Big Brother is watching INSIDE our homes in the People's Republic of East Lansing.

My mailbox | 4-4-02 | Dan from MI and my apt manager

[Dan from Michigan]

I get this notice today.

ATTENTION: Residents of ******** Apartmants.

RE: CITY OF EAST LANSING HOUSING INSPECTION

The City of East Lansing will be conducting their annual housing inspection (date given). During the inspection they will be checking for overall cleanliness, safety, and maintenance conditions. The following is a list of items that they have cited violations on. This is not a complete list, but the most common issues we have seen in the apartments. Please keep in mind that tickets can be written to the residents.

(listing part of the list)

2. Garbage, EMPTY BEVERAGE CANS stored in ANY location of the apartment

5. EXTENSION CORDS(Screw that) are NOT allowed....

7. TV and Computer Cords must not be run on the floor. Wires can be run up and around windows and doorways.

[Dan from Michigan]

Thanks. I'll check out the links.

[Dan from Michigan]

It sounds like the City of Lansing doesn't have the same problem.(I'm near Frandor as well, but on the EL side)

I posted an article on Schwarz as well in the campaign section. I missed yours. He's apparently trailing ED HAMILTON in the polls. I don't even know anything about Ed Hamilton.

I'm looking over the lease now. I think I might have got hosed contractually on it. Ordananice(sp) 915 and 915-A.

However, I do not think I signed any permission to the EL Code enforcement people. I signed it to DTN. Does DTN have a right for EL Building Code to come in?

I have a few calls to make.

[Rebelbase]

Man, I did'nt know you were living in public housing!.

[Dan from Michigan]

I understand, and knowingly consented to the LANDLORD inspecting. I don't like it, but it is their right.

My problem is with the City of East Lansing inspecting. GOVT inspection. If the Landloard came loan wolf, even with a camera, no problem. My problem is with government bureaucrats that can give me tickets.

If I wasn't technically a Brighton resident, I'd run for city council.

[lgjhn]

Yep, I've had it done to me in an corporate run apartment complex just outside of Memphis, TN, but these "inspections" were written into my lease when I moved in so it was no great surprise.
Where these corporate morons really messed up was, they moved out the furniture 2 months before the lease was up for some reason(I had rented a furnished apartment)!!! I came home from work one evening to find the place emptied out. When I complained, they basically told me to "move" if I didn't like it. I immediately stopped payment on the most rent check (lost my security deposit) and moved out to a more friendly environment. They had broken the lease agreement, not me, but it just wasn't worth fighting over.

[Dan from Michigan]

Man, I did'nt know you were living in public housing

LOL. I didn't either.

[Mr. Lucky]

That's why you have your lawyer look at high Dollar legal documents BEFORE you sign them.

[Khepera]

Do they have a warrent? How can they make you comply to a warrentless search? (Please don't quote the patriot Act)

[spunkets]

Then the local ord. is written and directed to the landlord. All you can do is to insist that he's present, but what good does that do? Just make sure only power strips with breakers are being used and put all your pop cans out of sight...like a box in the trunk of your car.

[Lazamataz]

I’ve been in many apartments where the occupants had destroyed hardwood floors - it looked like they'd ice skated on them, had literally removed all inside doors and cabinet doors and burned them in the fireplace, had kicked holes in plaster and sheetrock walls, and more. I don’t know if people damage stuff like that just for fun, or if it is simply the way they live.

Ping. Yer not doin' half bad if all you can complain about is some socks that missed the hamper and a dirty mouse and keyboard. :o)

[texas booster]

On the constitutional (and practical) side, what if the inspection team included folks from the owner, the Police dept, the health inspector and CPS?

That way, the landlord provides the right to enter, the police dept searches for illegal contraband and firearms, the health inspector searches for extension cords and clean kitchens, and CPS decides if there is "probable cause" to open a case file on you.

This seems to be the easiest way for E. Lansing to open up your Castle to all of the intrusions of the gov't.

[Fred Mertz]

Dan, I didn't realize you lived in the projects.

Maybe muggs can address your situation as she is some sort of super or something.

[JRandomFreeper]

If you can't do anything about it legally, try to come up with some creative ways to enjoy it. Like, eating cabbage soup and beans for a week before the inspection. Then, continually flatulate as you follow the inspector around. Do some psyops to make them feel uncomfortable.

/john

[GovernmentShrinker]

I think the rental housing laws in most jurisdictions are aimed as much at dysfunctional low-income/welfare tenants as at students. There's some reasonableness to it, when you consider that a lot of these people are doing things in their apartments which create serious fire hazards and lesser (but still serious) problems like attracting roaches and rodents. In apartment buildings, the actions of one tenant can result in serious harm or even death to other tenants.

The Pennsylvania township I live in has a law requiring annual inspections in order for the landlord to renew his/her rental license. Obviously with such a law on the books, a landlord is going to comply and has probably put a clause in leases requiring tenants to cooperate.

Fortunately we don't have any serious problems in our township, and the building officials have devised a system which is non-intrusive and creates almost no work for them -- they mail out a "self-inspection" form each year with the application for rental license renewal. The landlord checks off all the right boxes, signs it, and mails it in. But I can see how this wouldn't work too well with the illiterate welfare crowd that a lot of jurisdictions have to contend with. I own my single family home, but rent two rooms to boarders (since somebody has to look after the place while I'm living/working in NYC Mon-Fri, and I set things up so they pay ME to get this accomplished), so I get to do the self-inspection every year. They did do a real inspection when I first bought the house and applied for a rental license for the first time.

[Dave S]

Dan, one day you'll own your own home and then that's when the real misery starts.

Aint that the truth. My city just told me I have to replace my deck ($5-6,000). When I went by to get building permit, I find out I have to give them a 10% deposit to ensure that once the work is started, its completed. Hey Im the one doing the work, its not like Im not going to get paid!!

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

We never had anything like this in Ann Arbor. Go Blue!

[FourtySeven]

First of all, this is the most out RAGEOUS thing I've ever heard. I mean, no EXTENSION cords??? ugh....

BTW - Is this even LEGAL(I'm a tenant, not an owner so I'm not sure)??? I owe the city one for that stupid accident fiacso. I'm just looking for an excuse to nail these guys. If I can get ONE opening and if I get another damn ticket, we're going back to court.

It may be unjust, (and it sure is in my opinion), but it doesn't sound like it's "illegal". Being a tenant, and all the "rights and privilidges" thereof, (of which there are NONE of course) is exactly why I bought my own place. I refused to be under the "thumb" of any rentor anymore. I mean talk about a tolitarian regime, in every lease (as I'm sure you're aware) it's been customary for years to grant the landlord the legal right to come into your apartment really, anytime they choose! I hated renting after I learned that (couldn't get out of it for a while), and vowed I would never be a renter again.

This actually may be why you're apartment is being "inspected". Perhaps your landlord has made some kind of deal with the local gov't to let them inspect tennants' apartments in exchange for maybe tax breaks or something. I'd be very suprised, in other words, if the city could get away with searching private homes too. That would be as direct a violation of the 4th as you can get.

Good luck at any rate!

[Dave S]

Doesnt sound like it would pass muster with the courts. I think the law must have been passed as favor to the apartment owners to protect their property. Still not right. Especially given what they allow the students to do in the dorms. I can remember people lining one entire wall from ground to ceiling in beer cans. Once every couple weeks the whole thing would come crashing down. And that was when it was illegal to drink in the dorms.

Where exactly do you live? Sounds like youre somewhere between Harrison Road and Frandor shopping center. Back in the 60's I lived in Bryan Hall in the Brody Group. Spent a lot of time at a bar a block or so away in Lansing. It was called Grandmothers back then. Worked at Suits News in Frandor.

[Jay W]

If your apartment is entirely a private matter, such that no organ of government was involved in providing it to you, you could tell the inspectors "Not without a warrant, buddy," and be entirely within your rights. If they were to force entry after that, you could sue the city in Federal court. However, if your housing is public housing, or is part of some public-private package deal that involves ceding your Fourth Amendment right against arbitrary searches, you might be without recourse.

Correct. And if the lease includes a clause that inspectors can enter unannounced, then that's a legal contract that gives them that power, provided you signed the lease freely and not under threat, duress, or coercion. A lease is a legal contract. Always read the fine print.

[Nitro]

If they could jail you for empty beer cans, they would have to re-open Alcatraz for me!!!