Can a landlord go through my trash?

Question

The apartment I live in has a terrible trash situation. The dumpsters are placed so you can't get to one of them, and there is always trash piled around the other. The piles get huge, and sometimes it's impossible to place trash IN the dumpster.
I always try to get it in anyway--usually I THROW it in. Last week it was too heavy to throw, though, and I put it on the heap with all the rest of the trash.
The manager went through my trash bag, found my address in it, and is now threatening to fine me. I live in Texas--is it LEGAL for them to go through my trash? If so, do I have any recourse, short of joining a tenant's association, whose fee I can't afford?
Thanks!

Answer 1

You will probably have to find out local statues, but I know on TV shows..they always say, once it's out on the public curbside or trashcan..or side of the road ..they can go through it legally..and I know for people who dump trash here..that is exactly how they try to find out who did it. They look through it for address labels, envelopes, etc.

Sounds like you have a beef with your manager in not providing enough trash recepticles YOU may have a bigger legal beef than he does if you play your cards right.

Contact your local sanitation or health department regulations, as well.
Good luck
Shalom

Answer 2

It is legal for anyone to go through your trash.
It is not legal for the landlord to create an unsanitary situation. You response to his threat is to say that you are reporting him to code enforcement for failing to provide enough dumpsters or to provide for frequent enough pickup.
And you can call code enforcement anyway. You should have before leaving the trash there.
Texas has some of the weakest renter's protection in the country (as in most consumer things in Texas) so little recourse there.

Answer 3

The landlord probably went through your trash bag in order to discover whose bag of trash it was. Chances are that he also went through all the OTHER bags in the same pile for the same reason.

You need to speak with your landlord about the trash situation, explaining why you put it on a pile instead of in a dumpster. Try to reach a reasonable agreement with him.

Answer 4

Unfortunately, yes. Once you set it out it is no longer your property and you have no reasonable expectation of privacy (There are numerous examples of this in legal case files). Many appartment complexes do this, I have seen it done ... it happens. IF he is such a D!(% as to do that ... I suggest you tell him to take it to small claims. He cannot prove that someone else digging for cans did not remove the bag and place it on the ground. Maybe your letter blew out of your mailbox and a neighbor found it and threw it in thier trash. There are many ways to get out of it if you are willing to lie. I suggest just telling them the situation and letting them know you did your best. If he continues to be a dork, tell him you are going to contact the city and complain about inaequate waste disposal points and the unsanitary conditions. Usually they just threaten and if it does not happen all the time, the problem goes away.

Answer 5

That situation happened to me once. Except my situation was because bums and animals were picking through trash to find food and items. As a result, they left the trash cans a mess. One day the landlord get fed up, and charged me a fine because he could only find a peice of mail with MY name on it. I called him and explained the situation. He removed the fine, and asked me to help find the culprites. I told him they were bums & animals, and that if he wanted his trash tidy, he would need purchase better, bigger trash cans with lids. He did so, and I never heard a peep about it again.

Just talk to your landlord. Maybe he will remove the fine as a one time courtesy. Trash you put out is public property. It is not illegal to go through the trash. Shred all your mail before you throw it away. This is also a safety measure for you to protect your identity from theives.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

Since the dumpster isnt located on your apartment, it is legal, the point is if they are not giving sufficient dumping for the amount of people and that is included in your rent, the land lord is responsible for having more trash removal.

the fine threat is to try and keep control of what is out of control. Keep track of your rent reciepts, and beware of the time your annual rent change comes-max raise is usually 10% in one year even if they skip years of having a raise. When you deal with people that let things get out of control you deal with random changes often. call city hall know your laws and ask the clerk who to speak to regarding any issue.
You will be told what to do, and what not to allow too, dont let it be between you and the landlord let it be between the land lord and city hall.

Try and save any mail to throw away with addresses on it in your first dumping when the dumpster is changed.

and relax take a deep breath=David the sweet pea in Jesus amazing grace and thanks-prayin for you too

Answer 7

Sorry but trash is free property. you can always get around that by filing an order of protection with the local police and saying that he is stalking you... which he technically is.

but legally trash is ok. They dont have to prove the protection order for it to be legal... it will automatically be enforced in case he is tryig to hurt you.

he will be afraid and leave you alone...

I suggest u move.

Answer 8

A tenants association won't be able to help you. Anyone with the desire to can go through your trash.

Answer 9

Legal? Once you put the trash out, its out. Don't put items with personal information in the trash.

Answer 10

It's legal for anyone to go through TRASH. That's why you're supposed to shred up any important documents. If you're throwing it out then it's no longer"yours"-it's up for grabs.....sorry.....