Is maintenance allowed to enter my apartment without warning in a university housing complex?

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Is maintenance allowed to enter my apartment without warning in a university housing complex?

A maintenance worker knocked and before I or my roommate could answer, unlocked the door to our apartment and entered this morning. He then knocked on my roommate’s door inside the apartment and when she didn’t answer, unlocked that door as well. She was naked and asleep. We would like to file a complaint but I read back through my apartment policies which said maintenance could always enter the apartment without permission. However, I thought this was against the law, that we had to be given 24 hours notice. Is my complex exempt from the law because it is university housing?

Asked on September 26, 2011 under Real Estate Law, California

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 12 years ago | Contributor

It's  not so much that university housing is exempt from the law, but that if there are policies which you have explicitly agreed to or are deemed (e.g. by agreeing to live there) to have agreed to and be bound by, those policies are enforceable. So if the housing policies say that a maintenance worker could enter without permission and you and your roommate, in one fashion or another, agreed to those policies (e.g. you had to agree to them to live there), then those policies are enforceable; in essence, you accepted a contract which lets maintenance enter at will.

The best solution may be a chain, a deadbolt, or even a chair in front of the door when you want to make sure maintenance cannot enter like this again.


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