I agree, swordfish...OTOH, I think a landlord could legally claim that s/he needs to have unfettered access to all areas of the rental in the case of an emergency when you weren't around. Perhaps they wouldn't mind a locked bedroom...
I would think they would have a much harder time demanding access to a free-standing piece of furniture (or whatever) that is not a structural element of the real property.
I'm not saying that my thoughts on this are the last word. I used to do a fair amount of landlord/tenant law (and criminal law) and I would never count on a LL to follow the law. Some do, of course...many around here could give a fuck. It's just important to keep in mind that the LL can report to the cops NO MATTER whether there was legal access or no. |