Your landlord is entering without warning

• A notice period before non-emergency entry.
• A requirement that entry happen at reasonable hours.
• A list of legitimate purposes — repairs, inspections, showing the unit, court order, or a reasonable belief the unit has been abandoned.
• An exception for genuine emergencies, where notice is generally not required.
• Sometimes a rule about entry that is so frequent it amounts to harassment.

A single unannounced entry is hard to act on. A documented pattern is different, and the record is something a tenant can build without knowing the law yet.

• A dated log of every entry: date, approximate time, who entered, stated reason, whether notice was given and how.
• Screenshots of any notice — text, email, paper, or note on the door — with the timestamp.
• Photographs of anything moved, damaged, or left behind.
• Names of any witnesses, including neighbours who saw or heard the entry.
• Camera or doorbell footage if you have it, saved out of the app before it expires.
• Your own written requests asking for notice, and any reply.

A short written request is usually the most effective first step, and it creates the record that makes later steps possible. A useful one is specific and unemotional: it names the dates of recent entries, asks for advance written notice going forward, confirms that access for genuine repairs is welcome, and asks for confirmation.

Cameras inside a rental raise their own legal questions — recording law varies by state, and some states require consent from more than one party to record conversations. Ask legal aid before recording audio.

Changing locks is not a neutral act. Some states address whether a tenant may change locks, whether the landlord must be given a key, and what happens if either side does it without permission. Doing it without checking can create a lease violation.

A landlord changing the locks on an occupied unit is a different and more urgent situation. In most states that is handled separately from the eviction process and treated seriously. If it is happening now, contact legal aid or the court's self-help centre the same day.

Repeated entry, entry at unreasonable hours, entry with no stated purpose, or entry combined with pressure to move can fall under harassment rules in some states and cities — and, where it targets a protected class or involves sexual harassment, under fair housing law. Those are situations to bring to legal aid or a fair housing office rather than to handle alone.