“do we have any recourse here?”

Photo by Tim Brown

“Dear PoPville,

My husband and I are moving out of our current apartment and, as per our lease, had to give 60 days’ notice. Our landlords indicated they intend to pretty immediately list and start showing the apartment, while we are still in it. Now, we have never had landlords try to show an apartment we were still living in, though I know this is their right and is not entirely uncommon. While normally it would just be inconvenient, during a global pandemic, it’s pretty scary to envision strangers tromping through our apartment where we both work and live (and are basically at home 24/7 these days!) and it also feels particularly pointless because I think the odds of people seeing our increasingly messy and cluttered apartment as we ourselves prepare to move out will not be particularly appealing to any potential future renters. On top of everything, I am also pregnant, which my landlords are aware of (and apparently do not care).

We have been good tenants to them and we are even moving out of the apartment three weeks early–why they can’t show the vacant apartment during the three weeks we will have paid for but are no longer present is also mind boggling!

So my question to the community: do we have any recourse here? My husband just wants to deny entry (and offer virtual tours instead while we are still in the apartment); for my part, I honestly just want to get out of this situation with as little stress, and as little COVID exposure, as possible but am wary of escalating confrontation…Any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated!”