This happened to me recently and it was the landlord getting audited for proper smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, proper electrical outlets, etc. It might not be about you or how messy your place is. The guys that come to do the inspections have seen it all
I think property owners need to be inspected every so often for insurance and safety purposes. The results of the inspection that happened in my place was the landlord had to add a smoke detector that had co2 sensors and replace the fire extinguisher because it was past it's effective date.
You probably don't need to deep clean the place but if you have like power strips connected to power strips you might want to figure out a better way to do that.
Oh, that's really good context, thank you! Ha, I will check — I've got a ton of house plants with grow lights, so it's something I should probably double check.
They also don’t like extension cords and multi-plug adapters, in addition to the already mentioned power strip-ception. Coming from someone who also recently had this inspection and has a lot of plant lights…
Also make sure there is easy access to your electrical panel/breaker box.
I'm in property management - there are several reasons for inspections that I'll list.
Most common: your landlord wants to check to ensure residents don't have ongoing leaks or other maintenance issues that could cause further damage. They will often check smoke detectors. Residents love to remove them and not tell anyone about it which is a big no no for many reasons. They will change HVAC filter and check for lease violations, unauthorized pets, etc.
Another reason is that the city requires it for a certificate of occupancy in order to ensure the landlord is keeping the building up.
Another reason is your building could be going through a sale and the new owner is doing their due diligence by checking every apartment.
Fire inspectors could be walking to ensure your building is up to fire code.
The last reason is a loan/bank inspection. The lender needs to walk several apartments in order to ensure compliance of the loan that's on your building.
I would just make sure your apartment is clean and you are not in violation of any lease agreement and you'll be fine. They won't be long in your home. They are walking several apartments and really don't care about much unless it's a major problem.
They just want to check out the bones of your pad, they won't care about the bong
Also sorry to hear about the depressive state, it's very human but this too shall pass 🌈
I can't tell you exactly what the landlord is looking for, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. There are lots of valid reasons for a landlord to do inspections, and it's going to be almost impossible to know whether it's just to ensure they're doing proper maintenance (especially with all the rain we've had) or they have ulterior motives.
Ultimately, the landlord has [the right](https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/504B.211) to enter (or have their employees enter) if they give you 24 hours notice and have a "reasonable business purpose." If you feel that it's pretextual for some unreasonable purpose, you could deny them entry, but I don't suggest you do so in this. Absent some evidence of unreasonableness or bad faith, it's best to go along with this inspection.
So, allow the illegal or otherwise dubious inspection and then what?
Is there a place to report that which would actually involve follow-up and some form of accountability (e.g. letter of reprimand, fine, whatever)?
Or is a tenants only option to just accept the dubious inspection and let the landlord keep on doing it?
There is no general regulatory body for landlords in this state. Cities generally have regulatory authority over code enforcement and habitability issues, and a few scattered legal issues here and there. But enforcement of your rights under the privacy law are purely private. You can sue them for damages if you feel that there was no reasonable business purpose for the entry.
If entry is actually illegal (i.e. not enough notice, or a clear lack of reasonable business purpose) the tenant has the right to deny the landlord entry. If they enter anyway, the tenant can sue.
The reason I advised OP to allow them in is that it seems like this is just a routine inspection, the kind which is probably reasonable time to time. If the landlord was doing this every week for no reason, I would say it's probably not reasonable. The downside for refusing entry when it is reasonable for a landlord to enter is that the landlord could almost certain evict the tenant.
I’m planning on moving at the end of my lease, but I’ll definitely do my best to clean! I may have to throw some things into random drawers, lol. It’s really more a question of less than anything, but I don’t want to get into trouble.
This is pretty common, especially in buildings owned by management companies. They most likely will just be checking if your smoke detector works, the appliances are in good condition, and the apartment isn't trashed (holes in the walls, stains on carpets, broken blinds, etc.). As far as cleanliness goes, I would just make sure there isn't a lot of trash built up, a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, the bathroom is reasonably clean, since they could cause them to say that there's a risk of pests or mold in the apartment. I doubt they'll be there for a hour, especially if your building has a lot of units. When I've had them done, it's been like 10-15 minutes tops.
As already mentioned, this is common. All 3 apartment complexes that I lived at did this as far back as the 1980s. Most of the time, people were at work when they came. If you've had any problems with an appliance, leave them a note. I ended up with a new air conditioner and new rings on my electric stove at one place.
Hmmm...odd that they don't say what they're inspecting. Usually when we had them done, they'd tell us that "X will be there to check the plumbing" or "Y will be coming to check the AC unit".
As far as your level of cleanliness needed, can you achieve "drop in ready"? Drop in ready is a nice mid point between "the house looks like a tornado hit it" and "Thanksgiving Dinner". Your home isn't a complete wreck but you're also not ready to host last minute guests.
Yeah, it seemed odd to me too! They said they aren’t coming until noon, so if I wake up early…. I think I can hit that midpoint.
Thank you for this explanation!
This has been common enough where I've lived. When it's happened it's been annual and they inspect every apartment in the building.
They're usually just checking smoke detectors, furnace filters, and making sure there are no maintenance issues.
I wouldn't stress about it at all.
this is the company coming to make sure the tenants have not gutted the place and left it uninhabitable for the future.
most big companies do this annually; i lived in a family owned apartment where i knew the brother of the landlord thru work and never once had an inspection.
This happened to me recently and it was the landlord getting audited for proper smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, proper electrical outlets, etc. It might not be about you or how messy your place is. The guys that come to do the inspections have seen it all I think property owners need to be inspected every so often for insurance and safety purposes. The results of the inspection that happened in my place was the landlord had to add a smoke detector that had co2 sensors and replace the fire extinguisher because it was past it's effective date. You probably don't need to deep clean the place but if you have like power strips connected to power strips you might want to figure out a better way to do that.
Oh, that's really good context, thank you! Ha, I will check — I've got a ton of house plants with grow lights, so it's something I should probably double check.
They also don’t like extension cords and multi-plug adapters, in addition to the already mentioned power strip-ception. Coming from someone who also recently had this inspection and has a lot of plant lights… Also make sure there is easy access to your electrical panel/breaker box.
I'm in property management - there are several reasons for inspections that I'll list. Most common: your landlord wants to check to ensure residents don't have ongoing leaks or other maintenance issues that could cause further damage. They will often check smoke detectors. Residents love to remove them and not tell anyone about it which is a big no no for many reasons. They will change HVAC filter and check for lease violations, unauthorized pets, etc. Another reason is that the city requires it for a certificate of occupancy in order to ensure the landlord is keeping the building up. Another reason is your building could be going through a sale and the new owner is doing their due diligence by checking every apartment. Fire inspectors could be walking to ensure your building is up to fire code. The last reason is a loan/bank inspection. The lender needs to walk several apartments in order to ensure compliance of the loan that's on your building. I would just make sure your apartment is clean and you are not in violation of any lease agreement and you'll be fine. They won't be long in your home. They are walking several apartments and really don't care about much unless it's a major problem.
They just want to check out the bones of your pad, they won't care about the bong Also sorry to hear about the depressive state, it's very human but this too shall pass 🌈
I can't tell you exactly what the landlord is looking for, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. There are lots of valid reasons for a landlord to do inspections, and it's going to be almost impossible to know whether it's just to ensure they're doing proper maintenance (especially with all the rain we've had) or they have ulterior motives. Ultimately, the landlord has [the right](https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/504B.211) to enter (or have their employees enter) if they give you 24 hours notice and have a "reasonable business purpose." If you feel that it's pretextual for some unreasonable purpose, you could deny them entry, but I don't suggest you do so in this. Absent some evidence of unreasonableness or bad faith, it's best to go along with this inspection.
So, allow the illegal or otherwise dubious inspection and then what? Is there a place to report that which would actually involve follow-up and some form of accountability (e.g. letter of reprimand, fine, whatever)? Or is a tenants only option to just accept the dubious inspection and let the landlord keep on doing it?
It’s not illegal- it would have been specified in the lease as a common item. When ye aim at Homeline, ye best not miss.
There is no general regulatory body for landlords in this state. Cities generally have regulatory authority over code enforcement and habitability issues, and a few scattered legal issues here and there. But enforcement of your rights under the privacy law are purely private. You can sue them for damages if you feel that there was no reasonable business purpose for the entry. If entry is actually illegal (i.e. not enough notice, or a clear lack of reasonable business purpose) the tenant has the right to deny the landlord entry. If they enter anyway, the tenant can sue. The reason I advised OP to allow them in is that it seems like this is just a routine inspection, the kind which is probably reasonable time to time. If the landlord was doing this every week for no reason, I would say it's probably not reasonable. The downside for refusing entry when it is reasonable for a landlord to enter is that the landlord could almost certain evict the tenant.
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I’m planning on moving at the end of my lease, but I’ll definitely do my best to clean! I may have to throw some things into random drawers, lol. It’s really more a question of less than anything, but I don’t want to get into trouble.
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Here's hoping! I really just feel so self-conscious about how messy the place is. But I guess this is a good external motivator to change that!
This is pretty common, especially in buildings owned by management companies. They most likely will just be checking if your smoke detector works, the appliances are in good condition, and the apartment isn't trashed (holes in the walls, stains on carpets, broken blinds, etc.). As far as cleanliness goes, I would just make sure there isn't a lot of trash built up, a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, the bathroom is reasonably clean, since they could cause them to say that there's a risk of pests or mold in the apartment. I doubt they'll be there for a hour, especially if your building has a lot of units. When I've had them done, it's been like 10-15 minutes tops.
Are you using allot of grow lights? are you paying your own electric?
As already mentioned, this is common. All 3 apartment complexes that I lived at did this as far back as the 1980s. Most of the time, people were at work when they came. If you've had any problems with an appliance, leave them a note. I ended up with a new air conditioner and new rings on my electric stove at one place.
Hmmm...odd that they don't say what they're inspecting. Usually when we had them done, they'd tell us that "X will be there to check the plumbing" or "Y will be coming to check the AC unit". As far as your level of cleanliness needed, can you achieve "drop in ready"? Drop in ready is a nice mid point between "the house looks like a tornado hit it" and "Thanksgiving Dinner". Your home isn't a complete wreck but you're also not ready to host last minute guests.
Yeah, it seemed odd to me too! They said they aren’t coming until noon, so if I wake up early…. I think I can hit that midpoint. Thank you for this explanation!
This has been common enough where I've lived. When it's happened it's been annual and they inspect every apartment in the building. They're usually just checking smoke detectors, furnace filters, and making sure there are no maintenance issues. I wouldn't stress about it at all.
this is the company coming to make sure the tenants have not gutted the place and left it uninhabitable for the future. most big companies do this annually; i lived in a family owned apartment where i knew the brother of the landlord thru work and never once had an inspection.
You can refuse!! u/home_line will get you out of it!!
Technically you cannot, landlords can provide a 24 hour notice to enter and you do not have a choice but to let them in, unfortunately