Once you rent a single family residence and have a one year lease is it your right to change the locks on the house or should you ask for the landlord's permission?

Answer 1

You should ask the landlords permission for anything permanant that you do to his house. To avoid problems, read lease, check with landlord. Your lease probably has a clause about the landlord having the right to make "emergency" inspecitons, even if you aren't there. As a locksmith, I've never dealt with a landlord who didn't want a key to his house. As long as the landlord doesn't have to pay for it, most don't care if you change the locks as long as the quality isn't less than he had and he gets a key. As for changing the locks, do you mean instaling ew locks or rekeying the existing ones? If the lock is ok, it's a lot cheaper to have the key combination changed than buy new locks. Go back to the lease contract. Anything not specifically discussed in the lease contract is open for discussion. --------------------------------------------------------------- I too am a Locksmith (ALOA) and forget anything in any contract that says that the landlord must have a key. You, as a renter, are entitled to complete privacy rights. This means that you do not have to allow entry to the landlord without his or her prior notification as to a specific time and day. BUT.............If the landlord does not have a key and there arises a problem that could have been counteracted or lessened if the landlord could gain immediate entry (a burst water heater for example), you COULD be held liable. This would become a CIVIL Court case and you would still probably win. To sum it up....The landlord has NO right to enter your rented space. The landlord does NOT have the right to allow entry of the Police without your consent. This may vary in some states but as a rule of thumb privacy rights are universal. Y-THINK-Y