Hi, I live with two other college students in a 3 bedroom apartment, in California. We know we have a creepy landlord because he owns the building across the street and we have seen him go through their trash and gutters, but recently something very wrong in my opinion happened. My roommate came home and found our front door wide open, once he got inside he say the landlord inside, who immediately stated he was there to fix the heater. Now, previously he gave us 24 hour notice in written form to let use know he was going to inspect the heater. Not this time, there was no notice, and he said he attempted to call but none of us received a call from him. This only worries me because there was some "pipe" and such laying around the house. We have never received a complaint from anyone, and are on good terms with all our neighbors. What if any legal recourse could unfold from the events as they happened. Am I correct under the assumption that A:this is an illegal entry and anything he found inside is invalid,
B: we should note this incident to ensure we have documentation of this illegal entry.
Just confused and worried thanks.

Ddi you make a request for him to come and fix the heater? Does your lease state he can come in for repairs when no one is home? If he just showed up without anyone making a maintenance request and no one received a phone call (which is easy to verify) then I would say he made an illegal entry.

Do you have a tenants rights association where you live? Or a housing authority? You need to find your legal grounds. Here are a couple sites for tenant rights in CA. Good luck to you.

Tenant Rights, Laws and Protections: California
California Tenant Law - Free legal advice for California renters

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DjSweet1515

Am I correct under the assumption that A:this is an illegal entry and anything he found inside is invalid,

---

Hello Dj:

You are INCORRECT. The Constitution protects you from the COPS making an illegal search. It doesn't protect you from landlords searching you. Any evidence he turns over to the cops CAN be used against you. Hopefully, the cops won't bust you even if he does snitch you off. I don't think a pipe will get them excited, though - unless it was a meth or crack pipe. That might disturb them.

excon