Can a Landlord Legally Search a Grow Cab or Tent?

Rascality Afoot

Well-Known Member
Hey all, I just had one of those tasty half-baked thoughts. If you have a tent or grow cab, can your landlord look in it? Obviously people conceal small grows for the most part. I'm wondering if you had a 10'by10' tent in the basement of a rented house, and your landlord organizes a "fire inspection" or some other horse-hockey in order to sneak and snoop in your dwelling, that YOU pay THEM for, can they ask you to open it like a room?
I'm talking a completely unattached cab or tent.
In addition, I was wondering, if there is no evidence that they can see or smell (light, stank, irregular or excessive power consumption), can the fact that you have a personally owned and fully removable walk-in size container that you will not open be used in order to obtain a warrant?

Laws vary from country to country, state to state, province to province, but I'd love some input on this.If a grower is conducting a safe a responsible grow, and being respectful of their landlords property, I see no reason why they should need to see "whats in the box, man?"
 

racerboy71

bud bootlegger
i'm far from a lawyer, but my thinking is this.. anything that is on the landlords property is subject to their search and knowledge of its being there.. i know in some places, the fact that you hide a grow from a landlord is reason enough to be evicted from what i've read before... the reason's for this as far as i know is that if you were to get raided by say the feds or the local popo, the landlord would in some way be held responsible for what's going on on their property.. i could be wrong with this, but for some reason, i don't think i am..
i'd like to see what other's have to say on this subject as well...
 

bryon209

Active Member
well i am no lawyer either...but i do know if your land lord is fucking with you you can refuse to pay him rent and it can take up to ninety days to leave ...meaning you are no longer picking up the tab for his hooker billl...if your land lord wants to search your personal belongings you need to remind him firstly this is not north korea and second you will be protesting it in such ways of you refusing to pay rent and going through the costly eviction process... also a tent that small is not that hard to hide...put it in a room and tell him the baby is asleep in there...whos baby...doesnt matter its fuckin rosemarys fuck off
 

Rascality Afoot

Well-Known Member
Fully! Thats what I'm saying. Obviously a person would take precautions with a smaller grow like hiding it well and stuff. And yes if your landlord is being a dick then there are steps one can take to obstruct and inconvenience them as well.
What I'm wondering though, is, if you are on good terms with your landlord, you are six weeks into flower, he gives you the required (2 days, 90 hrs, whatever it is where you live) notice, does a walkthrough, and he says "whats in there", can you legally say "I'm afraid I can't discuss that"? I know it looks heat, it looks suspicious.

I guess that the core of the question is, can a landlord search containers that are not built into the house? If not, then when does a container become a room or a structure?
 

Rascality Afoot

Well-Known Member
BTW, I am not in this situation right now. I'm just thinking it would make an excellent precautionary measure for people who were planning on a room that size anyway. That and, then the landlord can't get all pissed because now his basement has an unauthorized wall in it.
 

Ku$hc0Wb0Y

Active Member
he cant look through your personal things thats for damn sure , and if he found out you where growing he could get you in trouble and he wouldnt get in any trouble at all cause all he has to say is 3 words "i didnt know" and hes straight by law its his property but moraly hes a dick for snooping around if he was going to and you could get in trouble for that wall too dude breach of contract usually you cant put additions anywhere on a rented house but just lookin out
 

Gastanker

Well-Known Member
Landlords are not legally allowed to rummage through your belongings. This includes opening anything. They are allowed to check their property (not yours) with a given notice, and are allowed to come by to make repairs again after giving you notice.

You could technically have a grow tent in the middle of your living room with ducting and lights visible and they still cant open the tent. However they would most likely alert the police to suspicious activity which is completely legal, and they can evict you for violating federal law if the police discover that there is in fact marijuana in the tent.

My landlord dropped by unannounced and went into my green house. Knocked on the door to complain to me so I told her that I would have to call the police due to trespassing into a medical grow. I showed her my paperwork and then asked what the hell she was doing trespassing on my property without giving me notice. It was pretty funny how fast it went from her on the attack to her apologizing. In the end I warned her that I was obliged my county law to report to the police any unauthorized entries to my garden and she hurried away.

She showed up a week later (after calling first) with an addendum to my lease agreement she wanted me to sign saying that I would no longer grow outside but keep it to indoors. As it was not initially in the lease agreement I told her that there was no way I was going to sign it but that if she wanted to present it to me when it comes to renewing my lease that I would consider it then.

Of course if you aren't legal I wouldn't tempt fate and some counties require you notify your landlord beforehand.
 

redivider

Well-Known Member
sounds like a bunch of college kids on here, never seen a lease.... lol...

they have to give you 24 hours notice to come inside. even a paper taped to the wall is good enough.

they can't just come inside.
 

NoDrama

Well-Known Member
The Landlord MUST notify you before entering the apartment. But if he isn't doing that do you think he would have any qualms about rifling through your stuff?
 

Victus

Active Member
the answer is no.
It's been said multiple times but I'll say it again for good measure.

The landlord is required to give written notice 24 hours before they are allowed to enter your property without your express permission.
Once they are inside legally, they can't just start rooting around looking for things. They have no legal right to search your property or investigate complaints for things like a possible grow room. If a warrant is obtained from an illegal search like that you could probably get it thrown out unless they can argue inevitable discovery.

also said before, best not to tempt fate.
 

DaLeftHandMan

Active Member
We have a notice that the landlord is coming thru with an appraiser here in a week or so, i never worry too much about it..i just unplug my grow for their time being..thats my only 'tell' to my stealth..and thats even really hard to see. it is not legal for a LL to walk into your home without notice and open or investigate anything that was not there when you first walked into the place. while it is their property, you have rights to privacy and that guard against unlawful search and or seizure, he/she is NOT the law(..and even a cop couldnt come in and do it without a warrant) you pay your bills you earn those rights, if your not flamboyantly obviously growing..you have nothing to worry about.
 

growinhound

Member
I dont beleive in giving up tell them no. Learn any Basic Law, any way you can. You do have rights that protect you also.like gastanker implied we can discuss this tiny misunderstanding, when it comes time to sign the lease again.If that is not good enough.........I'm not sure i will be able to pay this months rent! evict me or come back with a better TONE in your voice.You can play cat and mouse games too!! good luck read your lease,use internet learn a little law it really does help.
 

Rascality Afoot

Well-Known Member
Alright, so here is the answer to my question, for those who don't want to rifle through all the fluff that a forum post attracts. I've been away for a while without the net, so sorry to drag this one back up.

It would seem, from looking through the useful answers and speaking to a lawyer friend, that a landlord cannot enter a structure in the rental property as long as it causes no damage to his own property. They CAN however examine UNDERNEITH OR ABOVE the structure to check for damage at the agreed upon inspection date. This could be problematic if it's full of frosty nuglets and dirt!

OBVIOUSLY this will arouse suspicion, but is not grounds for a search warrant in most cases. There are some asshole judges out there who don't care about the law if it conflicts with their own twisted little version of it. That said, it could easily buy you enough time to finish, or at least to scrap the project and eliminate the evidence. That could be the difference between JAIL or just a bad run. If tents or grow cabs are a fit for your setup, they may be worth considering based solely upon that.

Any built in structure CAN AND WILL be inspected on the spot. If your tent is attached to the walls, or held up at the ceiling, they can check it.


Finally, there were alot of people telling me to flex my rights, and stand up taller. DON'T DO THIS WITH HERB IN YOUR HOUSE! Learn the law, make sure your landlord is aware of the law, but NEVER TREAT YOUR LANDLORD POORLY! I am painfully aware of my rights, as there is cancerous growth of voter indifference eating them away by the day, but do not antagonize the situation by acting like a lippy teenager.

I have a great landlord, and a great relationship with them. Even if I didn't, I would never try to make them feel powerless to influence THEIR own property. This can only lead them to become obsessed with you and whatever you hold so dear and secret...
 

Brian11543

Active Member
A landlord does have to give you notice before entering UNLESS, there is an emergency, like a gas leak when you weren't home, good luck proving there wasn't one. He may not search through belongings however, a grow tent would look suspicious what do you tell him it is? Kids fort? Dog kennel? IF it is proven that the landlord had knowledge of illegal drug activity being performed from their house, that house is subject to forfeiture under current drug laws. Playing dumb, isn't a defense for them. Why take that chance? If they come in and see it, and speaking as a former landlord, you're in trouble if you can't get them to buy your explanation or telling them they can NOT see what is inside. You can be evicted for many reasons, as far as the law goes, it takes time to get someone out but, if you are wanted out, a reason can always be found. Failure to maintain property is a popular one. Read the lease, a smart landlord always covers their ass. The tenant stands to lose a crop, will have to move. The landlord could lose a very big investment. What would you do as a landlord?
 

Learning2Hydro

Active Member
Finally, there were alot of people telling me to flex my rights, and stand up taller. DON'T DO THIS WITH HERB IN YOUR HOUSE! Learn the law, make sure your landlord is aware of the law, but NEVER TREAT YOUR LANDLORD POORLY! I am painfully aware of my rights, as there is cancerous growth of voter indifference eating them away by the day, but do not antagonize the situation by acting like a lippy teenager.

I have a great landlord, and a great relationship with them. Even if I didn't, I would never try to make them feel powerless to influence THEIR own property. This can only lead them to become obsessed with you and whatever you hold so dear and secret...
This x 1000. No, they can't legally do it. But do you really want to piss them off so they call the cops and tip them off? Be on your BEST behavior at ALL times.
 

mygirls

Medical Marijuana (MOD)
Hey all, I just had one of those tasty half-baked thoughts. If you have a tent or grow cab, can your landlord look in it? Obviously people conceal small grows for the most part. I'm wondering if you had a 10'by10' tent in the basement of a rented house, and your landlord organizes a "fire inspection" or some other horse-hockey in order to sneak and snoop in your dwelling, that YOU pay THEM for, can they ask you to open it like a room?
I'm talking a completely unattached cab or tent.
In addition, I was wondering, if there is no evidence that they can see or smell (light, stank, irregular or excessive power consumption), can the fact that you have a personally owned and fully removable walk-in size container that you will not open be used in order to obtain a warrant?

Laws vary from country to country, state to state, province to province, but I'd love some input on this.If a grower is conducting a safe a responsible grow, and being respectful of their landlords property, I see no reason why they should need to see "whats in the box, man?"
nope they can not...
 

a dog named chico

Well-Known Member
In short NO they can't, but they will. If they don't like it you could be SOL. Laws regarding rental properties favor the landlord in most states...
 

mygirls

Medical Marijuana (MOD)
just remember if you are legal to grow you do not have to tell your landlord and if he finds out no he can not kick you out either... in oregon anyways
 
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