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Legal Guide for Property Managers/Owners

Choosing a tenant is probably the important decision a property manager or landlord makes, so to do it well a very reliable and proven system needs to be set up.
 
Make sure and address the following steps to maximize your chances of selecting tenants who will pay their rent on time, keep the units in good condition, and of course, not cause you any legal problems later.

When you start advertising your property for rent, you need to first make a number of basic decisions regarding how much rent to charge, to have a fixed-term lease or a month-to-month lease, number of tenants to occupy each rental unit, amount of security deposit to require, and pet friendliness. These important decisions will create the guidelines with which you will be writing your lease or rental agreement.

Due to all the rules in place for choosing tenants, it may seem overwhelming the first time around. Not to worry, folks. By talking with other landlords, you can learn a lot. Check out local or state rental property associations that offer a wide variety of support and services to their members. Some services that may be available from your landlords' association:

How to Avoid Fair Housing Complaints and Lawsuits

Landlords and Property Managers need to be aware of the multitude of Federal and state antidiscrimination laws that limit what you can say and do in the tenant selection process. As the topic of discrimination is very important, it includes all the legal reasons for refusing to rent to a tenant and how to avoid discrimination lawsuits during your tenant selection process. Here are some tips:

  1. While you are free to choose among prospective tenants, the decisions are based on legitimate business criteria. You can reject applicants with had credit histories. income that you reasonably regard as insufficient to pay the rent, or past behavior— such as property damage or consistent late rent payments—that makes someone a had risk. A valid occupancy limit that is clearly tied to health and safety can also be a legal basis for refusing tenants. Of course you can and should refuse to rent to someone who can't come up with the security deposit.
  2. The Fair housing laws specify illegal reasons to deny a potential tenant. Federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, age, familial status. or physical or mental disability (including recovering alcoholics and people with a past drug addiction). Most states and cities prohibit discrimination based on marital status or sexual orientation.
  3. Landlords or Property Managers dealing with prospective tenants need to follow fair housing laws. As the property manager or owner, you are held legally responsible for your employees' discriminatory statements or conduct.
  4. Consistency is very important when dealing with prospective tenants. If you fail to treat all tenants equally, you are violating federal laws and risking lawsuits.

How to Advertise Rental Property

Here are some ways to advertise rental property:

Advertising that will work best depends on a number of things, including the characteristics of the particular property, its location, rent, and the urgency. Sometimes it makes better sense to market their rentals through word of mouth— telling friends, colleagues, neighbors, and current tenants.

There are many online services that now make it easy to reach potential tenants, local or otherwise. see www.craigslist.org

There are National apartment listing services are also available, with the largest ones representing millions of apartment units in the United States. Here are some:

It is a good idea to stay out of legal problems  when you advertise. Describe the rental unit as accurately as posible . Avoid abbreviations and real estate jargon in your ad. Include basic details:

You need to let prospective tenants know about your important policies can save you or your manager from talking to a lot of unsuitable people. Your ad might say you require credit checks in order to discourage applicants who have a history of paying rent late.

Ads should never imply through words, photographs,or illustrations that you prefer to rent to people because of anything other than legitimate business reasons.

Quote the right, and fair price in your ad. If a tenant who is otherwise acceptable (has a good credit history and impeccable references and meets all the criteria explained below) shows up promptly and agrees to all the terms set out in your ad, you can't just raise the price.

Never advertise something you don't have. Deceptive advertising is clearly illegal under consumer fraud laws, and many property owners have been prosecuted for such practices.

Even if you aren't prosecuted for breaking fraud laws, your advertising promises can still come hack to haunt you. You could still get sued by tenants who get one thing while expecting another.

Renting Property That's Still Occupied

Sometimes, you cannot wait until the existing tenant moves out to show a rental unit to new prospective tenants. So you want to show a rental unit while its current tenants are still there. This can create a conflict because in most states, you still have a right to show the still-occupied property to prospective tenants, however, your current tenants are still entitled to their privacy.

Just follow these guidelines: