We offer many tenant notices at Landlord Forms and one of the most common forms requested and created is our Notice to Enter form.
A notice to enter form is used when you, the landlord, wish to enter the premises that a tenant is renting off you. Depending on the State, you need to give them a certain amount of advanced notice that you will be entering the premises.
A Notice to Enter form, along with many other notices such as an eviction notice, rent increase notice and a breach of lease notice, are included in the Landlord Forms package.
They are highly customizable allowing you to cover everything you need when creating a notice to enter form that you will deliver to your tenants.
Here are common questions we receive in regard to a Notice to Enter form.
Why do I Need A Notice to Enter Form?
A tenant has a right to privacy. You cannot simply enter their premises any time you want, even if you own the property. You must submit a notice to enter to the tenant to indicate to them that you will be entering their premises on a specific date.
You also need a valid reason as to why you are entering the property. You can’t simply notify a tenant that you wish to enter because you feel like it.
Valid reasons for submitting a Notice to Enter form to a tenant include:
Repairs: The tenant may have notified you that there are repairs needed on the property. Even if it is something as simple as putting a new washer in the kitchen faucet or to put some WD-40 on the door hinges; you need to notify the tenant in advance that you will be coming by to perform these repairs.
Health Standards: Perhaps there is some sort of insect or bug outbreak within the property or you just need to get on the premises in advance to stop this outbreak or issue.
Showing the Property: You may be looking to sell the property or the tenant is moving out and you are showing it to potential new renters. Either way, you need to notify the tenant that you will be bringing people around to showcase the property.
Inspection: After completing a repair you may need to visit the property to make sure everything is working out, or you believe there are some issues and need to inspect the property. Either way a notice to the notifying them of your entry to the premises is required.
Regardless of the reason for entering a tenants property, be sure to give them some notice.
What if My Tenant Says I Don’t Need A Notice To Enter?
It’s possible you are on friendly terms with your tenant. Hell maybe you pop over there for a beer after a long day. Either way – legally we would recommend providing the Notice to Enter and following all of the rules and regulations.
At the end of the day you and the tenant have signed a contract. If you do not provide a notice to enter and adhere to the rules, you are in void of that contract. While you may be on friendly terms now, down the road that may change.
Even if it is something very simple and will only require a 5 minute visit – be sure to get that Notice to Enter created and delivered to the tenant to protect yourself.
How Far in Advance Do I Need To Notify the Tenant?
This is one questions where the answer is “it depends”. The general rule is at least 24 hours before entry however you will need to be sure to verify with city and state legislation to confirm that is the case and that your local bylaws do not contradict that.
Some States/Cities will have different rules as to when you can enter a property. For example you may not be allowed to enter on a holiday or between 8am-8pm. You may also not be able to enter on a tenants day of worship if they are religious.
You may have also used the rental agreement with the tenant to specify how many days in advance you are giving them prior to notice of entry. So be sure to consult your rental agreement prior to that.
How do I Serve A Notice of Enter to the Tenant?
It is recommended that when submitting a notice of entry to a tenant, you do it either in person, or via registered or certified mail.
The reason for all of this is it guarantees that the tenant actually received the notice and that they are aware you will be entering the property.
You may also be able to do it electronically however be sure to check local regulations in regard to that one just to confirm it is okay. If you do it that way, be sure to get the tenants confirmation.
When Don’t I Need a Notice to Enter the Premises?
There are quite a few circumstances where you don’t need a notice to enter the premises. Three important ones are:
1: Emergency. If you see smoke coming from under the door and it looks like the property is on fire the you’re okay to enter the premises to see what is going on, and deal with any such emergency.
2: Tenants Consent in Advance. Let’s say the tenant needs their faucet fixed. They send you an e-mail stating that they need the faucet fixed, and you can come “Monday-Wednesday, between 12pm-5pm any of those days”. That is consent by the tenant and you do not even need to respond and give them a specific day. You or the repair person can come to the premises during that period as the tenant has provided advanced consent.
3: Abandonment. If the tenant has abandoned the property you are legally allowed to enter. Please note you will have to check with local bylaws to determine what falls under abandonment. In one state for example it takes over two months of no communication with the tenant, no rent being paid, and finding out the tenant is no longer employed. Always check what the local rules and regulations are.
Can a Tenant Deny My Entry?
Not without good reason, no. A tenant can negotiate with you in terms of when to enter. You can say you would like to visit on a Monday and they counter offer with Wednesday. However as long as all of the requirements have been met the tenant can not deny your entry as long as it is for a good reason.
Do You Have A 24 Hour Notice of Entry Form?
Our Notice to Enter form is highly customizable. What this means is that you can set it for 24 hours or you can set it for 6 weeks in advance. If you’re looking for a 24 hour notice of entry form then don’t worry our Notice to Enter allows you to do that.
Do You Have A Downloadable Notice to Enter?
Yes. Our downloadable notice to enter form is available in multiple different formats. This means that whether you are on your Windows computer or your Chromebook, your Android phone or your iPad – you will be able to download and print our Notice to Enter form.
it is available in multiple formats. The most common one is of course PDF which will allow you to open the Notice to Enter in Adobe Acrobat or another PDF viewer. The next most common format is either .DOC which you can open in Microsoft Word, or .RTF which is Rich Text Format and will allow you to open it in any sort of Word Processing Software. So even if you are not using Microsoft Word you will still be able to open it in Google Drive, OpenOffice or whatever Word Processing software you use.
Finally you need a web browser obviously to be viewing Landlord Forms. Therefore we also offer the printable Notice to Enter form in HTML format. This means that you can access it simply from a web browser.
Upon purchase you get the easy option to download it in any and all of those formats.
Do You Have City/State Specific Notice to Enters?
Yes. Our Notice to Enter form is highly customizable and will accommodate any city or state. So if you are looking for a California 24 Hour Notice to Enter or a Notice of Entry in New York form, our system has you completely set up.
Notice of Enter for Apartments?
Yep again. When you are creating the Notice to Enter form on our website, one question it asks you is the Premises type and address. Within the type you can choose an apartment or a house or a mobile home or a condo or even a basement or a room.
We set our forms up for maximum customizability so that you can easily find a notice to enter that suits the property, the state and the city as well as anything else you desire.
What is a Reasonable Notice for Landlords to Enter A Property?
Generally 24 hours is the accepted time requirement in regards to providing a Notice of Entry to a tenant. As long as they have received the notice in time of course. If you are using certified or registered mail always be sure to factor that in.
As always be sure to check with local state and city regulations.
For example if you are looking for a Washington State Notice to Enter, please refer to RCW.59.18.150. That provides details in regard to it.
In Washington State if providing a notice of entry, you must provide 48 hours of notice to the tenant prior to entering the unit. However if you are showing the property to a new potential tenant or purchaser of the property, you only need to provide 24 hours notice.
In Washington State it is required when providing a notice of entry that you list a specific date, and a time of entry or a time period in which you can enter.
If you were creating a New York Notice of Entry, you need to be aware of the rules and regulations there. You need to provide a reasonable period of notice and the New York Attorney General’s office declared that for repairs, one weeks notice is required while only 24 hours notice is required for inspections.
While our form is set up for you to customize it any way you require, it is your responsibility to confirm that it conforms with local city and state regulations and bylaws.
Do You Have A Sample Notice to Enter Form for Download?
Below is a graphic where you can see what a sample notice to enter form looks like – this is the data we request off a user prior to creating the Notice to Enter form:
As you can see it is set up for multiple landlords AND multiple tenants and in terms of what we require off you we don’t ask too many questions. Our goal is to make it as simple as possible for you. When creating a Notice to Enter form it is a relatively easy procedure – we take you through the basic steps then our system does the rest.
Do You Offer a Free Notice of Entry Form?
No. Our notice of entry form is not free – however once you have signed up you will be able to create and download as many notice of entry forms as you wish. So you are not restricted to just the one. If you send a notice of entry to the tenant for Monday, December 3rd and they ask you to come back on Wednesday, December 5th you can simply update the one you created within our system if you wish and send out a new one notifying that date.
In addition to that you get our complete package of tenant notices such as a breach of lease notice and a rent increase notice. In addition you get access to create all of the landlord forms we have on the site be it a rental agreement, a sub-lease agreement and many more.