If homeowners don't want other people denying them access to their property or interpreting a lease as if it is indeed a lease, they shouldn't be leasing out their properties.
Ahhh.. the typical renter mentality summed up in a sentence. "I pay rent so it's my RIGHT to do with the property as I please."
Sorry, De, it's their property, not yours. In exchange for your money you get the
privilege of habitating in their property. You can all it what you want but trying to ascribe an emotional state - your "call it a 'home'" statement - is a philisophical argument, not a legal or ethical one. Your "rights" as a renter extend to the owner being required to keep the property habitable and reasonably hazard free for the duration of your stay, and to give reasonable prior notice for necessary visits (and "necessary" includes routine property condition inspections.) Your
responsibility as a renter includes maintaining the property in the same, or better, condition than the day you moved in. That includes basic cleaning, groundskeeping (if applicable), and maintaining the property in a way not conducive to damage, deterioration, or infestation.
I see no reason why tenants should be treated as if they have no property in their homes, when that's precisely the thing a lease conveys.
Incorrect. The lease treats the tenants as if the house/apartment
is not their
property. Unfortunately the majority of tenants seem to conveniently forget this. I find it jaw-droppingly insipid when tenants will complain "this is MY HOUSE!!!" but treat the place like it's some valueless disposable, the place being a dismal, disgusting, detritus-covered pigsty (usually complete the with feces/urine of the animal the renters "don't own").
Your argument is falling on deaf ears. Anyone who's dealt with renters can tell you that they've heard your argument a hundred times, and that ninety nine of those times it was laughably disconnected from the reality that unfolded.
As said by others, if you want complete control over who comes and goes, buy your own place. As a secondary solution you could rent a house and not an apartment. Houses tend to be visited less by the owners due to the inconvenience of their properties being geographically removed. However, the owners tend to be far more scrutinizing and critical of potential renter-induced liveability/habitability issues (i.e. - a filthy slob lifestyle that is conducive to rodents/insects) or to damages that might be treated less severly by apartment owners who have staff/materials on hand to repair them (i.e. - holes punched in walls, broken windows, animal-damaged floors/doorframes, etc.).
Back to the OP's question... If it's happening consistently then address it with the owners. If they will not work with you then take it up with the your local attorney general or the state real estate licensing agency. If the owners have been properly posting the notices and this one somehow slipped through the crack, then it's non-issue. Stop obsessing over a detail and get on with life. This is an inconvenience, not a problem. Stop treating it like one.
Also, clean up your pigsty of an apartment. If your place isn't decent enough that you could have a friend, family member, or guest over on, say, an hour's notice, then pick it up, buttercup. Putting your race-striped underoos in the dirty clothes hamper is just as easy as throwing them on the floor. The rest of your "stuff" that's cluttering up the place? Well, put it up when you're finished with it. Pretty easy, eh?
Brad
