Can a landlord switch the complex gate from a key fob system to one which requires an app in the middle of a lease term? (Florida)
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3If the answer was "no", how could an apartment complex ever change any common infrastructure? Every tenant is on a different lease schedule so there would never be a time that such a change wasn't in the middle of most residents' leases. Does the lease require that there will be a gate with a key fob system?– Justin CaveCommented Apr 3 at 22:59
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Are there several homes behind the gate, all with different lease dates? I suppose they could run parallel systems until all the leases are renewed.– Weather VaneCommented Apr 3 at 23:00
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1The lease doesn't require any system at all. Something doesn't seem right about forcing download of third-party app and acceptance of its TOS to get into your apartment... and of course, requiring tenants to have a phone on them when they leave (and battery when they return).– TimCommented Apr 3 at 23:36
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1For most such systems an app, key fob, or RFID card is a higher level convenience feature allowing you to scan in, with the back up being manual entry of a code into a keypad. Is there such a method to obtain entry in the even of a dead phone battery or some similar contingency? If so, there's little basis to complain, let alone push back in a legal manner. Because if you can enter a code you could refuse the TOS of the app. You'd just be choosing to give up some convenience...– Michael HallCommented Apr 3 at 23:41
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2@JustinCave This problem is pretty easily resolved. All management needs to do is start including a provision in renewals that permits it to make the change. Once all the leases have that provision (or at least all the leases of tenants who care), management is free to proceed with the upgrades.– bdb484Commented Apr 4 at 3:28
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2 Answers
Yes, the landlord may change the lock system. There is nothing in the lease that prevents the landlord from maintaining or upgrading the property, and the lease will say nothing about what kind of door lock it must have.
Something doesn't seem right about forcing download of third-party app and acceptance of its TOS to get into your apartment
It is not against the law for a landlord to require you to download and app and accept its TOS. A judge wouldn't take your concerns seriously, and quite frankly, this concern isn't a serious or legitimate one.
The comments raise the issue of someone who doesn't have a smart phone being prejudiced by this arrangement. But this isn't your problem, so you no place to raise this concern.
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"the lease will say nothing about what kind of door lock it must have." The lease will almost certainly say something about securing the property, and may refer to keys (their number, availability, provisions for replacement, etc.)– Stuart FCommented Apr 4 at 9:30
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@StuartF Usually a residential lease only promises the tenant "quiet enjoyment" rather than saying more about securing the property. It will sometimes refer to keys, although that is hit and miss and an app password would constitute a key and is sometimes even called a key. Commented Apr 4 at 21:17
This would be illegal in australia
s47 of the COMPETITION AND CONSUMER ACT 2010 prohibits Exclusive Dealing without authorization.
(6) A corporation also engages in the practice of exclusive dealing if the corporation:
(a) supplies, or offers to supply, goods or services;
(b) supplies, or offers to supply, goods or services at a particular price; or
(c) gives or allows, or offers to give or allow, a discount, allowance, rebate or credit in relation to the supply or proposed supply of goods or services by the corporation;
on the condition that the person to whom the corporation supplies or offers or proposes to supply the goods or services or, if that person is a body corporate, a body corporate related to that body corporate will acquire goods or services of a particular kind or description directly or indirectly from another person not being a body corporate related to the corporation.
To paraphrase: if I provide goods or services (like a residential lease) to you and require you to acquire goods and services from someone else (like an app), even if it's free, I'm breaking the law unless I have a formal dispensation from the Commonwealth.
It has been proposed that this be amended to make it illegal only if “the purpose, effect or likely effect of the conduct is a substantial lessening of competition”; however, at present, it is automatically illegal.
To be clear, it is not just illegal to do this during a lease, its illegal to put it in the building in the first place.
