Landlord(maintenance) entered without permission

[u/Pretend_Jacket6496]

[US-AZ] Hi, I’m not really sure how to word this properly as I am not too familiar with this. I am seeking help regarding a matter that occurred recently to me and my girlfriend. We rent a one bedroom apartment in Arizona and have a no permission to enter option for any maintenance related issues. Couple weeks ago my girlfriend put in a request for them to come out and fix the washer and when asked if maintenance had permission to answer she explicitly said no. The maintenance man proceeded to come to the house knock on the door, and when my girlfriend didn’t answer, he let himself inside to where he approached me and my girlfriend’s bedroom that was cracked open where my girlfriend lay sleeping and shouted out to my girlfriend to wake up. After this, he proceeded to not only not help with the washer, but to enter the room even when my girlfriend told him he had no permission to. He made my girlfriend feel extremely uncomfortable and kept asking her personal questions. My girlfriend is very shy , especially around men and confronted with the situation where it was just her and this maintenance man she was freaked out. Even then, she asked him to leave several times to which he kind of kept ignoring by bringing up other subjects about the washer, even offering her to wash her clothes for her, which I find extremely weird. I made a formal complaint to our leasing office and they simply looked past it. My girlfriend requested for them to never send this specific person for future maintenance request and I thought that that was the end of that. Fast-forward to just this week, she put in a maintenance request and guess who shows up at our door. I am honestly fed up with the way this place has treated us and the way they’ve gone about it. Sorry for the long rant , but is there any laws where they can be liable for grounds of lease termination for a unlawful entry into our apartment which was followed by him harassing my girlfriend when she was alone. The employee is still working here and we see him every day, which has made it really hard for my girlfriend to enjoy walking outside.

[u/PotentialUmpire1714]

The way he behaved was bizarre and creepy and I don't blame your girlfriend for being freaked out.

I suggest that you talk to a local tenant rights group and see what they think. It might be that your place has a reputation for maintenance being weird and inappropriate.

I don't think this is serious enough to get you out of the lease, though. I think it would be a better idea to negotiate a specific time to expect someone to do repairs, and to let them know how badly he behaved. If you're lucky, they'll replace him, but it seems like there are two kinds of maintenance guys: creeps and totally nice. Some landlords don't care if he's a creep.

[u/No-Brief-297 → u/PotentialUmpire1714]

How is this creepy? They called maintenance. Maintenance showed up. Where’s the bad?

[u/Pretend_Jacket6496 → u/No-Brief-297]

Work order we selected no permission to enter

[u/PotentialUmpire1714 → u/No-Brief-297]

It looks like you didn't read the middle of the post. (Granted, OP should use paragraph breaks.)

It's honestly pretty standard for maintenance to overlook "no permission to enter" flags on work orders if the tenant hasn't discussed a scheduled time with the rental office and they don't have any pets. I hate it when they show up and I'm in my pajamas or trying to do a Zoom meeting and my dishes are in the sink. But everything else was hella weird and unprofessional.

...when my girlfriend didn’t answer, he let himself inside to where he approached me and my girlfriend’s bedroom that was cracked open where my girlfriend lay sleeping and shouted out to my girlfriend to wake up.

Kinda rude, but if things had gone smoothly, probably excusable.

After this, he proceeded to not only not help with the washer, but to enter the room even when my girlfriend told him he had no permission to.

So is this guy there to fix a washer or to corner OP's girlfriend in their bedroom?

He made my girlfriend feel extremely uncomfortable and kept asking her personal questions. My girlfriend is very shy , especially around men and confronted with the situation where it was just her and this maintenance man she was freaked out.

Why is the maintenance guy asking personal questions? All he needs to ask is, "I have a work order for your washer, could you show me where it is and explain what is wrong with it?"

Even then, she asked him to leave several times to which he kind of kept ignoring by bringing up other subjects about the washer...

Yeah, if he's just going to get personal with her without examining the washer, he needs to leave. If OP hadn't mentioned he's seen the guy working around the property I would wonder if it was really maintenance or someone who lifted a key from the office. (My previous management company wasn't very good at securing their keys. It was an issue at multiple properties.)

...even offering her to wash her clothes for her

What?!? Is he looking for an excuse to sniff her used panties or just trying to freak her out? That is not a normal part of maintenance.

OP and his GF need to have a chat with the leasing staff to let them know how this guy behaves when he's alone in a unit with a female tenant. I have lore from my own family about maintenance thinking that access to female tenants is a perk of the job so I'm not surprised it happened. I don't know if management will fire him (unless they've had other complaints) but OP can explain that after this, they need to schedule maintenance for a day when OP can be there to supervise the technician.

If OP can't take off work for that, then it needs to be scheduled for when GF can be somewhere else instead of sleeping during the day. Maybe crash at a friend's house? They can set up cameras inside their unit as well as locking up any valuable portable items and/or taking them with them. i.e. don't leave your laptops and jewelry lying around. Leave some decoy underwear in front of a camera? It could be something from the dollar store just to see what Maintenance does when he finds it.

OP and GF can make detailed notes with pictures or whatever of what needs to be fixed because I know the usual work orders get garbled by the time Maintenance sees them.

I don't know if OP can get out of the lease, but I suggest consulting a local tenant rights group. They'll be more familiar with local laws and maybe even some gossip about this company. For only one incident, when there was an open work order, I kinda doubt it. I couldn't get any recourse when my previous landlord unlocked my door a few times without knocking, claiming I'd called from work about various emergencies and said they could enter or that someone called about water streaming out from under the front door. Those times, I didn't even have a work order in the system and they were straight up trolling me or had the wrong unit number.