Landlord Access

Your landlord's right to enter your apartment
As a tenant you have the right to lawful and exclusive possession of your apartment. Many landlords believe that since they own the property they can enter your apartment whenever they want. This is not true. A landlord that unreasonably enters your apartment may be guilty of criminal trespassing. Under the law, your lease can include a clause requiring you to provide a landlord with reasonable access to your apartment for the following reasons:

• to inspect the apartment
• to make repairs
• to show the apartment to prospective purchasers, mortgagees, or tenants

In addition to these lease rights, the landlord may enter in accordance with a court order, if the apartment appears to have been abandoned, or, during the last thirty days of the tenancy, to inspect for damages that would be a basis for a deduction from any security deposit paid. These rights to enter apply even if they are not written in the lease. MGL ch. 186 sec. 15B(1)(a)

Even if there is no lease clause mandating access for landlord repairs, a similar provision is required for all tenancies under the State Sanitary Code where repairs are needed to bring the apartment up to code. The Sanitary Code requires reasonable notice and recommends that access arrangements be made if possible by appointment. 105 C.M.R. 410.810.

The Housing Court has interpreted “reasonable notice” to usually be 24 to 48 hours advance notice, except in cases of emergency. The Court will often resolve disputes regarding access. A landlord may seek a court order requiring an uncooperative tenant to give access; a tenant may seek an order to keep the landlord from entering the unit without justification, or without reasonable advance notice.

Some leases or written rental agreements require that the tenant provide the landlord with a key to the apartment, or not change the locks without the landlord's permission and/or without giving the landlord a copy of the new key. These provisions are enforceable. However, even if the landlord has a key, reasonable notice should be given to the tenant before entry, and entry should be limited to the reasons stated above.