I'm a landlord and rental property owner, what I can tell you is this (Based in Florida):
1) If he's the property owner he has the rights to check his property for any damages or problems, generally speaking if it isn't broken the landlord is not going to show up unannounced, however I do quarterly checks on the house - which is noted in the lease to begin with including the information like I give a week notice before showing up, and request a time available to make the inspection. Secondly, once you sign a lease whether its quarterly, 6 months or year - you can decide not to alter the lease. He cannot terminate the Lease if he does he needs to give you the deposit and up to a month notice. DO NOT ALTER THE LEASE OR SIGN A NEW ONE. He's not allowed to break the lease or contract if your rent is kept up to date.
2) You have to look at the tenant/landlord handbook - generally he has the right to inspect the house as many times as he wants, its his property you just rent - however harassing is basically a sweetheart move on his part.
3) I've cleaned up dead people before, yeah its nice you have someone watching over your place while your gone, to whine about it is a sweetheart move, I had a dead tenant in an apartment for 2 weeks before anyone noticed.
4) If the landlord has any reason to enter your place he can do so as he wishes, again read above ^ - he had a valid reason too.
5) If he breaks the lease or contract take him to court and get a settlement, the lease is a lease is a lease, if you both sign it, there's a penalty for whoever breaks it - mine for example reads like this: If you sign this lease and don't complete it - the $1400 deposit along with $200 pet deposit is kept blah blah.
Best thing I can tell you to do, is document everything he does and time stamp it, he has every right to check on his property because he owns it - however again - there is NO reason to be harassing over it, most likely he has no experience being a land lord. Secondly the last ditch effort you can do is take him to court to get out of the lease, most likely the judge will sign off with the landlord because of ^ reason - the best thing you can do is finish the lease off and move out, if you paid any deposit you are required to get it back (depending on how he worded the lease, again this is the biggest problem because NOBODY ever reads them).
I had a woman who rented one of my houses for $1400 first and last month deposit and $200 pet deposit, she decided to move before the 6 month lease was up, on my lease it clearly states if you "intend to move before the 6 month lease is up you forfeit both deposits" - she didn't bother to read it and tried to sue me for the money being returned - secondly the pet deposit is because even though she had no pet when she moved it, she decided to get a cat somewhere along the time and claimed she had no pet, thus is why I kept the $200 otherwise if she would of finished her lease out, gave me a month notice before moving - she would of gotten back $1400 plus $200. The Judge most likely sides with the landlords in these cases because frankly we've been screwed over by more tenants, i.e eviction papers are over $400 in Florida, and it costs well over $200 to flea bomb a 4 bedroom house and have to shampoo it.
Your landlords an idiot, I would probably of taken him to court by now and sued to get out of the lease based on the harassment.
DO NOT SIGN A MODIFIED LEASE...... if he doesn't like it BOOHOO he can't evict if the rents paid and lease is in good standing.
