Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Michigan
My mother lives in an apartment complex. For the past 2 years she has been the regular babysitter to the young daughter of the maintenance manager at the complex. The maintenance manager is a single father and thus has to rely on someone caring for his daughter while he is at work. In addition, my two young children have become good friends of his daughter and often have playdates at my mom's apartment. The Apartment Office just informed my the dad that my mom will no longer be able to babysit for his daughter as it will be considered as 'fraternizing' with a resident. I have two questions:
1) Can they legally prevent him from using my mom as his child's babysitter?
2) Can they legally prevent my children from having a play date with his daughter at her apartment?
FYI -this child would be considered high risk in that her mother is in and out of jail on a regular basis for drug and alcohol use. The consistency that my mom has provided this child over the past two years has had a significant and positive impact on her life (the daughter is now 6 years old).
1 Answer from Attorneys
Unless there is a rule or regulation of the apartment complex that is referenced in the lease, or made known to residents through some formal notice, the apartment office is overstepping its bounds to order tenants to not socialize or babysit for employees of the complex. While the complex may be able to enforce rules against its employees (and tell the maintenance manager that he may not have social or business contact with the residents), the order to your mother is inappropriate, and probably with no legal basis. The manager is an employee at will, meaning the complex can fire him without cause. But, it would be an interesting case if they fired him, only because he has a resident babysit for his child. It is immaterial that the child's mother is a deadbeat.
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