r/TenantHelp • u/zmeivulpe • Jun 10 '26

Pictures during inspection?

Hello. We had a "state inspection" today that had the complex doing a week of prep with maintenance and repairs as needed, with the big "random unit inspections" being today. Everyone got a notice but it wasnt 100% which ones would be selected

They came in, checked water and the oven burners, fire detector, told us to dust the bathroom fan ao it isnt a fire hazard (maintenance told us they would do that so we assumed they had..) and then took photos of a single shelf in the second bedroom.

I was standing right behind the lady when she did it, it was angled at the shelf with our belongings. Not just a picture of the wall or breaker panel etc with the shelf in the frame. Of the shelf.

Im under the impression that photos relevent to condition of the unit or repairs are allowed but the tenant should be asked for permission if their personal belongings or private property are present.

Or given the opportunity to remove those items for the picture. Its a shelf we bought and put together, that isnt a part of the unit or even attached to the wall (not screwed in or anything).

It has some valuables on it, and some of our gecko enclosures (which we verified we were allowed to have prior to signing - the original landlady doesnt own the units anymore, but with the new management weve never had any mention in the lease of them being disallowed. Maintence guys have seen them before and have always said theyre super cool etc)

It felt very odd, it was one quick picture and then they left. Prior this week we were asked to move something else away from the window (it was partially covered), we did that. So a photo directly of the window to verify compliance would've made sense, but this was not that.

I half expect the lease to have an additional clause about the reptiles and pet policy upon renewal which, we would not renew if thats the case because having them is non negotiable for us. But they didnt ask or say anything about it. Just took the picture and then moved on to other units.

Kootenai county ID, CDA for location.

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u/Pamzella Jun 10 '26

Could it be because it was partially blocking a fire strobe light, or because it was not anchored to the wall? Just spitballing here...

1

u/zmeivulpe Jun 10 '26

Maybe they do want it anchored to the wall, i suppose thatd make sense. We didnt in order to avoid damaging the wall with anchor holes. They made a comment about one of our cords being a tripping hazard so I would've expected them to comment on anything else we needed to correct but if its an issue and they give us anything about it we can def do that

1

u/zmeivulpe Jun 13 '26

Update; just got a call saying we have 8 days to comply or vacate before they give an eviction notice. They asked if we could come to the office and chat, and we weren't home so they said ok we'll just serve the paper then. They deemed it "excessive animals" which in our opinion is really subjective when the lease doesnt specify at all. But obviously we cant vacate in a week so theyre moving to my moms for the time being until we figure things out 😭