Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: rights

No. Civil Code �1954 sets forth the reasons for which the landlord may enter, the hours during which the landlord may enter and the notice that the landlord must give before entering. If the landlord does not follow the statute, his entry is illegal.

Since the damages you could sue for probably do not justify the expense of retaining an attorney to file suit (unless the lease has an attorney's fee clause), you may decide to try to persuade the landlord with a letter from an attorney explaining the statute and the risk of legal exposure. You could also sue in small claims court for past violations.

However, if you are on a month-to-month lease, you risk annoying the landlord enough to have him serve a 30-day notice to quit. If he does this within 6 months of your exercise of your rights under the statute, it may be an illegal retaliatory eviction. Civil Code �1942.5. But if he waits a little longer the eviction will probably succeed.

Re: rights

Civil Code section 1954 gives landlords the right to enter a tenant's residence upon reasonable prior notice for certain reasons. The Code goes on the say that 24 hours' notice is presumably adequate, but more notice or less notice may be reasonable under certain circumstances.

The reasons for which a landlord may enter include showing the property to buyers or, near the end of the lease, potential renters; also, the landord may enter for bona fide maintenance, repair and inspection needs, but may not enter if the purpose is improper such as spying on the tenant or identifying the tenant's guests.

So, you can or can't prevent landlord entries depending upon the notice given and the validity of the reasons for the entry.

Finally, the landlord can enter without prior notice in the event of a bona fide emergency, such as a fire, burst water pipe, tenants beating each other up, neglected or abused baby, etc.