Manager Didn't Have Authority to Consent to Police Search of Tenant's Space

May 31, 2003

A woman disappeared after meeting with her estranged husband. Her family called the police and told the investigator that the woman and her husband had been renting a storage unit. The investigator went to the storage unit facility and spoke to the manager. The manager confirmed that the woman and her husband were renting a storage unit. She said that she had a key to the unit and, under the lease, the authority to enter it. The manager unlocked the unit. The investigator stepped inside the unit and discovered the woman's bloody body.

A woman disappeared after meeting with her estranged husband. Her family called the police and told the investigator that the woman and her husband had been renting a storage unit. The investigator went to the storage unit facility and spoke to the manager. The manager confirmed that the woman and her husband were renting a storage unit. She said that she had a key to the unit and, under the lease, the authority to enter it. The manager unlocked the unit. The investigator stepped inside the unit and discovered the woman's bloody body. The investigator took the body and other evidence from the unit. The husband was arrested and asked the court to suppress the evidence taken from the storage unit.

A Minnesota appeals court ruled that the manager didn't have the authority to let the police search the storage unit. The court noted that landlords, including storage unit owners, generally don't have the authority to consent to warrantless searches of their tenants' spaces. Since the lease only gave the manager a limited right to enter the unit for such purposes as to clean, repair, alter, or improve the unit, the police couldn't rely on the manager's consent to the search to avoid suppression of the evidence taken from the unit, the court said. But the court ordered a new hearing to consider other theories why the search of the unit was legal [State v. Licari].

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