🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3j3kn3$bjb@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> flamer wrote:

> I started renting a 1 bedroom apt in Austin last Sep.
> Was initially surpised to find that the worker from the Management
> Office is allowed(and indeed actually uses this right) to freely open
> my apt. door, go in, do any of the following listed below, _as long as_
> he leaves a note immediately before leaving. Even when nobody is in. 
> Me, the rightful tenant will not even be consulted or informed
> BEFOREHAND!!!!!!  Furthermore, the management is not _responsible_ for
> theft, as written in an addendum.

Contrary to what some people are saying, this is not just in Austin.
My lease in Denton was exactly the same way --- we thought we had
a reasonable apartment manager who said they would notify us first
before showing the apartment (this was a few months before we moved
out).  What the apartment manager really did was let us know whenever
she managed to remember (not always), and when she *DID* arrange
appointments, didn't let us know when they were cancelled (this happened
a couple of times).  If the problem is them showing your apartment,
you might want to tell them that you're "redecorating" and hanging
a big sign in the living room saying "DON'T RENT FROM xxx".  :-)
That was our next step, but we managed to get things worked out
before it got quite that far.  This lease seems to be standard 
practice in the area, so the statements of "read the lease" are 
short-sighted and useless.

To the people that say "if you don't like it, move", I have this to
say:  This is where my job is, so this is where I will stay.  However,
don't expect me to like the extreme lack of individual/consumer/tenant
rights in this state, and I will support any law that gets rid of
the unfair situation described above.  Nobody can *honestly* think
this is a reasonable situation, can they?  When you rent an apartment,
it is your home, and NOONE should be able to come in without your
permission, except in case of an emergency.

The one other thing I have to say on this thread is that in another
comment I saw what is perhaps the most ignorant, stupid thing I have
seen on the net in a while:

Ed Bullard said:

> Makes me wonder what you are hiding that you need such privacy? Running 
> a drug lab, or stock-piling weapons perhaps?

So if you support privacy you must be hiding something?  Hey, I know,
let's just get rid of the need for police to get search warrants.  I
mean, after all, if you're innocent and have nothing to hide, you won't
mind if the police can just come in whenever they want.  Why don't
we just have regular sweeps that check up on people to make sure they
don't have anything illegal --- after all, the innocent people shouldn't
object, because they have nothing to hide....

Simply put, my home is my castle.  There is nothing illegal, and nothing
even embarrassing in my home.  And nobody, but NOBODY, should have to
right to come into my home without my approval or without a valid
search warrant.

--
Steve Tate  ---  srt@cs.unt.edu | "As often as a study is cultivated by narrow
Dept. of Computer Sciences      |  minds, they will draw from it narrow
University of North Texas       |  conclusions."  -- John Stuart Mill, 1865.
Denton, TX  76201               |