Remember to have your cell phone handy when he shows up, alone, and have your friend there to take pictures as you shove and swear at him, who does not have a witness, in order to provoke your landlord into reacting violently against you in any way that touches your person so you can call the Police and have him arrested for Battery.

We gave 48 hours notice at least and said it was to test the smoke detector batteries and look for any plumbing leaks.This was in a building with 26 units.  

Technically you can make an excuse like check smoke alarm batteries, replace furnace filter, etc., but a determined tenant could push back on that too and say that they will tend to those things. 

For example, in California, a smoke detector must be inside every sleeping area and must operate on a 10 year battery.

And we said we were doing a maintenance check and would be checking smoke detector batteries.  

We did inspections every 6 months (26 unit building), and would check smoke detector batteries as well as look for leaks or running toilets.And if the water bill went up significantly, we'd do additional inspections, looking for the inevitable running toilet.Next best option is to use month to month agreements, so if you suspect a unit is going crazy with the utilities, you can get rid of that tenant.  

Hi Everyone,I’ve got a few unrelated questions I was hoping to have answered: 1) It’s my understanding that it’s the tenant’s responsibility to change HVAC filters and carbon monoxide detector batteries every 6 months.

What you should be fearing is the reality of what could happen:Say you forget to check the smoke detectors, or forget to put them up in all the bedrooms, or years go by and the battery dies-- huge fire breaks out, destroys you place (if you don't have insurance, it would be a total loss!)  

I agree with the need of a furnace.Most mountain cabins have hot tubs.Emergency generators aren't cheap, but great to have during a sustained power outage.I've thought a battery backup system might be a good compromise.

I was charged a ridiculous $200 to replace a fire alarm battery which I did myself before when I lived in the unit and the battery was $5 from a store.