MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — A Merritt Island woman says she caught her landlord on tape secretly entering her home and invading her privacy.
When the sheriff's office and private attorneys could not help, she called Action 9.
Kim Carman knew someone kept entering her rental home and suspected it was her landlord, Phil Cohen.
“My gut instinct, I mean I feel deep inside it was him. He had a key,” said Carman.
She said she found lights on several times, or something in her home had moved.
Carman eventually confronted him.
“He said he wouldn't come into my place unless it was an emergency,” Carman said.
According to Carman, the landlord kept denying he was going inside, uninvited, so she bought a small camera to prove it.
Within days, she had video of a man she says is Cohen, checking if anyone is there, quickly moving to her desk, and removing something. Then he heads out the door.
“I basically just freaked out, it scared me half to death,” said Carman. She fears he retrieved a hidden camera he used to spy on her.
Carman contacted the Brevard County Sheriff's Office but was told there was nothing they can do. “They couldn't charge him with anything because he's not burglarizing anything since it’s his property.”
She says attorneys wanted retainers to take the case so she moved out and called Action 9.
Todd Ulrich went to Cohen's home address. His mother said he was out of state. Later, Cohen told Ulrich he never knew about the tape but he entered with authorization to check for mold.
Carman said that isn’t true.
Ulrich asked attorney Barry Miller about Carman’s situation. “When a landlord is entering into a tenant's home without permission, not to fix, no legitimate reason, they're harassing the tenant,” said Miller.
Florida's landlord tenant law bans unauthorized entry outside emergencies to protect privacy. But it can be hard to enforce.
“They still would not do anything,” said Carman.
Cohen called Carman a disgruntled tenant who made accusations after she moved out.
Renters wanting to enforce privacy rights can sue in court, but that can be challenging
WFTV
