Every landlord's legal guide
A reference for residential landlords shares comprehensive guidelines for saving money and maintaining legal requirements, providing coverage of everything from screening tenants to hiring a property manager.
| Main Authors: | Stewart, Marcia (Author), Warner, Ralph (Author), Portman, Janet (Author) |
|---|---|
| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[Berkeley, Calif.] :
Nolo,
2014.
|
| Edition: | 12th edition. |
| Subjects: |
Table of Contents:
- 1. Screening tenants: your most important decision : Avoiding fair housing complaints and lawsuits ; How to advertise rental property ; Renting property that's still occupied ; Dealing with prospective tenants and accepting rental applications ; Checking references, credit history, and more ; Choosing, and rejecting, an applicant ; Finder's fees and holding deposits
- 2. Preparing leases and rental agreements : Which is better, a lease or a rental agreement? ; Clause-by-clause instructions for completing the lease or rental agreement form ; Signing the lease or rental agreement ; About cosigners
- 3. Basic rent rules : How much can you charge? ; Rent control ; When rent is due ; Where and how rent is due ; Late charges and discounts for early payments ; Returned check charges ; Partial or delayed rent payments ; Raising the rent
- 4. Security deposits : Purpose and use of security deposits ; Dollar limits on deposits ; How much deposit should you charge? ; Last month's rent ; Interest and accounts on deposit ; Nonrefundable deposits and fees ; How to increase deposits ; Handling deposits when you buy or sell rental property
- 5. Discrimination : Legal reasons for rejecting a rental applicant ; Sources of antidiscrimination laws ; Types of illegal discrimination ; Valid occupancy limits ; Managers and discrimination ; Unlawful discrimination complaints ; Insurance coverage in discrimination claims
- 6. Property managers : Hiring your own resident manager ; How to prepare a property manager agreement ; Your legal obligations as an employer ; Management companies ; Your liability for a manager's acts ; Notifying tenants of the manager ; Firing a manager ; Evicting a manager
- 7. Getting the tenant moved in : Inspect the rental unit ; Photograph the rental unit ; Send new tenants a move-in letter ; Cash rent and security deposit checks ; Organize your tenant records ; Organize income and expenses for Schedule E ; Using email for notices or other communication with tenants ; The bottom line: stick with a traditional mail or delivery service
- 8. Cotenants, sublets, and assignments : Cotenants ; What to do when a tenant wants to sublet or assign ; When a tenant brings in a roommate ; Guests and new occupants you haven't approved
- 9. Landlord's duty to repair and maintain the premises : Your duty to keep the premises livable ; How to meet your legal repair and maintenance responsibilities ; Avoiding problems with a good maintenance and repair system ; Tenant updates and landlord's regular safety and maintenance inspections ; Tenant responses to unfit premises: calling inspectors, filing lawsuits, and moving out ; Minor repairs ; Delegating landlord's responsibilities to tenants ; Tenants' alterations and improvements ; Cable TV access ; Satellite dishes and antennas
- 10. Landlord's liability for tenant injuries from dangerous conditions : How to prevent injuries ; Liability and other property insurance ; Your liability for tenant injuries ; If a tenant was at fault, too ; How much money an injured tenant may recover
- 11. Landlord's liability for environmental health hazards : Asbestos ; Lead ; Radon ; Carbon monoxide ; Mold ; Bedbugs ; Electromagnetic fields
- 12. Landlord's liability for criminal activity : Comply with all state and local laws on security ; Keep your promises about security ; Prevent criminal acts ; Protect tanants from each other ; Protect tanants from your employees ; Deal with drug-dealing tenants ; If you are sued
- 13. Landlord's right of entry and tenants' privacy : General rules of entry ; Entry in case of emergency ; Entry with the permission of the tenant ; Entry to make repairs or inspect the property ; Entry to show property to prospective tenants or buyers ; Entry after the tenant has moved out ; Entry by others ; Other types of invasions of privacy ; What to do when tenants unreasonably deny entry ; Tenants' remedies if a landlord acts illegally
- 14. Ending a tenancy : Changing lease or rental agreement terms ; How month-to-month tenancies end ; How leases end ; If the tenant breaks the lease ; When a tenant dies ; Condominium conversions
- 15. Returning security deposits and other move-out issues : Preparing a move-out letter ; Inspecting the unit when a tenant leaves ; Applying the security deposit to the last month's rent ; Basic rules for returning deposits ; Deductions for cleaning and damage ; Deductions for unpaid rent ; Preparing an itemized statement of deductions ; Mailing the security deposit itemization ; Security deposits from cotenants ; If a tenant sues you ; If the deposit doesn't cover damage and unpaid rent ; What to do with property abandoned by a tenant
- 16. Problems with tenants: how to resolve disputes without a lawyer : Negotiating a settlement: start by talking ; When warning notices are appropriate ; Understanding mediation ; Using arbitration ; Representing yourself in Small Claims Court ; How to avoid charges of retaliation
- 17. Terminations and evictions : The landlord's role in eviction ; Termination notices ; Late rent ; Other tenant violations of the lease or rental agreement ; Violations of a tenant's legal responsibilities ; Tenant's illegal activity on the premises ; How eviction lawsuits work ; Illegal "self-help" evictions ; Stopping eviction by filing for bankruptcy
- 18. Lawyers and legal research : Finding a lawyer ; Types of fee arrangements with lawyers ; Saving on legal fees ; Resolving problems with your lawyer ; Attorney fees in a lawsuit ; Doing your own legal research ; Where to find state, local, and federal laws ; How to research court decisions
- Appendixes : A. State landlord-tenant law charts : State landlord-tenant statutes ; State rent rules ; State rules on notice required to change or terminate a month-to-month tenancy ; State security deposit rules ; Required landlord disclosures ; State laws in domestic violence situations ; State laws on rent withholding and repair and deduct remedies ; State laws on landlord's access to rental property ; State laws on handling abandoned property ; State laws prohibiting landlord retaliation ; State laws on termination for nonpayment of rent ; State laws on termination for violation of lease ; State laws on unconditional quit terminations ; State small claims court limits ; Landlord's duty to rerent ; Consequences of self-help evictions
- B. How to use the interactive forms on the Nolo website : Editing RTFs ; List of forms available on the Nolo website.