Can tenant prevent landlord from entering flooded house?

[Andrew Taylor]

I work for a small builder in Houston, and we are doing remediation work on flooded homes. I met with a client yesterday who is having a problem with a tenant. One of his rental homes flooded, and she threatened to sue him if he set foot on the property.

I just assumed that standard landlord law gave him the right to enter a property to do emergency repairs or damage mitigation, but this lady is really freaking out and says she has a friend who is a lawyer who swears up and down he cannot enter the property without her permission.

Any words of wisdom?

[Andrew Taylor]

We showed up at 8 o'clock this morning, and the place was deserted. Completely vacant.