This agent is going about this all wrong. It is to the agentÂs benefit get on your good side. A disgruntled tenant can do a lot to wreck a saleÂleave the apartment dirty and messy or make it appear that there are problems with the plumbing or electricity, for starters. I would try approaching the agent like this. You will be working from home this summer. With an appointment, the condo will be clean and the dog will be gone. Without an appointment, you will be sitting at your desk working, perhaps attired in your skivvies, the dog will be there and there may be three days worth of dishes in the kitchen sink. You will have to remain in the condo during the showing, because you have to get your work done and canÂt just up and leave on the spur of the moment. This might get the agent to see that itÂs to his/her advantage to make appointments. Check your stateÂs laws for how much notice the landlord needs to give you before entering the rental. Here in CT, the law states that the landlord must give "reasonable" notice, which is usually interpreted by the courts as at least 24 hours. The agent is acting in the place of the landlord and must follow the same rules. In my state, you don't have to agree to a lockbox. I would do my darndest to get rid of the lockbox completely, especially with pets. You do not have to take your dog to work with you. If the agent wants a lockbox, the agent has to deal with the dog. I do have to mention that I donÂt think you really need to leave the apartment for every showing. When owners leave a house, they have something to gain by a showing because they want to sell their house. You donÂt. And, since you are not the owner, buyers shouldnÂt have any qualms about talking about the place in front of you. In fact, given what youÂve said about the dirt and your worries about your cat, I think you should be there. You have a right to have your life disrupted as little as possible by this sale. My last apartment was sold FSBO. The owner had a friend showing the place, not a agent. I wasnÂt always notified about showings. I came home from work one day to find my computer turned on and a strange man in my bedroom going through my dresser drawers. Um, NO! I could see that a buyer would need to look in closets, kitchen cabinets, the refrigerator and the stove, but not my furniture. ThatÂs when I insisted that I be home for every showing. When I found out that this man was the eventual buyer, I found a new apartment and moved out two days before he took possession.

I feel so bad for you, really! Why is it the standard solution is to move? Its really not fair, but in this case it sounds viable. I also cant help but wonder why the maintenance man is allowed to freely enter, why not set up an appointment with him? Consider having a friend around with you as a witness. I would also set up a camera to record-pic and sound. I used to leave my computer on record, leave my cellphone on record as well and when my landlord was around play it back for him. I did win in court, and only one landlord in five ever kept my security deposit. That was before I got smart. Unfortunately, you have to document everything and just bring it into a courtroom if you cant get them to listen. I have personally found that when you hand deliver a letter and follow up and send email with attached recording files, this definitely should get them to respect you. Management companies have "employees" not owners, so your making them actually work, which they probably don't like. Keep it all business with the mangement company. The town where you live or city should have a town hall with appropriate offices for tenant advice as well. Believe me, they can become very effective should you get them involved! Good Luck!

Agree with camlan about starting new post. Know it's old but wanted to clarify something said above for anyone just reading: What most small owner/landlords fail to understand it that while they do retain ownership of the property, once they enter into a lease the leasee is the one who has exclusive access to the property for the duration of the lease and under those circumstances a landlord is bound to the same rules as a perfect stranger in regards to entering the property. They must knock, announce their intentions and you have the legal right to refuse entrance. They may argue with you on that point, but let it go to court and see how fast a judge will set the landlord straiht. I'm an owner/mgr of several rental houses, I've never seen in any state statutes I've read, certainly not in mine, that once a lease is in force a LL is bound to the same rules as a perfect stranger as far as entry. My state requires "reasonable verbal notice". Many states say xx hours or days written notice. So I always give minimum 24 hours, but that's for taking care of an issue that we need to address (say we're checking up on a repaired roof leak after a rain to make sure it's all good). If tenant calls with a problem we get it taken care of asap. I have good relationships with my tenants, so it's typically not a problem to come over same day. Everyone's happy and I don't have a small problem get bigger from not being addressed. If it's just a routine inspection, I'll give at least a week's notice. But I rarely do those, since one of us is in the house commonly several times a year when tenants call when something needs tending to. We just take a quick look around then. (I don't do white glove tests, nor walk all the way through if working in only one area of the home. If tenants are prone to doing damage, it's typically not isolated to one room. So it's easy enough to spot problems in any room, e.g. evidence of holes in walls, broken windows, etc.) Also in the lease is tenant will not deny entry or make unreasonable delays for entry when LL gives due notice. In case of an emergency, no notice is needed. That's our state statute and in each lease. In the towns our rentals are located, they require registration of the property as a rental, as well as all contact info for owner. It's kept on file in building or water department. Should an emergency arise, such as a fire, they know how to reach the owner. The best thing anyone can do is read and know your State's statutes on Landlord/Tenant law.

Here's the Ohio Revised Code for a landlord's obligations.Specifically this paragraph applies to you: (4) Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning fixtures and appliances, and elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by him; Here's the Ohio Revised Code outlining tenant's options if landlord does not meet their obligations. Pretty specific. I try to give both views (there are always two). Maybe your landlord is not paying taxes because they're not managing $ as they should ~or~ maybe some crisis has befallen them (i.e. serious illness with hefty medical bills, etc). Hard to say for sure, but stuff happens to us, too. ;) Not defending their behavior, but I had a similar scenario just recently. There could well be a problem getting an electrician out in this weather, it's causing a lot of problems, especially if you've got ice on the power lines. We had an ice storm last week, power line collapsed to house, and sub zero temps were on the way the next day. Tenant had no heat. We hustled and spent Friday evening getting the power company out, then spent an entire Saturday on the phone till we finally snagged an electrician who could finish what the power company didn't cover (lots of power failures due to cold/ice). And the reason he responded was because the job site was close to his home at it was at the end of the day. No one else ever called us back. One of our largest contractors (suburban metro area) has only 1 heating guy on call on weekends. :-/ My tenant knew we were doing everything as quickly as possible (strive for that), but did at one point comment they 'didn't get what was taking so long'. (18 hours from time of line break to repair). ~sigh~ Some people seem to think we've got magic wands and contractors jump when we call. It's not how it works, we wait in line like everyone else. And in our county, those on home medical equipment get first priority by the power company and most heating contractors as well. Hard to tell if your LL is jerking you around or caught up in the wait. Are you having a lot of bad weather where contractors would be really busy? Also keep in mind we just came off a weekend when contractors are running on skeleton crews. Could move faster now that we're in the work week again and full crews are working.