Is it legal for your parents to go through your property if you are 18?

Question

My parents keep going into my room even though I am 18. Yesterday, they went into a duffel bag that I had used as an overnight bag the day before. It was in my room and took all of my clothes out of it, took my birth control and looked through it to see if I was taking my medication, and then put my birth control in their bathroom, as if I wasn't going to notice or say anything. Is this legal? What can I do to get them to stop doing this?

Answer 1

YES. It is 100% completely LEGAL. You are in their house. In their house, there is NO privacy for anyone. The Constitution does NOT apply to private property, so no search warrant is required for your parents to search everything inside their house. YOU are a visitor. If YOU bring illegal drugs into their house, it is THEY who could end up in jail. They are responsible for YOU and everything you DO while inside their house. You have no legal grounds to make them do anything since you are a guest. If you were listed on the deed as co-owner, THEN you have some rights, but as it stands you have NO rights of any kind. Too many children do NOT understand that when they turn 18 or become emancipated, their parents can literally put them and their things on the other side of the front door and lock it behind you, and you have NO recourse of ANY kind. Once you turn 18, the rules CHANGE to make YOU responsible for yourself, but that does NOT relieve your parents from being responsible for what happens in their home. Hence, their right to search without a warrant or even probable cause on their private property. The same applies to a shopping mall, by the way, since IT is private property exactly like your parents house. Search and seizure under the 4th amendment to the Constitution does NOT apply to private property and private citizens, ONLY to public property and government agencies. Your only solution is to move OUT from under your parents roof... or live by their rules.

Answer 2

Technically speaking, the answer is no - they cannot search your belongings that are clearly yours.



They would be permitted to enter the room and inspect what is there since they own the property, but not your stuff since you are a legal adult.



Even with this being the case, you don't have many options here. Actually, you have three.



1) You could try to invoke legal remedies (sue them), but it would never go anywhere in a court.

2) You can stay and deal with it, or

3) You can move out.



Option #1 won't help you at all, so just eliminate that. Just think to yourself, "Should I stay or should I go?" And decide from there.



EDIT: Thumbs down all you want. The owners of a property do not have the right to search through belongings of adults without permission. This is why you can refuse, for instance, to allow a store to look through your bag if the alarm goes off. The asker of the question is over 18, making the person an adult. The parents can enter and inspect, but cannot legally search through private property regardless of relationship. That is actual law - disagree all you want.

Answer 3

Let's see if I have this correct. You live in a room in a house that belongs to your parents, you probably don't pay rent or help out with the bills. You are sexually active and they want to make sure you don't get pregnant. You probably have lied to them in the past and they don't trust you. And, you may even be doing drugs, probably weed.



The solution is very simple - move out. Don't blame them because you are a failure, you are responsible for yourself.

Answer 4

its not legally "your room" its their house and they have legal right to go in to any room in that house. are you paying rent? if not then its NOT your room. as for the bags they are going through if you dont like it, then move out. yes its your property but what kind of rules have they set? if you want to live there, you have to abide by their rules. if they set certain rules and you have broken them and the punishment is that they go through your things then you have every right to leave.

Answer 5

I'm guessing you are still living in their house, which makes it THEIR room. They also own anything that THEY purchased for that room. So it's THEIR bed, THEIR computer, THEIR furniture... I'm guessing that you don't have a fully benefited job, so I would bet that YOUR birth control was paid for with THEIR insurance...



"What can I do to get them to stop doing this?"



You can move out.

Answer 6

If you are not on the list of owners, and pay no rent on the room, they have every right to go through your stuff. Pay rent and lock the door or move out.

Answer 7

Anything in their house they have the right to search. Move out, they can't search your house.

Answer 8

YOUR room?

You mean the room they let you use?

THAT room?

their house, their property...You don't like it move...Legally that can go through THEIR room

Answer 9

If you live under their roof, it's their rules. However, if you live by yourself, you can threaten them with. By the sounds of it you live with your parents, so there's nothing you really can do.

Answer 10

Move. They can look at anything brought into their home.

Answer 11

Are you still in their house

Answer 12

no, considering they OWN the house lol

Answer 13

being 18 makes you an adult, i think you can sue them for invading your privacy. unless you live in their home.