Notice to Enter Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what North Carolina law says, what's specific to Charlotte - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- Charlotte's row on this chart reads No hours set. Our record of Chapter 42 of the General Statutes, read in full and searched for enter, entry, access and privacy, finds no section setting a notice period before a landlord enters.
- Charlotte City Code § 11-34 runs the other way: every occupant “shall give the owner” access “at all reasonable times” to make repairs or alterations needed to comply with the housing code or a lawful order under it.
- Entry cannot become a removal. § 42-25.6 says a residential tenant is removed from a dwelling unit “only in accordance with the procedure prescribed in Article 3 or Article 7”, and § 42-25.8 makes a contrary lease provision “void as against public policy”.
- § 42-25.9(b) covers a landlord who “seizes possession of or interferes with a tenant's access to” a tenant's or household member's personal property outside the listed procedures. The tenant may recover the property or its value, plus actual damages.
- With no hours in the sections we read, the entry paragraph in your lease is the document that says how much notice is promised. Our copy of Chapter 42 was archived, so read the current text on ncleg.gov.
Understanding the Notice to Enter Clause
Your landlord may hold a key to your home. An entry clause is the part of the lease that says when that key may be used, for what, and how much warning comes first.
In the North Carolina and Charlotte sections we read, no number of hours answers the warning question.
Our record of Chapter 42 of the North Carolina General Statutes, the landlord and tenant chapter, finds no section that sets an advance notice period before a landlord enters. That is why the comparison on this page shows Charlotte as a row without a bar.
The city rule we found points the other way. Charlotte City Code § 11-34 puts a duty on the occupant to give the owner access “at all reasonable times” for repairs the housing code requires.
It names no hours, which leaves the entry paragraph you signed as the document that says how much notice is promised.
What renters assume
North Carolina must set a notice period, like the 24 hours or 48 hours on other rows of this chart, and once my Charlotte landlord gives that much warning the visit is allowed.
What is actually true
Our record of Chapter 42 finds no section that sets a notice period before a landlord enters. In Charlotte, § 11-34 has the occupant give the owner access “at all reasonable times” for code-compliance repairs, with no number of hours.
The entry paragraph in the lease says how much notice is promised.
Nineteen rows sit on this chart, and eight draw no bar. Charlotte reads No hours set. Austin, Atlanta, Nashville, Denver and Boston read no requirement, Philadelphia reads no statute, and Detroit reads permission required (no hours).
Eleven rows carry a figure. Seven sit at 24 hours: Miami, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, Las Vegas, Columbus and Newark. Four sit at 48 hours: Seattle, Phoenix, Chicago and Washington.
A blank Charlotte bar does not mean no rule touches entry. City Code § 11-34 sets an access duty measured in “all reasonable times” rather than hours, and a bar has no way to draw that.
The hours in § 42-42.3 are lock-change deadlines, and they are not plotted here.
So read Charlotte's label as a statement about hours. The North Carolina and Charlotte sections we read set none, and the entry paragraph in the lease is the document that says how much notice is promised.
Plain English Version
In the North Carolina statutes and Charlotte code sections we read, nothing sets a number of hours your landlord must wait before coming in. Charlotte's housing code instead says you must let the owner in at all reasonable times to make repairs the code requires.
Your lease's entry paragraph is where any promised notice lives, so read it closely. What state law does forbid is using entry to push you out: removing a tenant outside the court process, or seizing a household's belongings or blocking access to them, gives the tenant remedies, and a lease term to the contrary is void.
Notice to Enter Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Charlotte, NC
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
11. Entry of Premises: Landlord reserves the right to enter upon the leased premises at all reasonable hours for the purpose of inspecting the same, or of making repairs, additions or alterations to the building in which the leased premises are located...
Quoted from the published opinion in Eickhoff v. Gelbach, 611 S.W.3d 834 (Mo. Ct. App. W.D. 2020). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“Entry of Premises”
A heading that promises a rule on entry, and in Charlotte this paragraph is where the notice question gets its answer. Our record of Chapter 42 of the North Carolina General Statutes, read in full and searched for enter, entry, access and privacy, finds no section that sets an advance notice period before a landlord enters. The Charlotte housing sections we read state no number of hours either. That leaves the paragraph under this heading as the document that says how much warning is promised.
“at all reasonable hours”
This is almost the measure Charlotte's own code uses, pointed the other way. Charlotte City Code § 11-34 says “Every occupant of a place of habitation shall give the owner thereof, or his agent or employee, access” to the home “at all reasonable times”. The city text puts the duty on the tenant, and it attaches no hour figure, so reasonable is the working word on both sides of the lease.
“for the purpose of inspecting the same, or of making repairs”
Two purposes in one phrase, and Charlotte's code treats them as belonging to different visitors. The owner's access in § 11-34 is “for the purpose of making such repairs or alterations as are necessary to effect compliance with this chapter or with any lawful order issued pursuant to this chapter.” The inspection access the same section describes is the code enforcement official's, who may enter at all reasonable times “after sufficiently identifying himself”. § 11-32(3) asks that the official's entries cause “the least possible inconvenience to the persons in possession”.
“to the building in which the leased premises are located”
The reach runs past your own door to the whole building, and in North Carolina what entry may never become is a removal. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.6 declares it State policy that a residential tenant is removed from a dwelling unit “only in accordance with the procedure prescribed in Article 3 or Article 7 of this Chapter”. § 42-25.8 makes any lease or contract provision contrary to that Article “void as against public policy”.
The clause was used against the landlord. Because they kept a key and had “reserve[d] the right to enter upon the leased premises at all reasonable hours”, the court held they had reserved the legal right to enter without permission - even though in practice they never did. Read with the clause forbidding the tenants from making their own repairs, that was enough to put the landlord's control of the unit in issue.
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
North Carolina Law on Notice to Enter Clause
- Charlotte's access rule is in its housing code. City Code § 11-34 provides: "Every occupant of a place of habitation shall give the owner thereof, or his agent or employee, access to any part of such place of habitation and its premises, at all reasonable times for the purpose of making such repairs or alterations as are necessary to effect compliance with this chapter or with any lawful order issued pursuant to this chapter." It is tied to code repairs and orders, and it states no number of hours.
- A landlord cannot use entry to remove a tenant. Section 42-25.6 declares it the public policy of the State that a residential tenant "shall be evicted, dispossessed or otherwise constructively or actually removed from his dwelling unit only in accordance with the procedure prescribed in Article 3 or Article 7 of this Chapter", and § 42-25.8 makes any lease or contract provision contrary to that Article "void as against public policy".
- The remedies for unlawful removal or seizure are written into § 42-25.9. A tenant removed or subjected to an attempted removal contrary to the Article may "recover possession or to terminate his lease" and recover damages, which § 42-25.9(a) limits to actual damages. Where a landlord "seizes possession of or interferes with a tenant's access to a tenant's or household member's personal property" outside the listed procedures, § 42-25.9(b) lets the tenant recover the property or its value plus actual damages.
- Keys are dealt with for one group of tenants. Under § 42-42.3, when a tenant reports that a protected tenant is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, the landlord must change the locks or let the protected tenant do so within 48 hours, or within 72 hours where the perpetrator lives in the same unit and a court stay-away order has been provided; a protected tenant who changes the locks "shall give a key to the new locks to the landlord within 48 hours". That is a key deadline, not a notice period for entry.
Sources include Charlotte City Code § 11-34; N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.6; N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.8; N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-25.9(a), (b); N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42.3 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Start with what our record did not find. We read Chapter 42 of the North Carolina General Statutes in full, as the General Assembly's own Chapter 42 PDF, and searched it for enter, entry, access and privacy.
None of its sections sets a notice period before a landlord enters a rented home.
That is a statement about Chapter 42 as we read it, not about every North Carolina law. It leaves the entry paragraph in your lease as the document that says how much notice is promised.
What Chapter 42 does say is that entry cannot become an eviction. § 42-25.6 declares it the public policy of the State that a residential tenant “shall be evicted, dispossessed or otherwise constructively or actually removed from his dwelling unit only in accordance with the procedure prescribed in Article 3 or Article 7 of this Chapter”. § 42-25.8 makes any lease or contract provision contrary to that Article “void as against public policy”.
The remedies are in § 42-25.9. A tenant removed, or subjected to an attempted removal, contrary to the Article may “recover possession or to terminate his lease” and recover damages, which § 42-25.9(a) limits to actual damages.
Belongings get their own rule. Where a landlord “seizes possession of or interferes with a tenant's access to a tenant's or household member's personal property” outside the listed procedures, § 42-25.9(b) lets the tenant recover the property or its value, plus actual damages.
One set of hours in Chapter 42 is easy to misread. Under § 42-42.3, when a tenant reports that a protected tenant is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, the landlord must change the locks or let the protected tenant do so within 48 hours.
The period is 72 hours where the perpetrator lives in the same unit and a court stay-away order has been provided.
A protected tenant who changes the locks “shall give a key to the new locks to the landlord within 48 hours”. Those are key deadlines, not a notice period for entry.
Our copy of Chapter 42 was an archived copy of the General Assembly's PDF, so read the current text on ncleg.gov before relying on any of this.
North Carolina Tenant Protections
Our record of N.C. Gen. Stat. Chapter 42, read in full and searched for enter, entry, access and privacy, finds no section setting a notice period before a landlord enters. § 42-25.6 declares it State policy that a residential tenant be removed from a dwelling unit only through the procedure in Article 3 or Article 7, and § 42-25.8 makes a contrary lease or contract provision void as against public policy.
Under § 42-25.9(a), a tenant removed or subjected to an attempted removal contrary to the Article may recover possession or terminate the lease, with damages limited to actual damages.
Under § 42-25.9(b), a landlord who seizes possession of or interferes with access to a tenant's or household member's personal property outside the listed procedures owes the property or its value, plus actual damages. § 42-42.3 sets lock-change deadlines for a protected tenant who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking: 48 hours, or 72 hours where the perpetrator lives in the unit and a court stay-away order has been provided. Those are not entry notice.
In Charlotte, City Code § 11-34 requires every occupant to give the owner access at all reasonable times to make repairs or alterations needed to comply with the housing code or a lawful order under it, with no number of hours. The same section lets the code enforcement official enter at all reasonable times after identifying himself, and § 11-32(3) asks that the official's entries cause the least possible inconvenience to the persons in possession.
What's Specific to Charlotte
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Charlotte is a city inside a state, so a renter here reads North Carolina's statutes first and the city code second. On entry, the city code holds the access rule we found, and it is written as a duty on the tenant.
We read Charlotte City Code Chapter 11 (Housing) and Chapter 12 (Human Relations) in full, and Chapter 15 Article III (Noise), on Municode, codified through Ordinance No. 10171. § 11-34 is the section in what we read that deals with an owner's access to an occupied home.
Its words: “Every occupant of a place of habitation shall give the owner thereof, or his agent or employee, access to any part of such place of habitation and its premises, at all reasonable times”. The purpose is “making such repairs or alterations as are necessary to effect compliance with this chapter or with any lawful order issued pursuant to this chapter.”
Three things follow from that text. It is written as a duty on the occupant. Its stated purpose is repairs and alterations for housing-code compliance or a lawful order under the chapter. And it measures access in reasonable times, with no number of hours.
The same section covers the city's own inspectors. The code enforcement official may “enter examine and survey, at all reasonable times, all places of habitation and premises after sufficiently identifying himself”, and the owner or occupant must give that official “free access” for inspection. § 11-32(3) adds that such entries “shall be made in such manner as to cause the least possible inconvenience to the persons in possession”.
Keep those two visits apart. A city inspector entering under § 11-32(3) and § 11-34 is a different visitor from your landlord, and the inconvenience wording attaches to the official's entries.
What reasonable times means on a given day is not set by a number in what we read. A written request naming the repair, the day and a time window gives both sides something to measure against.
Two limits on this page. Mecklenburg County rules were not read and are outside our record. And the Charlotte sections we read state no number of hours, which is a statement about those chapters, not about every Charlotte ordinance.
What makes any of this usable is a written file. Keep each request, your reply, and the date, time and purpose of every visit.
If a visit turns into a lockout or the removal of your belongings, § 42-25.9 is the state section that prices it.
It should. Our record of Chapter 42 finds no section setting a notice period, and Charlotte § 11-34 states no hours, which leaves the clause as the document that says what notice is promised.
§ 11-34 ties your access duty to repairs or alterations needed to comply with the housing code or a lawful order. A clause that lists purposes lets you measure each request against it.
§ 42-25.6 allows removal of a residential tenant only through the procedure in Article 3 or Article 7, and § 42-25.8 makes a contrary lease provision “void as against public policy”.
§ 11-34 measures access in “all reasonable times”, with no number of hours. Wording that hands the choice of hour to one side alone is worth raising before you sign.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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A visit that ends with new locks
§ 42-25.6 allows removal of a residential tenant only through the procedure in Article 3 or Article 7. § 42-25.9(a) lets a tenant removed contrary to it recover possession or end the lease.
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Belongings taken or blocked
§ 42-25.9(b) covers a landlord who seizes or interferes with access to a tenant's or household member's personal property outside the listed procedures. Photograph and list what is affected.
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A clause that waives the removal rules
§ 42-25.8 makes any lease or contract provision contrary to the Article “void as against public policy”, however clearly it is worded or signed.
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A repair visit at an unreasonable hour
Charlotte § 11-34 asks you to give access “at all reasonable times” for code-compliance repairs. Reasonable is the word to hold a request against, so propose a time in writing.
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Lock-change hours quoted as entry notice
The 48 hours and 72 hours in § 42-42.3 are lock-change deadlines for a protected tenant who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. They are not a notice period for entry.
Your Rights as a Charlotte Tenant
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No removal outside the courts
§ 42-25.6: a residential tenant is removed from a dwelling unit “only in accordance with the procedure prescribed in Article 3 or Article 7” of Chapter 42.
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Possession back, or the lease ended
§ 42-25.9(a) lets a tenant removed contrary to the Article recover possession or terminate the lease, with actual damages.
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Your belongings protected
§ 42-25.9(b) lets a tenant or household member recover personal property seized or blocked outside the listed procedures, or its value, plus actual damages.
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Access at reasonable times
Charlotte § 11-34 measures your access duty for code-compliance repairs in “all reasonable times”, and the city sections we read state no number of hours.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find your entry clause
Search the lease for enter, entry or access. With no notice period in the sections we read, that paragraph is the document that says how much notice is promised.
Ask what the visit is for
Charlotte § 11-34 ties your access duty to repairs or alterations for housing-code compliance or a lawful order. Ask in writing which repair a visit serves.
Agree a time in writing
§ 11-34 speaks of “all reasonable times”, not hours. A written yes for a set day and time window gives both sides a record.
Log each visit
Record the date, the time, who came in, what they did and how long it took. A log shows where a visit went past its stated purpose.
Know what a lockout costs the landlord
§ 42-25.9(a) lets a tenant removed outside the court procedure recover possession or end the lease, and § 42-25.9(b) covers seized or blocked belongings.
Read the current text, then get help
Chapter 42 was read on an archived copy of the General Assembly's PDF. Read the current text on ncleg.gov, then take your lease and your log to a Charlotte legal aid office or tenant attorney.