Just a quote

“Though Alec had never seen the occupants of the first floor loft, they seemed to be engaged in a tempestuous romance. Once there had been a bunch of someone's belongings strewn all over the landing with a note attached to a jacket lapel addressed to "A lying liar who lies." Right now there was a bouquet of flowers taped to the door with a card tucked among the blooms that read I'M SORRY. That was the thing about New York: you always knew more about your neighbors' business than you wanted to.” 
― Cassandra Clare, City of Lost Souls

Bad Landlords, Make the rest look bad

Its landlord's like this that give landlords in general a bad name. Its a business, practices like that make it hard to get good tenants. Only someone who doesn't care about long term tenants and is looking to make a quick buck would let their property get like that. The property I currently own had a bad landlord, prior to my purchasing it. It took me years to escape the bad reputation. I spent weeks working on Tenant Screening trying to find a good tenant my first year. 90% of the applications had multiple eviction and some had criminal records. Now when i have to fill an apartment I have a lot of good choices. But it took a long time to earn that reputation, so seeing landlords pull this crap annoys me.

Couple sues landlord over mold in Bound Brook rental home

Published: Sunday, August 09, 2009, 6:27 AM     Updated: Monday, August 10, 2009, 10:44 AM

 By Tom Meagher 

BOUND BROOK -- A husband and his pregnant wife are suing their former landlords, accusing the Jersey City couple of failing to remediate "toxic mold" from the Bound Brook home they rented until May.

A complaint filed last week with Superior Court in Somerville alleges that the mold may have caused the health problems Floyd and Tabatha McColley suffered from while living in the Cedar Crest Road house, and also suggests that it had an impact on the woman's unborn child.

"There's a definite problem with the baby that will require... immediate action after birth," Floyd McColley said Thursday, but stopped short of saying mold is responsible for the unspecified medical issue that was diagnosed by an obstetrician.

The girl, expected in about two months, will be born at Columbia University Medical Center in New York "so she's right there with the best doctors when she's born," said Floyd McColley, who now lives with his wife in Brick Township, Ocean County.

The couple's complaint, filed on July 27 by attorney John Charles Allen of New Brunswick, claims Sameen and Yameen Khan, the Jersey City husband and wife who rented the house to them, failed to respond to complaints that there was "severe leaking" and "substantial growth of toxic mold" in the home they moved into in August 2008.

Both McColley's had become sick after living in the home, Floyd McColley said.

"It was a gradual worsening of symptoms," he said.

They had issues with being over-tired and had trouble breathing, said the husband, who's sickness were more pronounced.

"As a result of the defects to the property and more importantly, the hazardous conditions with the property, plaintiffs were forced to move out," the complaint says.

Both McColleys are healthier since leaving, said the husband.

After moving, the landlords hired contractors who the court filing calls unqualified and not properly equipped to remove the mold. The complaint says workers destroyed property left behind by the McColleys, and Floyd McColley, who hired his own mold expert, said Thursday that the mold was made worse by the contractors.

The Khans never paid for the cost of alternate housing or relocation, the complaint said.
Reached Thursday, Sameen Khan referred questions to the couple's attorney, Michael Wroblewski of New York.

"My clients vigorously deny the allegations and have acted responsibly through this matter," he said later that day, but didn't want to elaborate.

The McColleys' suit, which is requesting a jury trial, asks that the couple be awarded compensation for various damages, as well as legal fees.

Floyd McColley, a military contractor, said he and his wife moved to Bound Brook from Illinois after his employer called him back from Iraq to work in New Jersey.

The home appeared nice when they moved in, but the flooding started with the first rain storm, he said.

"We had high hopes of staying in this place only to find out we'd moved into a nightmare."

Why Landlords Tenant Screen

Ever wonder why your landlord asks you all those questions? Why you have to fill out endless forms every time you go apartment hunting? Well there is actually a good reason for it. Being a landlord is like being a business owner and the apartments are your business. Its the landlords job to insure that the apartments are a safe environment, both for the tenants benefit and their own. 

After all, if they get a tenant who decides to destroy the property because they are having a bad day, the landlord is responsible for paying for the damages.Its true that they can often get the money back in  court, however that takes time and even more money, and until they manage that they have to pay for everything out of pocket, which could be thousands of dollars.Many landlords also depend a great deal on the money that comes from the tenants. There are a great deal of property taxes involved in owning an apartment. Without having that money coming in, many have no way to pay for it. So in truth its in the landlord's best interest to find a tenant who is capable of paying rent, likely to stick around, and not liable to go on a rampage and destroy the property. They also want to make sure you personality is a good match for their buiding. 

However, landlords, aren't mind readers. That's why potential tenants are required to fill out applications and submit to tenant screening. The information asked is only part of the process. Landlords take that information and use it on sites www.atenantscreen.com to get information such as credit reports, criminal records, and number of prior evictions. The also verify that you are who you claim to be, something that has become more important in today's society, where identity theft is rampant.

Landlords look at things like credit, how steady your job is, the amount of money you make and how much you have in account as a way to judge how likely you are to pay rent. Eviction records and criminal records generally can tell landlords how likely you are to cause issues. Last thing a landlord wants is to find the  cops at their door because of something a tenant did. 

What seems like an endless pain to tenants is the landlords best protection against scams and risky tenants. So when your filling out one of those applications, consider this, you probably don't want a neighbor selling drugs next door, or damaging any of your property either. 

Protect Yourself, Take Pictures

{EAV:2b6cd28393719a41}

Again and again I see tenants cheated out of their security deposit and unable to do anything. Often because they did not take the proper steps to protect themselves from a bad landlord. Many not realizing that they were at risk until it was too late.

Its important to make sure that you take pictures and videos of the apartment, both before you move in and right before you leave. That way you have evidence to prove that the damage was not there prior to your leaving or in the case of previous damage, already there before you move in.

Renting Vs Owning

There are a lot of reasons people rent or own. Here are some of the major ones.

Renting

Pros

• Your not bound to a property
• Landlord's job to maintain
• More affordable

Cons

• Can't alter property with out permission
• You don't own the property
• Landlord can cause issues

Buying A Home

Pros

• Its an asset
• You can change anything you like
• You can sell it to gain back money spent

Cons

• Responsible for all issues
• Can be hard to sell if there are issues
• Cost a lot of money

Landlord Responsibilities

General landlord responsibilities include:

• Know your tenant rental rights. The best way to protect your rights is to know them.
• Learn about tenant landlord laws regarding the State/Province you are renting in.

Providing a livable unit... Livability means that the unit should:

• Be weather and waterproof
• Have working plumbing
• Provide enough hot and cold running water
• Have a working heating system
• Have an electrical system in good working order
• Be free from infestations of insects and rodents
• Have sufficient trash cans
• Have floors, stairways and railings in good repair
• Have natural lighting in every room
• Have working windows that open at least halfway or mechanical ventilation
• Have safe fire or emergency exits leading to
  street or hallway
• Have a working deadbolt lock on main entrance
• Have working security devices on windows
• Have working smoke detectors
• Have a secure mailbox facility that prevents Identity Thieves from stealing mail

Landlords should show respect and consideration for tenants by:

• Providing the tenant with a list on move-in-day such as where to put the cardboard boxes, where to park, a vacuum to clean up any mess, flyers or brochures for a pizza delivery or Chinese food, show up and ask how things are going, help where you can and perhaps make suggestions where required
• Treating all tenants equally
• Educating tenants about rights & responsibilities refer to www.tenantsinfo.com
• Respecting tenant(s) privacy and quiet/peaceful enjoyment of the rental
• Never becoming involved in a heated argument or physical confrontation with a tenant
• Never swearing or yelling at a tenant
• Putting in writing requests, warnings, notices of change etc.
• Maintaining clean premises so that the tenant can take pride in his/her surroundings (no clutter)
• Effectively communicating with tenant(s) on a constant basis to determine if any problems
• Knowing tenant(s) habits to prevent crime i.e. when at work, when at home, when on holidays
• Making all accessible areas safe and well lit that includes parking
• Developing a sense of community, get input from the tenant as to how you can make things better
• Providing the tenant with an incentive or a reward for paying on time and letting tenant know how much you appreciate him/her being a good tenant
• Offering good tenants a Certificate of Satisfactory Tenancy upon termination of satisfactory lease period from www.tenantverification.com
• Showing common sense in all dealings and problem solving with tenant
• Treat tenants as you would like them to treat you

Landlord Advice

A tenant with a bad tenant history with other landlords and a poor credit history that includes bad pay habits, can cause nightmarish issues, where there is property damage or worse, where an Individual has a propensity for violence or other dangerous criminal activity. It is extremely important with the liability issues we all face today that a suitable tenant screening process is implemented in each and every application for rent. www.Tenantverification.com offers tenant screening resources to help landlords find the right tenant. this includes a criminal and eviction search and consumer credit report. It’s much easier to deny an applicant tenancy than it is to go through the tenant eviction process. Reporting tenant pay habits to the TVS database minimizes the risk of late rentpayment, non rent payment and other activity that is associated with not paying rent. The two go hand in hand, not paying rent and not being responsible tenants.

Failure to fulfill tenant responsibilities can result in a tenant eviction. In the case of unpaid rent or money owed as a result of damaged rental property, a landlord can have the debt reported to the major credit bureaus through a collection agency. It is important that a tenant does not breach the rental agreement/lease.. A tenant eviction and unpaid rent can have a negative impact on one's ability to rent in the future. Tenants often do not consider the consequences when breaching a rental agreement/lease.

Information from www.tenantsinfo.com and www.atenantscreen.com

How to Start out As a Landlord: 8 steps (with pictures) - wikiHow

How to Start out As a Landlord

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
Have some extra money and not sure where to invest it? Have you ever thought about becoming a landlord? You couldn't pick a better time to start on this rewarding career choice. The renting market is booming and properties are current cheap to buy. A landlord is not a easy career choice, there are times when it can be a lot of work, but with time and some effort, it can be a rewarding investment.

Steps

1. First you need to find a property. While renting is up there are still some places with no renting market. This can be the result of several things such as too many apartments already, or it could be a popular area for new families to buy their first own. Note that a property in a good area might be more money but will attract better tenants who will be willing to pay more money.
2. Once you have the property its time to make it ready for your first tenants. You'll want to make sure everything is up to code. Pick fairly neutral colors when decorating. You don't want the place to look like a hospital but you also don't want to scary a way tenants with bright colors.
3. Next you need to create an application. There are hundreds of free ones online you can print off and adjust to meet your needs.
4. While your printing out your application you should grab a lease as well. Spend some time decide what things you are firm on, and what you are willing to negotiate. Consider things like pets, early lease, repairs and smoking.
5. Now its time to go looking for tenants. The are several ways you can advertise for apartments- web,papers, signs, even the radio. The more people apply, the better options you have.
6. Once you have a stack of filled out applications its time to start reviewing them. There are tenant screening sites all over the web to help you. It generally a good idea to pick a site that is BBB certified like http://www.tenantverification.com and http://www.atenantscreen.com. Less risk of them being a scam since BBB monitors and will kick any business with poor conduct or lots of complaints.
7. After you have narrowed down the field based on prior evictions, criminal records and credit it is time to start the leg work. Call potential tenant's previous landlords, bosses, and run a google search. You will be amazed by what you can find and by what some people might pull.
8. Once you got your tenants, maintaining property will be your main focus. If you don't have the spare time and are earning the money, you may want to invest in a property manager.

Tips

• Specify in you lease when the rent is do and how much the late fee is.
• Take pictures of the apartment or house before the tenant moves in.
• You can learn more about landlord responsibilities at http://www.tenantsinfo.com.
• Tenants who have been with their job for longer periods of time are less likely to lose their job.
• Insure that everyone living in the apartment over the age of 18 is on the lease.
• Look for a tenant who makes 3 times as much a month as what you are asking for.

Warnings

• Be caution around sob stories. They are often used to guilt landlords into renting to a risk tenant and are often a scam.
• Identity theft is rampant. Make sure to compare ages and description to reports.
• In the case of eviction, make sure to follow all legal procedures.
• Keep paperwork for tenants until 3 years after they move out.

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Start out As a Landlord. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Avoid Losing Your Security Deposit

Top Deposit Busters for Renters

by Helene Lesel

 

Security deposit use and abuse leads the list of litigation between landlords and tenants. So how can one avoid dispute and slide out of home safely? First, understand what monies can be deducted from deposits. Basics include unpaid rent, cleaning and returning the premises to the condition as when first rented.

 

Top deposit busters include:

1. Rent

Prior to taking off, most states require a tenant to give written notice to the landlord. State notice requirements vary from 10 to 30 days, with written notice usually required to prevent misunderstandings about rent owed or date of departure. Some tenants assume that if their lease is up, they can simply leave. Not so fast, unless you want to leave some money behind. Unpaid rent is a common deposit deduction when forgetting to give notice—30 days' worth in some states—and may be kept by the landlord if no written notice was provided before exiting. It doesn't cost a thing to give written notice—and saves misunderstandings later.

2. Extra rent

Slipping out early or breaking a lease altogether can cause the deposit to be forfeited for the amount equal to the rent due—and then some. Until a suitable replacement tenant is found, you may be on the financial hook. Fish around for suggestions from the manager or landlord for catching up with a replacement tenant. Not getting along with your roommate? You'll need to pitch in your share of the rent until another person replaces your spot.

3. Cleaning

Often a tidy sum is kept by landlords for cleaning. "But it wasn't clean when I moved in," some tenants lament at move-out, according to Jim Silton of Silton Management in Westwood, Calif. "If it isn't clean, be sure to complain at move-in. At move-out, it's too late," Jim notes. Units have to be returned at the same level of clean as when first rented, or the deposit may be used to mop up the mess.

What type of cleaning? Here it gets tricky. Some landlords consider "clean" just removing your worldly possessions, while others expect the carpet shampooed and the grout scrubbed using a toothbrush and bleach. To help define the level at move-in, before and after photos are ideal. If not, ask for a cleaning checklist from the landlord if you wish to tackle the task yourself at move-out.

4. Restoring to original condition

Hotly contested by both landlord and tenant, "condition as when first rented" is a term often used in leases, but often not documented. Allowable as a deposit deduction, protect yourself with lots of photographs or video of the move-in condition. Some states, such as Arizona and Washington, require that a move-in inspection checklist be given to new tenants. Others, such as California, only have a move-out inspection requirement at the present time. Check state code for details. No matter what the law, document now or defend later.

5. Damage

Think of damage as injury to the premises. Often a spontaneous event, damage can range from a broken window to a torn rug. The longer you leased a place, the more wear and tear is expected, especially for carpets and paint.

6. Excessive wear tear and changes:

If you rented a car and dented the fender… that would be damage. But what if you rented a car for a year? Common sense would expect the tires to be worn, but not be ruined by a spike strip. Visualize the same for a rental. How does one avoid being charged? Once again, an inventory walk-through with photographic backup should set the pace.

7. Missing items

For example, if the place was rented with towel racks, return it with the same towel racks. Any fixture, which means anything attached, cannot be removed unless permission was granted (in writing) by the landlord.

8. Deduction warning

Being warned of deposit deductions is now part of state law in such places as California, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee, to name a few. Other states may have laws pending or newly in effect (check for details with your local or state source). The warning includes a mandatory notice to tenants by the landlord of the option of doing a pre-move-out inspection. Not sure where to get a basic form?

An itemized checklist, great to start and end a tenancy with, is available from many sources, including from the Landlord-Tenant Checklist. Probably the best protection against unfair deductions, the "prior-to-move-out walk-through" allows both landlord and tenant to get a grip on potential security deposit deductions—before anyone flies off the handle.

article from www.tenantsinfo.com, brought to you by www.tenantverification.com and www.atenantscreen.com

The Good, the Bad and the downright Ugly Tenant

There are lots of different tenants out there. Some times it amazes me how often a landlord will end up stuck dealing with a tenant bound and determined to cause trouble who has a record for it. 

With the technology of this age it is much easier to get a hold of records and numbers. The first thing any landlord should do is run a tenant screening on the potential tenant. Make sure to use a legit company, preferably one a member of the BBB like http://www.tenantverification.com/ and http://www.atenantscreen.com/. Don't just run a credit check, get a national criminal record check done, get their eviction record searched. 

Then comes the fun part. Its time to do some research. Check arrest records, you will be amazed by some of the things you can learn. If someone has been arrested multiple times it is probably best to not rent to them, even if they were never convicted. Either they keep getting luck or they hang out with people you don't want visiting your apartment.

Check the news. You won't believe how many tenants have taken multiple landlords to court and then go find a new landlord to rip off. 

Call jobs. I once had a potential tenant make up a fake pay stub. I called the place they were suppose to be working and found out that said person had been fired 6 months ago for stealing. 

Talk to past landlords. Sometimes problem tenants don't have records. Its not against the law to be a pain and your not likely to find records on how often they called their landlord to complain over stupid things. 

For more tips http://www.tenantsinfo.com/ is a good source of landlord tenant information.

Economy Affects Landlords

Landlords Affected in Tough Economic Times

Tough economic times affect every consumer that includes tenants and it has become quite evident recently with the global financial meltdown that many consumers/tenants have overspent and incurred more debt than they are able to handle financially.

So when consumers default on their financial obligation who suffers? Credit card companies, financial institutions and landlords? Yes landlords. More and more consumers, who are tenants, will leave landlords stuck with unpaid rental fees and damaged rental property where they are unable to meet the terms of their lease agreement because of heavy debt load and unemployment, many tenants become angry and frustrated and trash the rental unit. Where this scenario arises the tenant(s) may just decide that it is easier to hire a midnight mover and forego the lease agreement and the last few months rent as there is little or no consequence for doing so.

No this is nothing new as it has been happening for years, it is evident however that rental defaults are rising and are becoming more common occurrence in these new tough economic times.  Tenants use landlords as a revolving line of credit because it is easy to do, there is no consequence, and many tenants in today’s unstable financial environment feel that they have no other choice. The major credit reporting agencies do not report tenant pay habits and a court award or an arbitration award means nothing in most instances as it is a worthless piece of paper that is more often than not, unenforceable.

Landlords reporting tenant pay habits to a credit reporting agency is a viable solution to maintaining a profitable rental business and reducing income loss.  The risk of extending a lease to a high risk tenant that has stiffed another landlord is very real and landlords need to take additional measures to protect their business.

Advising the prospective tenant prior to signing a lease that monthly pay habits are reported to a credit reporting agency and that there is a consequence for late rent payment and/or leaving a landlord stuck with unpaid rent is a significant deterrent.

One of the premier tenant screening services in North America, TVS Tenant Verification Service Inc. provides the residential rental industry with a repository for reporting pay habits that stops high risk tenants from using landlords as a revolving line of credit and benefits good tenants that make rent payments in a timely manner.

Landlords and good tenants’ benefit, high risk tenants that use landlords as a revolving line of credit will soon come to the realization that there is no such thing as free rent.

Article from http://www.atenantscreen.com/

Marv Steier, President
TVS Tenant Verification Service Inc.
www.tenantverification.com 

Renters doing background checks

As I landlord I’ve been doing tenant screening for years. Been with http://www.tenantverification.com for most of it. And during all of that time only two applicants have ever request information from me to run their own search.  Research is just as important to do if you’re the renter as it is for the landlord .

Don't assume landlord's insurance covers all damage

Posted 03/22/2012 by Janet Portman

Q: I read a recent New York Times article about renters insurance, which quoted an insurance professional who warned that if a tenant's possessions are damaged, "the landlord's policy is not going to cover your damages." But the article says there's "an exception to that ... if the landlord was 'aware of a prior hazardous condition, failed to correct it in a reasonable time frame, and your property was damaged.'"

I'm confused -- as a landlord, am I insuring my tenant's property if it's damaged as a result of my carelessness? --Paul B.

A: Your confusion is understandable. In a sense, this insurance professional was right: Tenants in this situation might get some money from the landlord's carrier. But it's not correct to conclude that when landlord carelessness is involved, the landlord's policy will "cover" the tenant. Once you see how these claims work, you'll see what I mean.

Here's a typical scenario:

Suppose Sam's computer, which he left on the kitchen floor while it was recharging, is ruined when the pipes burst under the kitchen sink, causing a flood. Sam's landlord had supposedly fixed the leak just that day, but a plumber later confirms that the landlord did a shoddy job. It's pretty clear that the landlord was careless.

Sam's landlord has property insurance, but that insurance covers only the landlord's property; it wouldn't extend to Sam's computer. The landlord also has liability insurance, which covers the landlord when his carelessness results in damages or injury.

If Sam the tenant has renters insurance ...

Here's how things would play out if Sam has his own policy. Sam takes pictures of the floor and his computer, gets a statement from a computer repair shop and the plumber, and submits the claim to his insurance carrier. The company pays Sam; most companies do not dispute these claims unless they have solid reasons to suspect fraud. Sam buys another computer. (Hopefully, he's got "replacement value," not "actual cash value" coverage, which results in enough money to cover the total cost of a new computer.) Sam's carrier can go after the landlord (known as "subrogation") to get reimbursed, but because this is a small claim, it probably won't. Even if it did, Sam wouldn't be involved.

If Sam has no renters insurance ...

In the absence of his own policy, Sam wants the landlord to pay for the results of his shoddy repair. He sends documentation of the damage to the landlord, demanding reimbursement. Sam cannot make a claim on the landlord's property policy, because that policy did not insure Sam's stuff.

The landlord then has three options: Pay Sam; refer the claim to his carrier, which will treat it as a claim against the landlord's liability policy; or ignore Sam. If he doesn't pay voluntarily but refers the claim, the carrier will get in touch with Sam and probably settle. But if he simply ignores Sam, Sam will have to sue the landlord to get his money. Even then, the landlord is under no obligation to involve his insurance company, and may choose not to in order to keep his record clean.

If Sam wins in small claims court, he will get a judgment that he will have to collect. But if the landlord won't pay, he can't just present the judgment to the landlord's insurance company. Instead, he will have to attach the landlord's bank account or garnish his wages.

So you see, Sam may eventually get his money from the landlord's carrier, but only if the landlord chooses to involve the insurance company, and only if they settle or Sam wins in court. That's a far cry from saying that the landlord's insurance will "cover" damage to the tenant's property caused by the landlord's carelessness. The bottom line: It's a lot easier to have your own coverage and let the insurance companies sort it out.

Q: The lease I've been asked to sign has an odd clause concerning attorney's fees and costs in case there's a lawsuit. It says that the loser will pay the winner, but only up to $1,500. Is this legal? --Geoff S.

A: Lawsuits between landlords and tenants can arise over the meaning and implementation of the lease, or over issues that aren't covered by the lease. A lawsuit over the landlord's retention of the security deposit is an example of the first kind; a tenant's claim that the landlord charged her more rent because of her race is an example of the second.

Whether your landlord's attempt to limit the loser's liability for court costs and fees will hold up depends on the kind of lawsuit at issue, and on what your state law has to say about the matter. Let's take a look at each situation.

Lawsuits over the lease

Some landlord-tenant disputes arise when one side claims that the other isn't abiding by the lease terms, or is implementing them in a way that is contrary to the spirit of the lease. For example, a landlord might claim that a tenant is failing to take reasonable care of the property, in violation of the lease clause that requires such care, and terminate accordingly. The tenant contests the ensuing eviction lawsuit, and one side wins. In this situation, your lease's cap on the loser's liability might hold up, as long as there's no state law or policy that would lead a judge to strike it down.

But suppose the lawsuit is over the tenant's use of a rent-withholding remedy, which was followed by the landlord's decision to take away the tenant's parking privileges. The tenant, claiming unlawful retaliation, sues and wins. Will the cap be applied? That depends on whether the anti-retaliation statute itself requires the loser to pay the winner's costs. When retaliation is involved, many statutes include this type of provision.

For example, California law specifies, "In any action brought for damages for retaliatory eviction, the court shall award reasonable attorney's fees to the prevailing party if either party requests attorney's fees upon the initiation of the action." (Cal. Civil Code § 1942.5(g).)

The statute in Illinois does not provide for these fees (765 Il. Comp. Stat. § 720/1), but Texas law does (Tx. Prop. Code Ann. § 92.333).

So, if your state's anti-retaliation statute requires the loser to pay reasonable fees, but the loser's attorney fees exceed $1,500, will a court uphold the lease's attempt to vary the statutory rule? It depends. Sometimes, courts allow landlords and tenants to vary the rules, but often they don't.

For example, courts won't uphold a lease clause that relieves a landlord of the duty to maintain fit housing.

Lawsuits that arise independently of the lease

Now, suppose you're dealing with a legal spat that does not have its origin in the lease, such as a discrimination lawsuit. It's doubtful that a hearing officer or a judge would apply a lease clause that attempted to limit the liability of the losing party. Often, the antidiscrimination statute itself specifies that the loser will pay.

And from a practical point of view, such a limitation would limit the number of cases brought to challenge illegal landlord acts, which is not what state legislators want.

Here's the problem: Imagine a winning tenant whose attorney has billed for many thousands of dollars, as is common. If the losing landlord is responsible for only $1,500, the balance will have to come from the winning tenant. If the award to the tenant in the lawsuit is modest, the lawyer could end up with most of it. Knowing that this may be how things turn out, tenants may be discouraged from bringing such suits, which is not what legislators intended when they wrote laws proscribing discrimination.

For this reason, a court might refuse to apply a lease clause that limits the loser's liability for the winner's fees.

--------

Article from www.tenantverification.com

Renting Scams

There are everywhere. Craigslist is a popular hot spot thought there are others out there. 

I had someone use one of the apartments in my complex as a part of their scam. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable position to be in. There are some obvious warning signs
1.bad or choppy english
2. owner out of country
3. no one able to let you check it out
4.no questions about your background
5. price sounds too good to be true

6. The ask you to western union the money

1. Let me say as a landlord I'm going to write any emails as professionally as possible, because it is a business transaction. You want to sound like your taking this seriously and know what your doing. 

2.Owner out of country should be a big warning sign. Most landlords who are too far away to manage their property hire property managers for a reason. Generally for things like showing the apartment, taking care of issues and maintaining the property.

3. Either way you should always be able to view the place before you rent it. Even if it isn't this kind of scam there is always a risk renting before you see the place. 4. Another thing to look out for is lack of interest in things like criminal record, credit and other background information. Any decent landlord is going to be looking for this, shoot many applications now ask you to sign off to allow tenant screening. I've been usingwww.tenantverification.com for years to do mine. Only someone who doesn't care what happens to the property would bother to look into your background. Definitely should set off warning bells.
5. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

6. If you send that money be prepared to never see it again. There are far safer ways to pay.

BedBugs

48-hour bedbug rule may not fly

Posted 03/29/2012 by Janet Portman

Q: I've just signed a lease that has a clause about bedbugs. It says that I must report any evidence of bedbugs in my apartment within 48 hours of seeing it, and that if I don't, I'll be responsible for the cost of getting rid of them.


The lease also makes me agree to inspection without prior notice, when the purpose is to check for an infestation. Are these legal provisions? --Marcus D.


A: Like many landlords, your landlord is getting serious about detecting and getting rid of bedbugs. He may have had trouble in the past with tenants who had the problem but failed to report it.


Some tenants think they can handle it on their own; some are afraid of retaliation if they inform the landlord; and some are just in denial or too embarrassed to bring it up. The consequence of delay is often a building-wide infestation, which is a huge problem for other residents and the owners.


Your landlord's idea of holding you responsible for eradication costs if you fail to report an infestation within 48 hours is similar to a provision in a bill being considered in Iowa, House Study Bill 520.


That bill goes quite a bit further, however: Tenants who fail to report bedbugs will be responsible for building-wide remediation. The Iowa bill also provides that a tenant who doesn't report an infestation within seven days of moving in is acknowledging that the unit is bedbug-free.


Interestingly, the state's attorney general has come out against the bill, pointing out that its provisions remove any incentive for landlords to act on their own. And expecting every tenant to recognize an infestation may be asking too much if tenants are not aware of the telltale signs of bedbugs.


It's one thing for legislators to change the rules. Judges will enforce these changes unless there's something seriously wrong, public policy-wise, about the new regime. But your landlord is trying to change the rules on his own, without any help from the Legislature. And here is where your landlord may have a problem.


First, what about that "no bugs within 48 hours, it's bedbug-free" acknowledgement? Presumably, if an infestation appears one week into the tenancy, the landlord can argue that it's the new tenant who introduced them.


Consequently, the landlord will argue, the tenant should pay the remediation costs. But this reasoning ignores a fact of bedbug life: These hardy creatures can go dormant and live on for months, without a source of food, then spring to life when food (a tenant's warm body) appears.


In other words, bugs in a vacant apartment may well simply hang out for a while -- more than 48 hours after the new resident moves in -- before becoming active. Their activity does not mean that the new tenant brought them with him.


Second, the provision that allows for no-notice entry to deal with a bedbug problem may run afoul of your state's access laws. Most states regulate how much notice a landlord must give before entering, though all allow entry in case of an emergency.


A bedbug infestation, albeit nasty, is not an emergency at the level of leaking gas or billowing smoke. If your state has notice requirements, asking you to waive your rights to notice so that the infestation can be addressed will violate your state's law.


Q: I need to break my lease to take a job in another city. My lease says that I will be responsible for the landlord's costs to ready, advertise, show the unit, and screen any replacement. Is this legal? --Rich S.


A: When tenants break a lease without legal justification, they are still responsible for the rent for the balance of the lease term. However, many states require landlords to use reasonable efforts to re-rent the unit; once a new tenant moves in, the original tenant's responsibility ends.


In all states that impose this "duty to mitigate," if the landlord fails to take steps to re-rent, the tenant is off the hook. On the other hand, if the landlord is able to find a new tenant only at a lower rent (perhaps the market has cooled), the tenant remains responsible for the difference.


Whether the lease-breaking tenant is also responsible for the landlord's costs to re-rent is not so clear, however. A few state laws say so directly.


For example, Washington allows landlords to collect their "actual costs" of finding a new tenant (see Washington Revised Statute Section 59.18.310). Arizona effectively allows the same thing, by declaring that the security deposit of a tenant who abandons the rental is forfeited, to be applied to "any accrued rent and other reasonable costs incurred by the landlord by reason of the tenant's abandonment" (see: Arizona Revised Statute, Section 33-1370).


Some states simply don't address the issue. Others give vague directions: For example, California allows landlords to recover from the tenant, in addition to lost rent, compensation for "all the detriment" caused by the tenant's breach (see: California Civil Code Section 1951.2).


So, whether your landlord can stick you with re-renting costs will depend on your state's law on the subject. If there is no clear answer, you might try arguing against having to pay those costs this way: The landlord would have incurred re-renting costs had you stayed until the end of the lease term, and you certainly would not have been responsible for them at that time.


Why should you pay now, simply because the costs are hitting several months earlier? To say that it's part of your punishment for breaking the lease without justification won't fly. People who back out of contracts are expected to pay for the actual damages they cause, not to pay penalties.


But that's not to say that your early departure did not cause damages besides the loss of the rent. There is a fair way to measure your landlord's damages: His early re-renting efforts meant that he spent money several months earlier than he had planned. For those months, the money he had to lay out was not in his bank account, earning interest.


That lost interest is a true measure of his damages. In addition, he's had to devote staff and personal time to a chore that he expected would arrive later; he may be able to put a reasonable monetary figure on the value of postponing what he and the staff would otherwise have been doing.


Taken together, these are the landlord's true damages caused by having to find a new tenant sooner.

article from www.tenantverification.com

Why use TVS for tenant screening

Why use TVS

Landlords and the Fraud Rental Game

• TVS is an effectivetenant screeningservice that will help you prevent fraud and reduce income loss.
• The applicant's Social Security Number (USA) Social Insurance Number (CDN) is validated on the credit report that TVS obtains for you, so if the number shown on your rental application is not valid, you will know. Fraudsters often provide false information that includes wrong date of birth and misspelling of last name. The SSN & SIN will generally pull up a file even though false information has been given; this is one way to determine the identity and truthfulness of your Prospective Tenant.
  Little or no credit history=red flag. Click Here for the reasons why!
• TVS obtains a complete report for site inspected members that includes a current & previous address, current & previous employer, liens, collections, civil judgments and bankruptcies. It includes Credit Grantor information where the accounts are rated 1 thru 9 - "1" being the best rating which indicates that the account is paid on time and 9 being the worst which indicates that the account has likely been closed by the Credit Grantor. The FICO score (Beacon or Empirica) is an indicator of a good OR problematic credit history. The Identity is scanned for previous fraudulent activity in every instance - which further minimizes your risk.
• TVS is a Tenant Screening Service that allows landlords and property managers to report tenant pay habits, this benefits good tenants and negatively impacts delinquent tenants. TVS Members also have the ability to send tenant debts to a Collection Agencywho can report the debt to the major credit bureaus if payment is not received for your rental debt.
• Without TVS you risk renting to tenants who may be playing the fraud rental game, and have intent to use you as part of their revolving line of credit.
  TVS will help minimize your risk of fraud and income loss!

Withholding rent over dog nuisance

Posted 04/20/2012 by Janet Portman

Q: We rent the top half of a duplex in Chicago. The tenants below adopted a shelter dog eight months ago, who has severe separation anxiety and barks loudly and incessantly any time he's alone. We've spoken to the neighbors (who don't want to give the dog drugs or use a bark collar, thinking that these will "hurt" the dog), and then we took it to the landlord, over a month ago. The landlord talked to the neighbors twice, but nothing has changed. Are we within our rights to withhold rent until the dog is gone or the problem is resolved? --Fred and Alice

A: Withholding rent is an option for tenants when the landlord has failed to maintain the property according to law, if state law provides for this remedy. Not all states give tenants this option; only about two-thirds of the states do, and some of them limit the withholding remedy to specific types of repairs.

It would be unusual for a rent-withholding statute to allow tenants to use this strategy for the type of problem you're facing (a lack of reasonable peace and quiet), which does not involve making structural repairs or providing essential services.

In fact, in Illinois, rent withholding is allowed only when the property has been taken over by a receiver, after the landlord has failed to pay for utilities. The court directs the tenants to pay rent to the receiver directly. (Ill. Comp. Stat. 735/2.)

But in the city of Chicago, which has its own rental ordinance, rent withholding is available to tenants. They may withhold rent when the landlord fails to maintain the property, but that's not all: The list of maintenance failures that will support withholding is introduced with the phrase, "includes but is not limited to." (Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance.)

This handy phrase may give you the ability to withhold rent due to the landlord's failure to live up to his duty to give you "quiet enjoyment" of your rented home. An age-old concept, this duty exists in every rental, requiring landlords to deal with noisy tenants by getting them to quiet down or by evicting them. If a judge were to decide that failure to give you quiet enjoyment was a valid reason for withholding rent, you'd be on safe ground. (To find out, you'll need to do a little research to find out if similar cases have prevailed.)

Suppose, however, that you can't use withholding in response to a breach of the duty to deliver quiet enjoyment. Not all is lost. By law everywhere, if the landlord doesn't fulfill this duty, the tenant may consider that failure to be a breach of the rental agreement, justifying the tenant's moving out. Typically, the tenant must give the landlord notice of the problem and a reasonable amount of time to fix it.

I realize that moving out is not the remedy you asked about, but it could give you a way to exert pressure on your landlord to resolve the problem and allow you to stay put. Alert the landlord that not only will you move, but you'll also sue in small claims court for the damages you've suffered as a result of his breach of the lease. Such damages could include the cost of moving; applying for a new rental; and the difference, if any, between the rent you're now paying and the rent you end up paying for a comparable apartment.

Any savvy landlord will think twice before allowing this scenario to unfold. Even a less-savvy owner will realize that unless he deals with the barking dog, he'll face this problem again, with new tenants. The only sensible solution is to confront the dog-owning neighbors and demand that they solve the problem. If they cannot retrain their dog (or refuse to try), they are the ones who should move out or, sad as it may be, find another home for the dog.

Q: My tenant, who lives alone in her half of our duplex, has left for a monthlong vacation, which I knew about. I did not know that she was planning on having someone come to the property twice a day to feed and look after her cats. This person is quite annoying -- she parks in our driveway, plays loud music while she's there, invites others to come over, and stays several hours each day. Is there anything I can do about it? --Deborah E.

A: At this point, the horse is out of the barn ... rather, the cat is out of the house. Your best bet is to meet the sitter when she arrives and speak to her about her activities. Point out to her that, as your tenant's guest, she is legally bound to the same standards as her traveling friend -- no parking in the driveway, no loud music. You can also try to insist that she not invite others to the house, for reasons explained just below.

In the future, when a tenant announces a long absence and the plan for a regular house sitter or pet sitter, consider it to be a request that the tenant sublet the rental for the length of the vacation. A subtenant is someone who steps into the shoes of the main tenant for a period of time, bound to the same terms and conditions of the tenant's lease. Crucially, a subtenant requires the consent of the landlord. This will give you an opportunity to insist on meeting the proposed subtenant and going over the rules, including parking and noise.

As for inviting more friends, you can also attempt to stop this. Although it would be unreasonable to say "No visitors" to someone who is planning on living there, it's not unreasonable to say so for someone who is stopping by to check on the cats. Making this rule after the fact, however, is going to be difficult, because you may hear a protest along the lines of, "If I'm stepping into the shoes of the tenant, and she can have visitors, why can't I?" You have a rejoinder if these meetups are themselves creating a disturbance.

---

Article from tenant verification

Beware of tenant repair duties in lease

Posted 05/04/2012 by Janet Portman

Q: The lease for our single-family house specifies that we will do "routine maintenance." The landlord claims that this includes fixing the roof and doing exterior painting. We had no idea that he saw it this way; we were thinking drain repair and so on. When we refused to re-roof the garage, he told us he'd sue us for the water damage that will result from a leaky roof. Can he? --Mark and Linda

A: Your question illustrates the dangers of handing over maintenance duties to tenants without a clear understanding of what those duties involve. Fortunately, the problem is relatively rare, because most states do not allow landlords to contract away their duty to maintain a fit and habitable rental. Of those that do, the statutes limit the practice to single-family homes, and typically require that the duties be spelled out in writing and that the arrangement be a fair bargain (in other words, the tenant must be paid for the labor or get a good deal on rent).

The landlord must treat the arrangement separately from his other duties as a landlord. This means, for example, that if the landlord is unhappy about the job the tenant is doing, he cannot retaliate by shutting off the water.

Even in states that allow landlords to delegate legally required upkeep, few do so. Most owners are not willing to entrust the integrity of their property to tenants who may not know much about property maintenance, and have less incentive to do things right than if they owned the property themselves.

Let's assume for now that your state allows the landlord to pass along the obligation to maintain the property, and you decline to re-roof the garage. If your landlord sues you for the resulting water damage, the burden will be on him to convince the judge or jury that you broke the maintenance agreement. And he could have a hard time doing so: The agreement, which the landlord wrote, is so vague as to be meaningless. A judge may well conclude that the landlord had a chance to write it correctly, failed to do so, and cannot now complain about the consequences.

Your landlord will be similarly out of luck if he tries to get his insurance company to cover the damage. Property damage policies cover damage that results from a sudden event, such as water that pours in after a tree has fallen on the roof. Deferred maintenance that causes water damage over time won't be covered.

Before it comes to that, get together with your landlord and revisit the delegation issue. Although the lease was signed some time ago, there's no reason why the two of you can't amend it now and fix it. Make sure that if you want to take on minor repairs only, their precise nature and extent is described thoroughly in the lease, and that you are fairly compensated for your efforts.

Q: I've always told my tenants that their rent check must be postmarked by the first of the month (rent is due the first). I've just hired a property manager, who says I should instead require receipt of the rent on the first. What do you think? --Peter A.

A: I'm with your property manager. "Due on the first of the month" means in your hand, or in your bank account if there's an electronic transfer of funds. If tenants are mailing a check, it's up to them to mail it in time to be received by the first.

Here's the practical problem with your approach: Not only will you receive the rent a number of days after it's due, but you also will have given your tenants an unintended grace period when it comes to failure to pay the rent.

Suppose, for example, that a tenant insists that she mailed the check on the first, and that date happens to have fallen on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Because Monday is a federal holiday, the earliest the check will arrive is the following Tuesday, a full three days after the first. In fact, if she missed the last pick-up on Saturday, it will not have been processed until Tuesday ... and you can't expect to get it until Wednesday or even Thursday. So you wait until Thursday or even Friday, and don't give her a three-day notice to pay or quit until Friday or Saturday. She's managed to not pay rent for an entire week, and has another three days to come up with the rent -- 10 days after it was due.

But suppose she moves out instead? You have to take those 10 days' worth of rent from her security deposit. That leaves the balance to cover damage beyond ordinary wear and tear. If the cost to repair damage exceeds the balance of the deposit, you'll have to either sue for the remainder or swallow the loss.

Had you insisted on actually receiving rent on the first, you could have served your notice on the second, and the tenant would have had to pay by the end of the day on the fourth. If she moved out instead, you'd take only four days' worth of rent from the deposit, leaving more to cover damage.

Of course, the delay caused by your approach will delay any eviction proceedings too, which you'll need to begin if the tenant neither pays nor moves out. It's far better to file an eviction lawsuit early on, when the unpaid rent is lower, because that rent will also come out of the security deposit, leaving less to cover damage.

I hope all of this convinces you to write your future leases to require that you receive the rent by the first of the month. Putting the risk of mail delays on the tenant is the only sensible way to go.

------

Article by Tenant Verification