In Landmark Decision, Court Rules Pottstown Cannot Enter Rental Units Without Warrant

POTTSTOWN, PA — A Pennsylvania court ruled Tuesday that a Pottstown borough ordinance allowing officials to enter rental homes without a warrant, based solely on probable cause, is unconstitutional.

The decision comes after a lawsuit filed by Pottstown residents sparked attention from civil rights groups around the nation.

"This is a massive victory for the privacy and property rights of renters throughout Pennsylvania,” Jeffrey Redfern, an attorney with Institute for Justice, told Patch. “If the government wants to search your home, it needs a warrant based on probable cause. You don’t lose that protection because you rent your home."

See previous coverage: Lawsuit Challenges Pottstown's Ability To Enter Rental Homes Without Warrant

Pottstown residents Dottie and Omar Rivera were supported by their landlord Steve Camburn in the suit. The group successfully argued that forcing landlords and tenants to open their doors for random inspections, often in search of code violations, was illegal.

Pottstown officials would not obtain actual warrants based on probable cause that a code violation had occurred. Instead they had something called an "administrative" warrant that granted them the ability to search any rental property.

The ruling was handed down in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court by Judge Stacy Wallace. Federal courts have previously upheld similar searches of rental units by code inspectors, but the Pennsylvania Constitution is more restrictive of privacy rights than the U.S. Constitution.

In her decision, Wallace wrote that the administrative warrants "were at best based on general suspicions," and violated article 1, section 8 of the state Constitution.

“I’m thrilled that renters now have the same rights to be secure in their homes as homeowners in Pottstown do,” Dottie Rivera shared in a statement. “If I don’t want someone searching through my home, and they have no reason to believe I’ve done something wrong, then they shouldn’t be able to come in.”

The Institute for Justice, which represented the Riveras and Camburn, is also challenging similar rental inspection ordinances in Orange City, Iowa, Zion, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington.