can a landord legally do this??

**ironhorse** · January 17th, 2010, 07:10 PM

I had a coworker tell me today that someone had broken into her car. and stole her mp3 player and a bunch of Cd's. Any way, the subject came up about keeping a gun for protection. The apartment complex they live in won't allow them to have a gun of any sort, according to the lease agreement. If they do they, will get kicked out immediately. I'm sure you make your choices when you sign the lease. It's been a awhile since I have had to rent a place to live. But, we moved around allot when we were younger. And rented several places, but never have I seen this in any leases. what's your thoughts????

**dc dalton** · January 17th, 2010, 07:28 PM

Well while it my rub everyone the wrong way the person signed a lease. The apartment is the private property of the owner and they can in fact put just about anything they want into a lease. And remember they (the owner) are technically loaning the apartment to the renter for a set amount of money per month but it is still their property. The time to challenge it is prior to signing it.

That being said if they were evicted they MIGHT have some legal recourse, but I'm thinking the judge would read the lease and side with the landlord.

Maybe GunLawyer can chime in on this one.

**GunLawyer001** · January 17th, 2010, 07:52 PM

This is one of those things where it's neither criminal nor immoral for someone to "take a business risk" and keep a gun in the apartment.

A lease isn't really a loan, it's a tenancy for a period of time. The interior is yours for that time, as long as you do no damage and don't interfere with the other tenants. If you violate the terms of the lease in any material way, they can sue to evict you, or simply decline to renew. I don't know how many judges would agree to terminate a lease early just because you had a gun in the closet or nightstand, but some would, and some wouldn't.

The landlord would only find out about the gun in one of 3 ways:

- You open your mouth about it, in which case you deserve to be evicted for stupidity.

- You have to use it to defend yourself, so being evicted isn't worse than being raped, kidnapped and/or killed.

- The landlord is rooting through your belongings because he's a sociopath, so maybe it would be good to move away from him.

**normanvin** · January 17th, 2010, 08:01 PM

Originally Posted by GunLawyer001

This is one of those things where it's neither criminal nor immoral for someone to "take a business risk" and keep a gun in the apartment.

A lease isn't really loan, it's a tenancy for a period of time. The interior is yours for that time, as long as you do no damage and don't interfere with the other tenants. If you violate the terms of the lease in any material way, they can sue to evict you, or simply decline to renew. I don't know how many judges would agree to terminate a lease early just because you had a gun in the closet or nightstand, but some would, and some wouldn't.

The landlord would only find out about the gun in one of 3 ways:

- You open your mouth about it, in which case you deserve to be evicted for stupidity.

- You have to use it to defend yourself, so being evicted isn't worse than being raped, kidnapped and/or killed.

- The landlord is rooting through your belongings because he's a sociopath, so maybe it would be good to move away from him.

Would you want to stay at this place, if the landlord tried to evict you? Even if it did make it to court and the judge said the landlord was in the wrong.

**LorDiego01** · January 17th, 2010, 08:05 PM

It is perfectly legit for the landlord to evict them if they breach contract.

Like the old saying says.. "Eyes that don't see, heart that won't feel"; or "Outta sight, outta mind".

**unclesam099** · January 18th, 2010, 02:19 PM

You should make sure that you don't have ANYTHING VISIBLE that would even remotely link you to ownership. Trust me, these people think they can do anything if they don't like it. And judges are mostly incompetent, so when your security deposit is taken due to "damages to premises", you likely won't get it back even if you have excellent proof.

My old landlord had nothing of the sort in his lease - nothing that said anything about guns/ammo. He saw my reloading table. He threatened to "make it all disappear". I called the cops to have them tell him he can't do anything about it. He kept the security deposit for "damages". I sued him, I had photos of leaving it in great condition, but he had claimed cat piss odor as being the cause for the old carpet to be replaced in addition to claims of "damage" that I had repaired and photographed. He couldn't prove anything and lied while under oath on the witness stand. His lawyer even said "well, we'll strike that line from the total due to us" for a few things that I proved he lied about after I was finished cross-examining him. The judge didn't want to hear anything about his threat to me even though there was nothing in the lease that says anything about guns. I still lost ALL of my security deposit.

As far as I'm concerned, the whole landlord/tenant law is bullshit, and justice is not served on a regular basis to those landlords that deserve to be taken down a notch or two.

**GunLawyer001** · January 18th, 2010, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by unclesam099

You should make sure that you don't have ANYTHING VISIBLE that would even remotely link you to ownership. Trust me, these people think they can do anything if they don't like it. And judges are mostly incompetent, so when your security deposit is taken due to "damages to premises", you likely won't get it back even if you have excellent proof.

My old landlord had nothing of the sort in his lease - nothing that said anything about guns/ammo. He saw my reloading table. He threatened to "make it all disappear". I called the cops to have them tell him he can't do anything about it. He kept the security deposit for "damages". I sued him, I had photos of leaving it in great condition, but he had claimed cat piss odor as being the cause for the old carpet to be replaced in addition to claims of "damage" that I had repaired and photographed. He couldn't prove anything and lied while under oath on the witness stand. His lawyer even said "well, we'll strike that line from the total due to us" for a few things that I proved he lied about after I was finished cross-examining him. The judge didn't want to hear anything about his threat to me even though there was nothing in the lease that says anything about guns. I still lost ALL of my security deposit.

As far as I'm concerned, the whole landlord/tenant law is bullshit, and justice is not served on a regular basis to those landlords that deserve to be taken down a notch or two.

That's why I sometimes recommend that people stop paying rent a month or two before they leave, after they've given notice. (Yes, I know that most leases say that you can't.) The burden is on the plaintiff to prove his case, and it's less tempting for a dirtbag landlord to sue for frivolous damages than for him to just keep your deposit.

In theory, the landlord (even as a defendant) still has to prove damages if he wants to keep your deposit; in practice, to the District Justice, the landlord is a local property owner and a voter, and you're someone who just moved to a different voting district.