questions & answers

Question: I rent a room inside a house with no lease month to month payment, the owner of the house lives in the room next to mine but when I'm not home he enters my room and searches my closet and drawers with the excuse of making sure i have no drugs. Also he is always knocking at my room door when I'm asleep to tell me to clean the room. Is that legal? I lock the door and when i come home the door is all the way open. Can i sue for invasion of privacy or what can i do? I'm going to vacate soon but I'm mad about he doing that i feel violated.

Answer: Landlords and tenants have mostly the same rights and responsibilities under verbal month-to-month rental agreements as they do under written year-long rental agreements. As a general rule, unless a specific rental agreement says otherwise, a landlord should not enter the rented space of a tenant without permission except in the case of an emergency (A.R.S. 33-1343).