Walk It Through: The Spare Key
24 hours' notice for repairs, 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and a fee capped at 2 months' rent to leave.
A tenant comes home from work to find the landlord inside the apartment, with no notice beforehand.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One apartment and one landlord. Emergencies, an absent tenant, and a servicemember's lease are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Domestic violenceAssault, battery, sexual assault, stalking, kidnapping, false imprisonment, or any crime causing injury or death, by one family or household member against another.
- Early termination feeA charge for ending a lease early that works only if the tenant signed a separate addendum accepting it when the lease was made, and that does not exceed 2 months' rent.
- Writ of possessionThe writ the clerk issues to the sheriff after a judgment for the landlord, putting the landlord in possession after 24 hours' notice posted on the premises.