Is it allowed for an apartment complex to do random inspections without the tenant being present? I just received a letter from my apartment complex saying they WILL be entering my home on two specific dates during specific times. “You need not be present, as we will be spending only 5 to 10 minutes in each apartment. Due to time constraints we will be unable to make appointments or tell you the exact time we will inspect your apartment.” Is it wrong of me, or does that seem wrong? I am uncomfortable with the fact that they can come into my home anytime they want. And the fact that no other apartments had a notice on their door, as mine had been on mine. The letter later says they just want to inspect the condition of the property… I just moved in less then a month ago… Shouldn’t they have inspected the condition of the apartment before they leased it to another tenant? Does anyone know of a law that stops them from entering my home without me present or anything that helps? Thanks!

My refrigerator broke and I put in a work order to fix it. They came and fixed it and broke my door while at my place. There was a note on my front door when I got home that said “The maintenance people broke your door while fixing the fridge the will be back to fix it ASAP” for 3 days 2 nights I had no frame on one side of my door I had to put up a blanket to keep privacy. When they came to fix that they put in a new toilet too. The landlord then came over with a bill for the toilet saying that they said they replaced it because it was broken. I didn’t put in a work order and from what I knew there was nothing wrong with it. Now they want to come in and do repairs needed from the fire department inspection but I don’t want them in my place without me there because I don’t want to be charged for anything that isn’t broken. What can I do? What do I say? HELP ME! OH and to top it off my place is a mess and I would like to clean it before they come but they only gave me 24 hrs notice.

I guess I’m a little fuzzy on when I “need” to apply for a permit for work I am doing around my house. Can I just call the city I live in and ask someone every time I work on a larger project?
1a) I install a ceiling fan, I don’t think I need a permit.
1b) I remove a single fluorescent tube light fixture and install recessed lighting in my kitchen. Do I need a permit (or inspection) since I’m rewiring/placing new wire in the ceiling?
2a) I change a faucet. No permit.
2b) I install a water softener. I was told I would need a permit for this because if it isn’t installed properly the resin could backflow into the city water header.
I feel it is my home and I can do what I want and I guess that is true for the most part. I can understand issues arising like mentioned with the water softener (I’m not planning on doing this and haven’t looked into any details so I don’t know if the resin backflowing is even a concern but I think it’s a good example). If I do the work correctly, no one is really going to know that I installed recessed lighting, but still…
When do I NEED to get permits or have inspections performed when I am working on my own house?

A maintenance guy came by today, completely out of the blue to say they were doing an inspection. Our house was a mess, the laundry room door is broken because our dogs broke out, the carpet wasn’t cleaned because we weren’t home all weekend.
The maintenance guy reported us to the comm. manager who then said we had 2 days to clean or be evicted.
Does housing have to give warning before they do any kind of inspection? Can I file a complaint?
Mind you, we did have 2 more dogs than we were supposed to but we took the necessary steps they told us we had to and found them new homes for a while until we move off post.
Isn’t there some regulation about giving notice?
Technically because we’re considered to be “leasing” the property, isn’t it considered private? and didn’t they technically do an illegal search of private property?

Okay, we’re trying to buy a house that is in foreclosure. We ALREADY know for sure that the foundation is bad and the bathroom needs to be gutted and re-done because of mold. (We already have these reports and bids from a structural engineer and general contractor) but we have NOT done an inspection. (We lucked out and found the structural engineer that had ALREADY looked at the house for another potential buyer that backed out).
The only other thing I’m really concerned about is electrical. (We know a plumber that cound fix it if needed, my husband does hvac, and it’s on city sewer, and my husband does know a little electrical, but not enough to really inspect it). Howeverl, the power is shut off to the home so I don’t know if an inspector could look at that anyway. Also, I wanted to get the roof checked out. THe shingles are good but not sure about the wood underneath. It may or may not be good. Do you think I should go ahead and pay for any inspection or just skip it?

I have a 2 bedroom apartment. I have lived here almost 3 years. We have never had an inspection before, Now, everyone in my building got a 2 day notice. Not the whole complex, just my building. I went over and asked the manager what was going on, why the inspection etc. I didn’t get much of an answer, while she didn’t quite say it was none of my business, it was implied. The letter said that the management intended to come in and inspect between 9AM and 5PM Tuesday. It did not say what they were inspecting or looking for.
I may be paranoid, but I think they are trying to find a reason to evict
me and my kids. We are white. Lately, the new arriving tenents have been Hispanic, African American, Hindu, or Chinese. (80 percent of the complex does not have white tenents now. ) We have 5 months left on our lease. I can’t afford to move right now, as I am laid off.
My apartment doesn’t have any maintenence issues. It is fairly clean,
but kind of cluttered (we moved from a 4 bedroom home into a 2 bedroom apartment when my husband became disabled.
I don’t have any money to get the carpets cleaned before Tuesday except for vacuming them. What do they look for in “inspections”
anybody got any ideas of what I should do to get ready for it ?

We have low income housing and just recently we received a letter on our door 2 weeks ago for a physical inspection. They range the time from 8am to 5pm. No one came in to inspect. And now yesterday we got another letter for a physical inspection, and no one has showed up Again. I called the office this morning for the meaning of these inspection letters if no one shows up. They told me they send letter to people with low income housing as a warning to stay on their toes in order to keep their home cleaned. They also said we may or may not inspect the home.
Can someone explain to me why they are sending letters, but not inspecting the home? And why are they sending them every two weeks all of a sudden? Is it being used as a scare tactic of some kind?

I had a note on my apartment door when I came home that they would be conducting their “annual GMAC inspection” tomorrow. I have never heard of this. A web search doesn’t seem yield and useful information on the subject.
I do plan on calling in the morning to find out but figured the interwebz might be able to answer my question before then.
(God I need to get a house, I hate people coming in my place especially when I’m not around)

I am in the process of purchasing a home and am trying to go FHA, but I have been told that FHA inspection is more strict than conventional. I am going to look at a house just put on the market, but I need to know what kind of things to look for to see if would pass FHA inspection. Can anyone help?

I am a college student in NC. My parents live 9 hrs away, also in the state. My car is registered to my mother for insurance purposes. My inspection sticker has expired. When I realized it expired I went to the Ford place to get it inspected. They told me that because the county my parents live in have different inspection laws (admissions) I cannot get my car inspected here. I don’t know what to do, obviously driving nine hours with an expired inspection sticker in the middle of exams is out of the question. Also, my tag expires next month. I tried to get that renewed as well, and was told my mother would have to do it. She said she would, but no tag has arrived yet. Is there anyway to get temporary tags/stickers while I wait? My car is in fairly good shape, and while not driving was possible in october, it is no longer an option if I plan to continue in school. I know there are students who live farther from home than I do, how do they deal with such things?