My landlord let in carpet cleaners to clean the vacant room in my apartment without giving me any notice is that legal?

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The apartment complex I live in specifically rents rooms to people not the whole apartment therefore the common area is shared between two tenants. Which means my lease pertains specifically to my bedroom. Recently my roommate moved out and needed to pay to clean the carpets in her room. Without any notice my landlord let in the carpet cleaners and then failed to lock my door after they left. When I got home that night my apartment was unlocked and the carpet was wet which is the only reason I even knew that they had been there. When I confronted him about it he said they did not need to give me notice because they own the right to the extra vacant room, is this true? There have been multiple occasions that my apartment has been entered into without permission or notice.

1 Attorney Answer

Best Answer
If you rent only your room and the landlord did not enter your room, then you likely are not entitled to notice that the landlord is entering some other room.
On another hand, are all your personal properties inside your bedroom and it has a lock? Leaving the door to the apartment unlocked may have exposed the landlord to liability if your properties are missing.
Even if you were entitled to notice before the landlord can enter, you do not get anything unless you have given the landlord the notice required in RCW 59.18.150 (Landlord's right of entry — Purposes — Searches by fire officials — Searches by code enforcement officials for inspection purposes — Conditions).
The section provides: "(8) A landlord or tenant who continues to violate the rights of the tenant or landlord with respect to the duties imposed on the other as set forth in this section after being served with one written notification alleging in good faith violations of this section listing the date and time of the violation shall be liable for up to one hundred dollars for each violation after receipt of the notice. The prevailing landlord or tenant may recover costs of the suit or arbitration under this section, and may also recover reasonable attorneys' fees."
You can review the specific facts with your attorney to determine what your legal options are and what areas are exclusively yours.

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