Do landlords have a right to walk up in your apartment without your knowledge or prior notice?

I was out yesterday & today, & I come back, & the landlord left a message on my door, saying, "Clean this place up! It stinks."

I had an altercation 2 weeks ago with a man who lives in the complex, & he's buddy buddy with the maintenance man. But the neighbor tried several times to make passes at me, & I told him he wasn't my type, & he was too old. So ever since then, he's been trying to pick fights with me because he's angry that I don't feed into his sexual passes.

I think he told the maintenance man something POWERFULLY evil about me, enough to make the maintenance man hate my GUTS! The maintenance man used to be very nice & sweet. But after the altercation with the neighbor bullying me, the maintenance man turned his nose up & rolled his eyes @ me & got annoyed with me for asking him a maintenance-related question. & the maintenance man has never said anything about the condition of my house before. He had no problem with it. Now all of a sudden, it's filthy! Well, my brother came here, & later on, my friend & her boyfriend came here, & they said the house doesn't smell bad. & that they're just trying to look for excuses to evict me.

He must've told the landlord about my house, & the landlord came here while I was gone by my brother's house. Now, I DID tell them that there are some carpenter ants in the closet. The closet is clean. They ate through a hole in the wall. I had to take most of my stuff out of the closet & put it in the living room (I have an efficiency) because the closet was moist & sweaty from the hot weather. I didn't know. As I said, the closet was clean.

The living room looks messy because I had to take out my things from the closet. & a month ago, the maintenance man gutted the mold from area of the closet & then sealed it back up. Last week, I started seeing carpenter ants eating a hole through the wall. So, I couldn't put my stuff back in the closet just yet.

Also, they didn't even fix the ant problem, the squeaky ceiling fan, nor the screws missing off the bathroom door, even with me notifying them. I think they just came here to start trouble, not to fix anything.

If the house DOES stink, any, it's probably because of it being hot & muggy all the time. Also, I have carpet, & it's been rainy & windy a lot for the past few days because we're getting part of the effects of Hurricane Ike. & that made the carpet damp.

I keep the A/C running on 70, constantly. The lease says we have to keep it cool to avoid mold. Because of my financial circumstance, I can't afford to make the house colder.

But anyway, even if I have a problem, do they still have a right to just pop up unexpectedly like that, with no prior notice?
Additional Details
I'm here in Texas.

They have a right to enter without notice only in the case of an emergency. So if your toilet was overflowing, or there was a fire, OK, but otherwise? No. The houskeeping in the kitchen is only their concern if it causes smells outside or makes a pest control problem. Being messy or disorganized is not against the rules -- one of those crazies who lives with stacks of newspapers and boxes stacked to the ceiling is, but not regular stuff, like the contents of a closet.

You have a case to get out of your lease. You should not be harrased at home, you are paying for that space, it is yours as long as you have a lease and nobody elses.

Well babe,l could Not Better the answer Off "Lolly" - so l Wont Even Try......... Lol Hope things Omprove Soon. Keep Your Chin Up. (((Hugs)))

In most states, landlords are only allowed to enter your apartment without notice DURING AN EMERGENCY. Otherwise, they cannot legally walk into your apartment without letting you know in advance.

Houses don't stink if they are clean, no matter how muggy it gets.

He does have the right to investigate an odor, without notice, if he gets a complaint from another tenant...and the health department will back him up on that.

My advice is to change out the air filters (if they are clogged, the air will be damp) and invest in a dehumidifier...they work wonders and you can find a used one very inexpensively.

Generally, no. However, if, as you admit, it is wet inside because of a huricane, entering to remedy that situation may be considered an "emergency repair", for which they can enter enter without prior notice (obviously, if the house catches on fire, they are not going to give you notice before coming to extinguish the fire).

thats a huge no. You need to do two things. One, file a police report on the landlord stating that they were in there illegally. And two, file a protection order against your neighbor. More than likely that will automatically evict him. If you don't make an example out of this, they will walk all over you. For the maintenance, if you can prove that the apartment is not in a livable condition you can pull out of the lease in 30 days with your deposit in hand if it isn't taken care of.

The landlord must notify you with 24 hours in writing that they will be entering your apartment. This is a law in all 50 states.

Regardless of where you live, no one has authority to go into your place at any time without notifying you. The only exception is if something is happening that causes a dangerous situation to others or the building - such as a fire or blown water pipe or something.

Go back and look at your lease, and see if they mentioned being able to come in. I think that since they own the property, they can come in without giving notice to you. Out of courtesy, they should notify you before they come in, but I don't think they're required to.

It could be helpful to find out if there is a tenants' union in your area, and ask them about it.

It seems a little odd to me that you're required to keep your apartment cool to avoid mold. It's like they're acknowledging something is wrong with the building, in my opinion.

Just because there is a note on your door doesnt mean the landlord entered. If he could detect smells coming from your apt, then he has every right to tell you to clean it up.
Geez, do you call the landlord when a light bulb goes out? To fix a
Sqeaky fan : Use 2 in 1 oil It cost about $2
Screws missing? Where did they go? He certainly didnt take them. Buy some and put them in.
Ants? Buy some spray or ant traps. "carpenter ants" do not eat through drywall or wet plaster, only wood. And keep the food put away and clean up the crumbs. Dont leave dishes in the sink, especially if its "warm and muggy".
Carpet doesnt stink because its warm and muggy. It stinks because its dirty and the humidity makes it worse. Try getting it professionally cleaned.
Everything you have complained about is no reflection on the landlord. It sounds like you have a little bit of work to do.

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