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Renters' Rights
Guests and Excluding Visitors
Can My Landlord Come Into My Home At Any Time?
When Can My Landlord Come Into My Home?
Emergencies
What Can I Do If Someone Won't Stop Coming Into My Home?
What Can I Do If My Landlord Does Not Follow the Access Laws?
What If You Send the Letter And Your Landlord Still Doesn't Stop Coming To Your Home at Unreasonable Times?
What Happens If Your Landlord Still Comes To Your Home After the Sheriff Serves Them with a Notice Against Trespass?
Suing Your Landlord
What Happens if the Court Issues the Termporary Restraining Order?
Can My Landlord Come Into My Home At Any Time?
No. You have the right to decide who can enter your home. This is
called the right to "exclude."
Vermont law limits when and for what reasons your landlord may enter
your home. Your landlord usually must give you 48 hours
notice before entering. But there are exceptions in certain
kinds of emergencies. Also, you must give your landlord access to
your home at other reasonable times.
You also have the right to exclude other visitors.
When Can My Landlord Come Into My Home?
Usually Your Landlord May Enter for Certain Reasons and Must
Give You Notice
Your landlord usually must give you 48 hours notice before
entering your home. After giving you 48 hours notice, your landlord
may enter your home for certain reasons. Your landlord may enter your
home to do maintenance, repairs, improvements, to provide services you
have agreed to, or to show your home to someone who is thinking
about renting or buying your home. Your landlord may enter your home
between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. for these reasons.
You must also allow your landlord to come into your home at other
reasonable times for other reasonable purposes.
Emergencies
Your landlord also may enter your home without notice and without
your permission in certain emergencies. The emergency must be
something that could damage the home you rent or people in your home.
Fires, floods, pipes bursting, and ice storms are some examples of
this kind of emergency.
What Can I Do If Someone Won't Stop Coming Into My Home?
If you ask someone to stop coming into your home but the person keeps
coming anyway, you can use a Notice Against Trespass to keep the person
out. You can use a Notice Against Trespass to exclude your
landlord if your landlord is unreasonably interfering with
your privacy. You may have a Sheriff or Constable serve the
landlord with a Notice Against Trespass.
Sample Notice of Trespass PDF
What Can I Do If My Landlord Does Not Follow the Access Laws?
You can send a letter to your landlord reminding him about the
law and asking him landlord to follow it. You can also write to
the Code Enforcement Office or Town Health Officer and ask them to
remind your landlord about access laws.
What If You Send the Letter and Your Landlord Still Doesn't Stop
Coming to Your Home at Unreasonable Times?
You can ask the Sheriff's department to serve your landlord with a
Notice Against Trespass.
What Happens If Your Landlord Still Comes to Your Home after
the Sheriff Serves Them with a Notice Against Trespass?
The police could cite the landlord for the crime of unlawful
trespass.
Suing Your Landlord
If none of these things work, you can sue your landlord to stop
him from coming to your home. You can use the form Complaint and
Affidavit below. You should talk to a lawyer if you can before you
sue your landlord.
You may qualify for free legal help.
Call Vermont
Legal Aid at (800) 889-2047.
If you do not qualify for free legal help, you can find a
lawyer through the
Vermont Bar Association's Lawyer Referral Service.
If you want to sue your landlord, fill out the forms below.
Then file the forms in your Superior Court. There is a filing fee
for filing a law suit. If you have a low income, you can ask the Court
to waive the filing fee and costs. The form for asking the Court
to waive the fee is called an "Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis
" or "IFP."
The forms below ask the Court to order your landlord to stay away
from your home until the Court can schedule a court hearing. This kind
of order is called a "Temporary Restraining Order" or "TRO." The forms below also
ask the Court to order your landlord to stay away from your home
for the rest of the time you live there. This kind of order is called
an "Injunction."
What Happens if the Court Issues the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)?
If the Court grants your request for a TRO, there will be a court
hearing later about whether the Court will grant you an Injunction
The Court might also order your landlord to pay you money
damages in this kind of case. There will be a separate hearing later
about whether or not the Court believes your landlord should pay you
money damages.
Sample Letter to Landlord About Access (PDF)
Sample Letter to Your Housing Authority About Landlord's Violation
of Access (PDF)
List of Housing Authorities
Sample Letter to Sheriff's Department About Landlord's
Violation of Access (PDF)
List of Sheriff's Departments
Sample Letter to Town Health Officer About Landlord's Violation
of Access
List of Vermont Town ("Municipal")
Health Officers
Sample Complaint for Temporary Restraining Order
Sample Affidavit
Are you filing a law suit against your landlord? You will have to
pay a filing fee. Is the filing fee too much money for you to pay?
The Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis is a
court form that asks the Court to let you file your law suit without
paying the filing fee. The form is also called an "IFP."
The Court will look at your income and expenses. Then the court
will decide if it will waive the filing fee for you. The court might
say you don't have to pay the fee. Or the court may decide that you
have to pay some or all of the fee.
The Application is an affidavit. This means that the Application
is a sworn statment about facts. This means that the information
you put on the form must be true. You need to have the form
notarized. Don't sign the Application form until you are in front
of a Notary Public. The Court Clerk's office has free Notary Publics.
Vermont Law Help, 2008.
This is a website about Vermont law. We give this information
as a public service. It is not legal advice. We are not acting as your
lawyer.
Always consult a lawyer, if you can, before taking legal action.
