Illegal Entry By City Officials

[Matthew Baird]

A friend of mine has a property management company and owns many buildings.  We recently received a notice from our city stating that they entered the unoccupied building and inspected it.  They sent a huge list of seemingly excessive repairs that are required of us for this building.  The list is extremely particular and includes things that seem frivolous. 

Normally, having a list of repair items would not seem to be a negative thing, but in this case, the inspectors entered the building without permission from the owner, notification of their intent to do so, or the knowledge of the owner.  The city officials had no valid reason for entering the building at all, yet they sent a long list of "violations" to the owner, with a date of when their "inspection" took place.  The inspection was dated for a date after the owner had acquired the property.  The owner had purchased the property at auction from the city about two months prior to this inspection taking place.  As of the date of their "inspection", no tenants resided in the building since the rehab team was in the process of conducting repairs.  So, in essence the city knew that no one lived there, knew he had just purchased the property and was conducting repairs, and they knew that nobody would be at the property, but they entered it without permission anyway.  

Am I crazy to think that they broke the law and then conveniently gave us proof of their crimes by giving us the list of things they want fixed?

I know its to our advantage to develop good relationships with the city inspectors but they seem to target my friend with many of his properties and have given him similar hassles in the past (although those were inspected with permission). We are aware that city inspectors are there to uphold codes, but they are excessive and seem to intentionally look for things to send "violations" for to my friend. As an investor myself, I can tell you that we do not have anywhere near the amount of trouble or violations from the city as my friend has... and the building we manage is in comparable condition to most of his buildings.

My question is this... is it illegal for city inspectors to enter a building without prior authorization from the owner? Anyone who has experience in these matters, your thoughts and advice would be appreciated.

Thanks :)