Your home is your home, even when you rent it. Most states that regulate landlord entry require advance written notice — commonly 24 hours, sometimes 48 — before a landlord may enter for repairs, inspections, or showings, and only at reasonable hours.
There is almost always an exception for genuine emergencies — a fire, a burst pipe, a gas leak — where the landlord can enter immediately to protect the property or people in it.
A handful of states have no statewide entry-notice statute at all. In those states your lease is the main protection: if it requires notice, the landlord must follow it; if it is silent, you have less leverage and may want to negotiate a notice clause at renewal.
Repeated unannounced, non-emergency entry can rise to harassment. Keep a dated log and object in writing. Look up your state's entry rule below to see exactly how much warning you are owed.
Look up the rule for your state.
Updated July 2026