Cases
Robert McCaughtry, et al. v. City of Red Wing
Mandatory Inspections of Rental Property: Is Your Rented Home Your Castle?
|
|
|
IJ clients from left to right: Kim Sjostrom, Brad Sonnentag, Robert McCaughtry and Rebecca McCaughtry |
|
The city of Red Wing, Minn. is enforcing a rental property inspection law that requires landlords and tenants to open their doors and submit to inspections of their private property in order for the landlord to receive a license to rent the property.
Under Red Wing’s rental inspection ordinance, it is easier for the government to force its way into the homes of law-abiding citizens than it is to search the home of a suspected criminal. But the U.S. and Minnesota constitutions protect everyone, not just criminals. Red Wing’s inspection mandate is unconstitutional.
Red Wing’s rental inspection program has been in place for five years. During that time, inspectors have searched the rental homes of hundreds of residents, going into their closets, looking under their beds, and inspecting their bathroom cabinets. They have required “correction” of terrifying health and safety hazards like “a dirty stovetop,” a damaged bedroom doorstop and a bathroom door without a lock. After losing two attempts to get warrants to search rental homes without tenant and landlord consent, the city enacted a more limited program. Now inspectors don’t go into medicine cabinets or refrigerators. The most recent court decision seems to eliminate closets and cabinets as well, but inspectors still go into every room and still have access to all the personal information one can tell about a person from entering their living room, bathroom and bedroom. It is time for Minnesota courts to uphold the rights of ordinary residents to exclude unwanted visitors from their homes.
To protect landlords, tenants and, ultimately, everyone against unreasonable searches, the Institute for Justice Minnesota Chapter has filed two lawsuits in Goodhue County District Court in Red Wing, Minn., under the U.S. and Minnesota constitutions to stop the city of Red Wing from conducting involuntary inspections without probable cause and also to ensure that constitutional standards govern residential inspections. These inspection programs are popping up like weeds all over Minnesota, and similar laws are appearing everywhere from California to Indiana to Pennsylvania. Red Wing has become the flashpoint in a nationwide battle to protect privacy and the freedom from unreasonable searches, as well as to ensure administrative warrants do not become the tool of choice for governments trying to enter people’s homes.
