When Can a Landlord Enter a Rental Property?

Last Updated: September 29, 2023 by Roberto Valenzuela

Even with proper notice and with entry rights reserved in the lease, many states regulate when a landlord can enter a rental property. Landlord entry requires valid purpose, valid manner, and valid timing.

Consent for Entering a Rental Property

The tenant’s consent removes all legal issues with a landlord entry. A landlord can always enter when invited, even for something unrelated to the lease. The rest of this article assumes the tenant may want to refuse consent.

Valid Purpose Required to Enter Rental Property

No landlord entry is legal without a valid purpose. Landlords can generally enter for purposes reserved in the lease, and/or required by the law.

Purposes in the Law

Landlords can enter for a purpose that’s allowed by law. The law usually allows entry for property work, inspections, and emergencies.

Property showings are sometimes allowed. If they are, this is usually in an entry statute. Landlords can also enter a property when it appears abandoned by the tenant (usually after 1-2 weeks of unexplained absence).

Property Work

Landlords almost always have a duty to provide safe, habitable rental property. To carry out this duty, landlords can enter rental property for necessary property work. This can include:

• Repairs
• Replacements
• Regular maintenance
• Changes or improvements to the property
• Provided services, like backyard upkeep or spraying for pests

In states that have an entry statute, this often includes the right to enter for lower-level work, like decorations. This kind of work isn’t a valid purpose unless it’s allowed by the law or the lease.

Inspections

Most places have a housing code defining safe rental property. The owner could get fined, or even have the property condemned, if there’s a code compliance issue. This means the landlord usually can enter and inspect for code compliance.

It’s a more open question whether the landlord can enter and inspect for lease violations. The landlord can inspect for lease violations where it’s allowed by statute. In places which allow individual access policies, the landlord can also reserve a right to inspect.

Inspections for lease violations are an easy way for a landlord to harass a tenant. Because of this, courts have a strict approach to reviewing lease-related inspections.

Property Showings

Landlords usually can’t show a property unless allowed by state law (like Rhode Island’s) or the lease. State statutes generally allow showings to potential buyers, renters, and contractors.

When there’s no right to show reserved by the law or the lease, tenants can almost always refuse a showing.

Emergencies

An emergency situation that threatens people or rental property always gives the landlord a right to enter. The landlord must limit his activity to resolving the emergency during such an entry.

Property Abandonment

Most states give the landlord a right to enter property which appears abandoned. A landlord can usually enter after an unexplained tenant absence of 1-2 weeks.

Purposes in the Lease

Many states, such as Colorado, let the landlord and tenant set an entry policy in the rental agreement. Courts accept most entry policies at face value unless something is obviously illegal.

An entry policy might limit the tenant’s use of the property on a temporary basis. For example, a landlord could reserve the right to use a backyard area for occasional parties.

This also applies for more rarefied purposes. A landlord could reserve a right to dowse on the rental property, or swim in the pool on Saturday mornings. If the tenant freely agrees to the policy, a court will usually uphold it as written.

Many places do not allow lease-specific purposes for entry. For example, Arizona strictly limits landlord entry to only the purposes allowed by statute. Check local laws.

Valid Manner to Enter Rental Property

Valid purpose isn’t enough. A landlord must also enter with a valid manner. Manner refers to the way the landlord conducts the entry process.

Notice

Landlord entry is often illegal without “actual notice” in advance. Actual notice is any form of notice the tenant personally receives. It could be anything from a phone conversation to a letter sent through certified mail.

Notice must mention both the purpose and approximate timing of the entry. A tenant can often refuse consent to enter if the notice doesn’t mention one of these.

The following table lays out rules for notice before entry, by state.

Identification

Tenants don’t have to let anybody in without identification. Landlords and employees likewise aren’t allowed to sneak onto rental property.

Anyone entering must announce their presence and identify their purpose if asked. If they don’t, tenants can treat this as an illegal trespass and call the police, even on a landlord.

Demeanor

Landlords and employees must enter with a professional demeanor. They can’t enter in an abusive or alarming way even if timing, purpose, and notice are all otherwise valid. Tenants can refuse entry if the entrant has a threatening demeanor.

Valid Timing to Enter Rental Property

The last element that determines when a landlord can enter a rental property is valid timing.

Sometimes the law or the lease specify timing. For example, entry in California must occur during normal business hours (except in emergencies), defined as 8:00AM-5:00PM.

When the law and the lease are silent on timing, the rule is that it must be “reasonable.” In practice, a reasonable entry usually must be within business hours. An entry with unusual timing must relate to exceptional circumstances like an emergency.