Law Pointers

Extracting timely rent payments from tenants is an ongoing challenge for many landlords. Year after year, surveys reveal that non-payment of rent is one of the biggest headaches that those of us in the property management business face. Whether your tenant is facing financial hardship or is just too disorganized to make timely rent payments, the chain of events that is set in motion when one, two, or even more months’ rent are missed hurts everyone.

The late notice is the landlord’s best line of defense in the battle against delayed rent payments. When used properly, this humble little document can significantly increase the chance that your tenant will pay on time, every time. Here are a few tips to help you use late notices in a way that will maximize your rent collection rate.

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In this world, everybody must abide by certain rules and regulations. These could be official rules which are penned by persons of authority and are expected to be followed by one and all; or these could be unofficial rules which are dictated upon people by other people or by society. Of these two, official rules are those which are considered as more formal and shall apply to everyone – from small (offices, classes, organizations) to large (townships, cities, countries) groups of people.

As with everything in this world, real estate transactions are also governed by rules and this extends through the entire gamut of individuals who are, in one way or another, involved in the process. There are federal and state property laws which real estate agents and lawyers must be aware of. Within the real estate office, there are specific rules that need to be followed as well. The professional relationship of a broker and a client are also governed by rules. However, in real estate, no one is more exposed to a list of dos and don’ts than a tenant of leased property.

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To fight for tenants rights groups, many landlords join the association of landlords which gives them information about their rights to kick out people for breaking the agreement, or because they would like to turn their low cost housing into more expensive housing that is more profitable, and so must first force to leave the people who have lived there sometimes for generations. An association of landlords will provide the landlord with all kinds of help, while in general, tenants get little assistance from anywhere, so for a landlord, this is a important advantage. For example, landlords can get credit checks, forms, free legal advice, and other such services from highly paid experts by joining an association of landlords, while in general, tenants can at most hope for the help of a free legal clinic with inexpert unpaid helper staff opens at irregular hours.

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The most troublesome aspect of being a landlord is tenants who damage your property, from complete trashing to total destruction, and even worse. There are plenty of horror stories around about what tenants can to a rental.

And, if you think finding a good tenant depends on luck, you couldn’t be more wrong, or else why don’t you work to ensure luck favours you, at least, in relation to the right choice of tenant. That means taking the following measures to reduce risk concerns that will guarantee the well-being of your rental property.

First, adopt Tenant Screening, which is the magic mantra of all successful, savvy landlords. How many landlords can confirm they carry out a complete tenant screening exercise, when looking for prospective tenants? Not many if gauged from the horror stories that float around about property damage! To get a good tenant, a landlord must be thoroughly professional about the entire tenant screening process, and verifying past landlord references is an essential part of every standard screening process. Call them and question them about prospective tenants.

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What are my responsibilities as a tenant?

So your thinking about moving and your not sure if you have taken the necessary steps to get your security deposit back. Well look no further. Lets take a look at your responsibilities as a Tenant and the responsibilities of your landlord or management company.

Below you will find the Cleaning and Repair responsibilites a Landlord Can use to Deduct From your Security Deposit. Landlords are permitted to deduct from security deposits for damage or excessive filth, but not for ordinary wear and tear.

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There comes a time when every landlord finds himself / herself in a difficult position of having his rental property occupied by a tenant who is not paying rent, or is making a nuisance of himself and causing problems for other tenants, or is causing immense damage to the rental unit, or his / her conduct makes it impossible to continue with a landlord / tenant relationship. Though, state laws governing eviction vary significantly, the following are a few tips to help landlords finding themselves in the unpleasantly messy situation of evicting a tenant.

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I recently vacated my apartment. I left on good terms, the apartment was inspected prior to leaving and was found in satisfactory condition. No back rent was owed. Weeks later, my landlord is ignoring my calls and letters. How can I get my security deposit returned?

First off, security deposits and how they are handled are very state specific and sometimes even more specific to the local community in which you live. If you can afford to do so, it might be wise to have a consultation with a local attorney to be advised on how to proceed.

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