My younger sister rents a room by her college campus in a house occupied by twelve other college females who are also renting rooms. Their female landlord has a guest cottage in the back where she often sleeps when in town for business and allows her boyfriend (a cop) to occupy the cottage when she's gone. The house shares two common kitchens, 2 common bathrooms with stalls, and each room has seperate locks from the front door for privacy.
- Is the cop allowed to enter the girls house with the landlords key to "get" things out of the public closet or "check" on things..plumbing, etc.?
-Is the cop allowed to moniter if any of the girls have a male guest sleep over and say the "rules" are that boys can't spend the night? (No mention of this in the lease)
-A male guest had his bicycle taken away by the cop b/c it wasn't "registered". Do you need to register a bike to simply peddle around campus? - three times the girls have been woken up in the middle of the night by cops who claim a "distress" call was put in from their room (though there is no phone line) they are told to open the door and let the cop peek around but no other room in the house is checked. He may possibly be doing this as a service to the college. If so, he is not representing the police department, he is a representative of the college and is enforcing college rules and restrictions instead of law. Check with the college to see if he has an agreement with the college (i.e. he is working security in exchange for living arrangements) and if these things are college rules. Otherwise, he may be stepping over his authority as a police officer. If this rented property is off campus, he may have no jurisdiction there as a security guard. If he is not working as a security guard for the landlord or the college, I would call his supervisor at the police dept. and complain. report him to his local police precinct I'll try numbering your items.
1. Absolutely. He is acting as an agent of the land lord.
2. If they say you can't have somebody - tell them there's nothing against it in the lease. I don't think they can stop you. He may be able to check and see who's in the house on the land lord's behalf, but not sure.
3. That depends on your local laws.
4. Ask how the distress call was placed and to whom. This sounds like possible harassment. report him 1.) Is the cop allowed to enter the girls house with the landlords key to "get" things out of the public closet or "check" on things..plumbing, etc.?
The lease may specify that the landlord "or their agents" may use the key. Check the lease for this option. If the 'cop' is considered at that time to be the landlord's 'agent' then there is no problem with the key access. If not, then you may want to bring this up with the landlord.
2.) -Is the cop allowed to monitor if any of the girls have a male guest sleep over and say the "rules" are that boys can't spend the night? (No mention of this in the lease)
Again this may have to do with the cop's status as acting agent of the landlord. In addition, check local standards for housing and guests. In some college areas, rooms are let by the person and overnight guests are not allowed. Rather old standards, but if the statute exists, then there is no problem.
3.) A male guest had his bicycle taken away by the cop b/c it wasn't "registered". Do you need to register a bike to simply peddle around campus?
Yes. Cities all require registration, just as a car requires registration. There is no way to differentiate between a bike which is going to be 'on campus' only or on the streets. Your friend should have thought of this, if for no other reason than having the bike registered in case of theft.
4.) Report it. Ok, so you may have to uninstall the fridge or whatever in order to do it, but if you have a complaint, y ou need to be able to make it without problems. Consider going to the college for support, many times there is an office which works with the community where a bridge across can be made. It seems to me that it violates most tenant landowner laws. Once a property is rented the landlord nor any other party on her behalf has the legal right to enter a place of residence without invitation. EVEN WITH A KEY The same as any other person. However fighting to enforce this would be very expensive. The only way I can see out of the situation for the girls is to band together, sit down and talk to the landlord. If they explained to her what is going on and that it appears they are being harassed and she does nothing then they could share legal expenses on a class action suit and everyone of them be allowed out of their lease, if this is their desire. You really need to be looking up the renters rights for the town or city in which your sister resides.
The landlady has a right to have certain rules and regulations, but she does not have the right to be allowing anyone to be entering the residence that is being rented without given permission of the people who are renting.
As far as the registration of a bicycle, that is also something that will depend on the individual town. I doubt if any cop is allowed to impound personal property, such as a bike without just cause.
If this landlady prefers that these young ladies do not have any "guests" in the home, this should be stated in writing on the rental agreement. If it is not in writing, she has no right to have her boyfriend attempting to enforce the supposed rule.
There is definitely something fishy going on here, sounds like this guy, regardless of if he is a cop, is a bit of a peeping tom, and is trying to find a lot of excuses to interact with these young women.
The landlady, most likely does not know what is going on, and he is using intimidating tactics with these young women for his own twisted reasons.
Please investigate this further, I would be very concerned about this guy attacking one or more of these young women as time goes on.
I would be very tempted to be reporting this cop anonymously to his superior officers if you cannot get a satisfactory answer from the landlady after researching the actual renter's rights. I doubt if his superiors would take very kindly to his actions.
Bless you for being a concerned sister; you will be helping all of these young women in the end. Your landlord may enter the house but I do not think her boyfriend can unless you are given some sort of notice.
I think you should check into the lease but much of this sounds really suspect. Even if he is TECHNICALLY doing nothing illegal, it sounds like he's a bit too involved in what the girls in the house are doing. I'm sure it must be uncomfortable. I think you need to tell your landlord. Take out the refrigerator or air conditioner that they weren't supposed to have and bring it to the lady's attention.
This sounds really frustrating. You should tell your sister to get together with a bunch of the girls in the house and look for a new place to rent. Whether its legal or not, this cop sounds like a total A*S on a power trip that I personally, would not want to deal with. Reporting him may be difficult because cops have reputation of sticking together so I would really consider moving away. WowEEEEEEEEE! So many wrongs, so little time ...
Hellcop has NO contractual authority in this scenario and has clearly breached the parameters of his duty to be 'on patrol' 24/7. All cops have this obligation to some extent - they're not supposed to turn a blind eye to crime in their down time - but this is clearly outside of those limits. To enter beyond shared kitchen - and even THEN there must be some rule either in lease or at common law for all-girls dorm - is a SERIOUS trespass unless there are Miranda-type warnings (see item #8 nicely laid out here http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php...
Hellcop is in big trouble and so is his cop outfit (vicarious liability) and landlord for facilitating repeated illegal entries. Get thee and your sister to atty to pursue the matter immediately. There are civil AND criminal issues involved here that will require careful handling.
In the meantime, get sister and other tenants to keep a REALLY GOOD, detailed diary of events as close to dates and times and what was exchanged, etc. as possible. Hurry! It sounds as if hellcop has told his copbuddies there are girls nearby to harass.
Hellcop is a stalker, by the way. It's a somewhat difficult offense to pursue in many locations but that's what is going on. See excellent helpful resources at Stalking Resource Center http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=D... The only thing that applies in a rental situation is the lease. Whatever is in that lease, signed by everyone, is the ONLY things that apply.
If the lease doesn't specify that this person can periodically enter the premises on behalf of the landlord,then he can't do it.
If you and the other tenants allow it, shame on you. Next time he comes around, call 911 and report an intruder.
Send the landlord a letter, registered, that you want the intrusions to stop immediately; that the lease is being broken and he is invading your privacy. Then, take action with the law if the situation doesn't change. Most places Landlords, or their agents, must give notice, often a day or more, before they enter their tenants units to perform maintenance unless it is an emergency. I guess there's a lot of landlords that post on this board, cause no, he cant just go in an "check up" on stuff whenever he pleases. It's trespassing. In this situation you best bet is just to move the hell of out their though - fighting this with the landlord will be a pain in the *** and, unfortunately, you won't get much out of it. |
