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Right of landlord to deny visitors

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Right of landlord to deny visitors

Postby dhauffe » Thu Jan 06, 2005 8:10 am

I live in San Diego, CA, where I rent one of the two apartments in a sort of carriage house in the back yard of my landlord's property. My landlord is in his late 80's, as is his wife. They have a fence around their entire property, with locked gates to limit access to the yard. They are concerned about their security, which I consider perfectly understandable. However, their concern goes to the extreme of denying my roommate or myself to have visitors at all.

This was not a problem initially, since at first I was the sole tenant. But recently I requested and received permission from my landlord to add a housemate to help me in covering living costs. I'm a male in my 30s with a stable career, and my new housemate is a female in her 30s with a steady job. We are not romatically or sexually involved with each other. She has her own room and living space, and I have my own as well.

The problem is that she has a boyfriend whom she likes to have over to visit. After she had been here a couple weeks, she had had him over to stay the night 4 or 5 times. I knew both the new housemate and her boyfriend for almost 9 months before she and I adopted this new living arrangement, and I'm not bothered by their behavior at all. Her boyfriend is completely at ease with the arrangement, and no strain has been placed on our friendship by it.

But my landlord and his wife are very strongly in opposition to our arrangement. They have notified my housemate and me that we are not to have any guests of any gender or relationship at all from now on. Violation of this prohibition will result in us being given 30 days notice to vacate the premises.

I talked with my landlord to try to arrive at some compromise on the matter and learned that his main concern is that at some point in the future, my housemate and I will become romantically involved, to the intense irritation of her boyfriend, who would then display his anger by inflicting damage to the landlord's property. Apparently a scenario like this actually occurred in this apartment about 15 years ago.

So, in short (or maybe not all THAT short after all), where does this situation stand in terms of landlord/tenant rights? I acknowledge his need to protect the security of his and his wife's persons and their possessions, but it seems absolutely unreasonable to deny us entirely the company of friends/lovers.

Any commentary would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Derek

<small>[ January 06, 2005, 07:14 AM: Message edited by: Derek - San Diego ]</small>
dhauffe
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 2:01 am
Location: San Diego

Re: Right of landlord to deny visitors

Postby Downtown » Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:39 pm

Do you have a signed lease. Not knowing the laws in your city...hard to comment. Seriously doubt that the LL has a legal right to limit visitors.
Would suggest that you contact a tenant group or ask a tenant lawyer what your rights are...worth a small consultation fee.
Downtown
 
Posts: 1386
Joined: Sat Jun 08, 2002 1:01 am
Location: NYC, NY

Re: Right of landlord to deny visitors

Postby dhauffe » Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:00 pm

Thanks for the reply. I figured I'd have to contact someone local, but just thought I'd try to get an idea of what the norms are elsewhere. This is an excellent service. I'll have to see if there's something similar to it in my area.

Oh, and in response to your question, yes, I do have a lease. I read it thoroughly when I moved in, but that was over a year ago now (I'm now on a month-to-month). I'm guessing what I'll be told is that while my LL doesn't have to right to deny us visitors, he can certainly choose not to renew the lease next month.

Again, thanks!
dhauffe
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 2:01 am
Location: San Diego

Re: Right of landlord to deny visitors

Postby Rodneystri » Thu Jan 06, 2005 6:34 pm

Yes, if you push the issue the LL could always give you notice to vacate.
Rodneystri
 


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