Legal

• February 1, 2007 / 0 Comments

  What landlords should know about collecting debt

  You want your money. The bad tenant who recently moved out owes you a lot. Now you want to collect. In your eagerness to get your money, be careful. You could fall under your state’s version of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act regulates the tactics collection […]

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• January 1, 2007 / 0 Comments

  Q & A: If property is abandoned, does landlord need to evict?

  Q: I have a Tenant who signed a stipulation for entry of judgment after proper notice and summons/complaint for unlawful detainer for nonpayment of rent. Tenant moved out three weeks ago and left a few items of clothing in the apartment. I’m unable to contact former tenant. Do I still need to proceed with eviction […]

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• October 1, 2006 / 0 Comments

  Landlords: is a lease always in your favor?

  As pointed out in the lead article, a lease is a contract that allows a tenant to occupy a property for a specified period of time, at an agreed-upon rent, as long as the terms of the lease are followed. Does that benefit the landlord? Or is it only a benefit to the tenant? A […]

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• October 1, 2006 / 0 Comments

  Just What Did You Agree To?

  Time was that a handshake meant you agreed. There was even a time when a handshake was enough to cement an agreement with a tenant when you rented to him or her. That was before the days of landlord-tenant laws, landlord-hating attorneys and tenant-friendly judges. But there’s more to it than that. When you rent […]

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• August 1, 2006 / 2 Comments

  Mal-management

  My client calls it “mismanagement,” but that implies simple neglect and a casual attitude toward their responsibility. What happened to this apartment complex is far beyond something that inoffensive. What his management company did was criminal and violated its fiduciary duty to its customer. The laws of many states demand that a property manager “owes […]

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• August 1, 2006 / 0 Comments

  Q & A: Tenant didn’t do work as promised

  Q: When I rented my house to a family I gave them $50 a month out of the rent for the upkeep of my property. Nothing was ever done with the money. I raised the rent and they moved out leaving a terrible mess inside and out. They ripped all the carpet out of the […]

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• January 1, 2006 / 0 Comments

  Enough Is Enough

  Here’s a New Years Resolution you may not have thought about. Create Rental Policies and Standards for existing tenants, based on the property and the type of tenants it usually attracts. Then you’ll know for sure when it’s time to keep one or give one the boot. How do you know when it’s time to […]

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• September 1, 2005 / 0 Comments

  The Heating Crisis

  The oil companies gleefully promise record heating oil and natural gas prices this winter. Those can present a serious problem both to landlords who include heat in the rent and to landlords whose tenants pay their own utilities. Here’s why. If you pay for heat, especially if the heat comes from oil or natural gas, […]

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• August 1, 2005 / 0 Comments

  The Unlicensed Disaster

  You are responsible for every screw that is screwed, every nail that is pounded, every board that is cut, every wire that is strung in your rental property. It doesn’t matter if you did it, you, a tenant, an unlicensed contractor, or a fully licensed contractor, you have the ultimate responsibility. Witness the 1996 case […]

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• July 1, 2005 / 0 Comments

  How Fair Housing Ignorance Can Cost You Money

  Few landlords want to illegally discriminate against prospective or existing tenants despite what Fair Housing officials believe. Yet too many landlords are unaware of some of the important provisions of the Fair Housing Act, and that is costing them money. But it is for reasons other than you might think. Most rental owners know that […]

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