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I entered into a 6 month lease for a single family home in Concord on October 1st 2013. I have already paid 4 of the 6 months rent. My landlord started painting the fence that surrounds the property on October 8th since then she has been in the yard 4-5 days a week for 3 to 8 hours a day painting it has gone on for a month now so far. Its Nov 7th today and she is less than halfway done so she will be at the property for many more weeks. When I try to talk to her about her constant presence at the property she gets very hostile and tells me because she is in the yard she can be here anytime she wants for as long as she wants. She has also told me if I don't like it I can leave ,she says that she has someone that will pay a higher rent. I am considering calling the police this feels like harassment what are my options. My concern is also that at some point two months down the road when she finishes this project she will start on something else so she will always be here and I cant get any peace.
^^^
This. If it's in the lease that she can be there whenever, but the law says she can't, then the law would trump the lease in that aspect.
If she was entering the house, then I'd say that that was probably not allowed without 24 hours written notice. But if she's just "maintaining" the property (which is probably what she would claim), then she could probably be there regularly, as long as she's not making tons of noise early in the morning or late at night. She very well could be trying to be as annoying as possible to drive you out, although since your lease ends in two months and she could get you out at that time, then it seems an odd choice for her. My first thought was that she might be trying to either sell the house, or get more rent from the next renter with a nicer yard.
I actually have almost 5 months left on the lease I just paid some of it early. My argument is I rented the entire property not just the inside of the house. I feel like just her presence alone 4-5 days a week every week is unjust and it is an attempt to harass me ,its not a big property any company could have painted the whole fence in probably 2 days. She also closes the gate to the driveway so I have to open the gate whenever I drive in or out she has been painting the 40 ft. section in front of the house for 1 month with a paintbrush the size of a tooth brush
She is the owner/landlord..she has a right to make repairs and improvements to the property. Is her being in the yard really that much of a problem for you? If it is, why don't you offer to paint the fence or to pay someone to do it for her.
She does have to give you notice to enter the home, but the yard might be a different story since she's not there to 'inspect' but to maintain or improve. The fence is only just so long and the weather will be changing...she won't be painting forever.
If your lease includes both the structure and the yard/property then I agree that she's overstepping her position. Your state landlord tenant laws (probably linked in the first "sticky" on this forum) will likely have a clause which says that she has to give you advance notice (usually 24 hours) to enter the property unless in case of emergency.
If your lease doesn't contain any clause which allows her free access to the yard then she's violating the terms of your lease. I strongly suggest you contact a real estate attorney at least for an initial consultation to find out what your remedies are. The fence may need painting and she has a right to do the job - but the courts stipulate "reasonable" where time is concerned to address maintenance issues and this is not reasonable at all. Her attitude when approached about it sounds very peculiar and unprofessional. You have an expectation of privacy which she's clearly abusing and I would feel as you do. Good luck!
I entered into a 6 month lease...
and tells me because she is in the yard she can be here anytime she wants for as long as she wants.
when she finishes this project she will start on something else...
Count on it.
Quote:
She has also told me if I don't like it I can leave...
Which you'll be doing anyway in a few more months.
I don't see much room for you to get much satisfaction.
I actually have almost 5 months left on the lease I just paid some of it early. My argument is I rented the entire property not just the inside of the house. I feel like just her presence alone 4-5 days a week every week is unjust and it is an attempt to harass me ,its not a big property any company could have painted the whole fence in probably 2 days. She also closes the gate to the driveway so I have to open the gate whenever I drive in or out she has been painting the 40 ft. section in front of the house for 1 month with a paintbrush the size of a tooth brush
read your lease agreement because my friend one of his two family house and in his lease agreement it says no use of Yard as my friend is living in first floor and use the yead
I don't see much room for you to get much satisfaction.
I can well understand that the prospect of five months more of her puttering around invading his privacy would drive him nuts. Her whole attitude of, "you can leave if you don't like it" reeks of unprofessionalism and she sounds a bit batty, not to mention that she seems not to have much of a clue about being a landlord and what restrictions there are where entering the property is concerned. She may well need a polite but firm reminder and I wouldn't hesitate, whatever it takes.
I once had a "nosy biddy" of a landlady whose washing machine was in a storage room right next to the entrance of my apartment and entered into via my deck. She'd come down at the most inopportune and inconvenient times and was a "creeper" who scared the living daylights out of me several times until I finally had a nice chat with her. My apartment was very private and it was no problem to leave the door open and wander around inside and out on the deck half dressed but her creeping around and never knowing when the next creeping session was going to be was very off-putting. I think she'd got away with it with previous tenants but I nicely explained to her that I respected her privacy and expected the same in return. She was quite taken aback but thereafter came down only once a week at the same time pretty much to do her little bit of laundry and it wasn't a problem.
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More Info on the landlord
