could cause problems for every person in the building. I've never heard of a landlord not having a key. It's their property, for pete's sake!

I agree that I think he just copied his counsel to try and intimidate you. Who knows if that email address was even valid?