Can a landlord appoint agents at will?

Question

I am curious about something that came up in this question: Can a realtor show my apartment at will, with notice?.

In the linked question a comment for an answer states: "The realtor IS the landlord due to being the landlord’s agent - it’s highly unusual for a landlord to attend a showing." I understand this comment to mean that both the management company representative (the person who fixes things here) and the realtor are the landlord's agents. I.e. both have access to the apartment with or without consent, and the later can bring in third parties (prospective buyers).

Can the property owner/landlord (in general, not just in my case) appoint representatives at will, who will have access to the property they are leasing out? Or is there a definite legal definition of a representative and how they are appointed?

Answer 1

In general, a person may appoint as many agents as s/he wishes for a particular purpose. The principal is responsible for the actions of all such agents, unless they exceeded their powers or instructions, and in some cases even then. In this particular case all such accesses would have to be "reasonable" taken together, and if the various agents fail to coordinate their requests for access, the result may be an unreasonable burden on the tenant. But as far as I can determine there is no formal process that a Kansas landlord must go through to appoint an agent, nor any specific limit on the number of agents appointed.

The general law of agency is flexible on such matters.

A tenant would be justified in asking for proof (or at least evidence) that a person is in fact acting as a landlord's agent, or in confirming with the landlord. The complex management is clearly the landlord's agent.