However you came to be a landlord, it is safe to say that you are not in it to lose money. While a landlord must keep an eye on the bottom line, being a landlord is also a people business, and a deeply personal one at that. Although you own Read more…
We all know that getting by in life sometimes requires a little bit of compromise. As a landlord, strict adherence to your lease can be a good overall philosophy, but it does not mean that you cannot open the door to compromise when it makes sense to you. Occasional flexibility Read more…
For brand new landlords, tenant requests can be overwhelming. The tenant may be making frequent requests, or may be asking permission for things you may not have thought about. No landlord wants to be adversarial with a tenant. To keep things cordial, you may feel pressured to say yes to Read more…
Sometimes, it may seem as if a lease really isn’t necessary when renting property. There are situations that differ from the typical house-for-rent scenario. For instance, these:
¿ You’ve decided to let your favorite cousin move in for a few months while he looks for a job and his own place. Your cousin wants to be fair and pay something toward room and board and, frankly, you could use the extra cash. Since it’s family, and will be for just a short time, do you really need a lease agreement?
You gathered a pile of applications for your rental property. You narrowed it to several finalists and, after screening a few backgrounds, you finally settled on the best candidate for your next tenant.
Now, that tenant is backing out of the lease at the very last minute. What should you do, besides tearing your hair out?
It depends on whether or not the tenant signed your lease agreement, and whether you obtained a Hold Deposit. Also, did your lease include an Early Termination clause?
Know the answers to these questions before reading further – they matter!
Property management revolves around legal contracts – purchase agreements, loans, leases – so, the law is integral to every aspect of the rental business. Usually, after the rental property is purchased, most “contract time” will be spent on writing strong leases. A good lease that meets state laws provides protection from tenants who mistreat the rental, fail to pay utility bills or stop paying rent.
However, even the very best leases get tested. Maybe a tenant gets a new job one month into a yearlong lease and wants to move. Or a departing tenant insists that the carpet was stained when he moved in and demands the return of his full security deposit. Perhaps roommates have a fight, one moves out and the remaining roommate invites in a new roommate without mentioning it to the landlord.
Imagine that the single family home you own in a quiet neighborhood was just leased to a family that moved from out of state. You pop by a few weeks after lease-signing to drop off extra keys and see how they are settling in. Instead of beds, sofas and other décor, you find that each room has been fitted with grow lights connected to hazardous tangles of electrical cords. Your tenants have stripped your house of furnishings and converted it into a greenhouse for growing marijuana.
That nightmare occurred in a Colorado city that has been known, not for its drugs and crime, but for art, a rich history and beautiful museums. In fact, Pueblo, Co., made Livability.com's Top 10 Cities for Historic Preservation list. Yet, investigators who searched a rental home there in March found 127 pot plants and growing equipment worth more than $100,000.
Here's a goose bump-inducing fact for you: Florida is home to more than 80 species of mosquitoes – more than in any other state or province in North America. Is it any wonder that lawmakers in Florida require that windows in rental properties have screens and that landlords repair those screens once every year? It's true! It's part of Florida's landlord-tenant law.
In fact, officials there are stepping up enforcement of that rule in light of the recent revelation that dozens of pregnant women in Florida are being watched for the Zika virus. The virus is carried by some mosquitoes and has been linked to serious birth defects.
Florida isn't alone in setting mandates that require landlords to keep their rental properties in good shape. It's up to the landlord to know the maintenance and repair requirements in the state or province where the rental unit is located, …
Your tenant signed a year lease for your rental two months ago, and now she says she is moving out. She explains that she will pay you a prorated sum for the next two weeks while she remains in the unit. Then, she's leaving. And here's the reason she gives: Someone has been stalking her and she now fears for her safety.
Frustrating though the situation may be – lost rental income, short notice to find a new tenant – you may be legally required to agree to the move. And you may have to go along with the short notice as well as the abbreviated rental payments.
The number of states with specific laws addressing the rights of tenants who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking is growing. Some states, including California, have recently beefed up those laws with very strict guidelines…
A recent dispatch from a Great Britain property investment firm described an alarming statistic: Ten percent of landlords in the UK have no written agreement with their tenants, according to the Manchester-based Select Property Group. That's potential for an awful lot of disagreement.
“Nothing in writing” means that every single term – from rental payments and property rules to the length of the tenant's stay – has been either verbally addressed or not mentioned at all. It means that responsibilities such as who's going to pay for utilities may be anyone's guess. And when money is changing hands, you can bet that ambiguity will lead to discord.
But it isn't just a British thing. News outlets in the U.S. had a field day with the story of a 97-year-old California woman who was fighting eviction from a home she'd occupied for 66 years on a verbal lease.