Search for Cat May Breach Civil Code

In the Nov. 7 Apartment Life column (“How to Tell if Kitty’s a Resident”), Kevin Postema suggests that a landlord could apparently make up an excuse to enter a tenant’s apartment in the hope of seeing a prohibited cat.

He quoted part of California Civil Code Section 1954 that permits entry under a very restricted set of circumstances, none of which include inspections for alleged rental agreement violations but which a misguided and unethical landlord might try to use as an excuse for entry.

However, he left out the first line of Section 1954, which states, “A landlord may enter the dwelling unit only (emphasis added) in the following cases: . . .” As noted, no case includes inspections for alleged rental agreement violations.

Section 1954 goes on to state, “The landlord shall not abuse the right of access or use it to harass the tenant,” which is in fact exactly Postema’s suggestion.

RICHARD MENNA

Van Nuys

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