| This Is A Member-Only Page Also See: Landlord FAQs 1 Lease FAQs Search for vacancies with VacancyList.Net. It's free! Also see: Tenant Tips, and ... questions and answers between RHOL users in our Helping Forum Should a tenant buy renter's insurance? YES! You are not covered for losses to your personal property as a result of fire, theft or most other risks by the landlord's insurance. Yet most tenants do not buy insurance even though it may not actually cost you anything. That's true! Read our page on Tenant's Insurance. Can a landlord refuse to rent to me? Perhaps. Would you in his position? Would you turn over a $50,000 investment to someone without guarantees that you will be paid a fair return on your investment, and that your property will be cared for? If you lie on your rental application there is good reason to suspect your character; if you obviously cannot afford to pay the rent, or your credit stinks, a landlord is totally justified in believing that you won't pay your rent.
 There are several good reasons that a landlord can deny a tenant applicant, but there are Fair Housing Laws that protect tenants. A good tenant is a landlord's most valuable asset, a bad tenant can be his worst nightmare. Professional landlords will make every effort to find out which kind you are likely to be, before they rent to you. You might want to check out our suggestions to landlords on how they should screen potential tenants. Return to top Where can I get good information on my rights? Right here. Our site is loaded with information on both landlord and tenants rights. Browse the pages or click search on the menu bar, then type in the subject you are interested in. You may want to visit the pages on your specific state, because rental housing rules vary dramatically. We have compiled and summarized the landlord tenant law from each state to make it easy to find the answers to you questions.
There is also good information available from HUD. "Fair Housing--It's Your Right." However, if your intention is to pay the rent you agree to, and take care of the home you live in, please hang around this site and help us convince landlords that it is in their best interest to keep you happy. We'll reward you by showing you how to get the biggest bang for your buck, or even how become the landlord that you have always dreamed of having and get rich while you are at it.. Return to top Should a lease be in writing? Yes ... well at least that is the majority view around here. Most of us believe that every understanding between a landlord and tenant should be in writing to prevent misunderstandings. However, one of us, a landlord and an attorney, does not use written rental agreements except to fix a term. He contends that the court interprets anything in writing to favor the tenant.
It is possible that a landlord-tenant relationship can be very agreeable, and that there will never be any dispute about what the rights and responsibilities are of the respective parties. However, most of us here agree that written agreements save everybody a lot of problems. It can be very simple, covering just the basics, or as complete as necessary to make the parties to the agreement feel comfortable in the relationship.
Most landlord tenant disputes are over what happens if the rent is late, how many friends can move in, noise, pets, cars and a landlord's duty to repair. It pays to have a written agreement on those things that are likely to cause the most trouble in the future. See forms & Lease FAQs Return to top What is a warranty of habitability? Pretty much just what the term says. In most states residential leases are covered by what is called an "implied warranty of habitability." That means that regardless of what a lease says, the landlord must provide premises that are decent, safe and sanitary.
In multi-family buildings, problems usually arise over essential building services and cleanliness. Many courts have held such things to be breaches of the implied warranty and the landlord has been required to correct them. The implied warranty naturally applies to the leased premises, but also to common areas such as a lobby, stairways, a pool or a yard. What a court will consider a breach or violation depends on the law of each state and, of course, on the particular facts in each case.
There are a few states that do not have an implied warranty of habitability. In these states: Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, and South Carolina, the tenant takes the place "as is," and the landlord has no obligation to provide anything except what is written into the lease. You may want to see our entire page on the subject as well. Return to top Do students have tenants rights too? Check out Michigan Tenant Information, compiled from various sources and Western Michigan University. Although aimed at college students, most of the information you find there may be applicable to all residents throughout Michigan and other states. Return to top When can a tenant withhold rent? It may be acceptable to hold back rent when a landlord fails to provide essentials, like utilities, or make the kind of major repairs that make a rental unit habitable. But you take a risk in doing so, because the landlord may be able to evict you for nonpayment. That also forces tenants to prove that they were justified in not paying.
Before withholding any rent, you should document the problem and give your landlord sufficient time to solve it. Start with a friendly call to the landlord or property manager, followed up with a letter. It should clearly state the nature and scope of the repairs you want the landlord to make. Keep a record of all communications.
If the landlord fails to act within a reasonable time, send a second letter outlining your previous requests for repairs and again detailing the problems. This is also the time to advise the landlord that you will withhold the rent if the repairs are not made.
If you do withhold rent, you should set up a separate bank account and deposit the full rent into it each month until the issues are resolved.
If the landlord does sue you for nonpayment and you go to court, the judge may require that you pay your rent into a court-monitored escrow account until your dispute is settled.
Return to top What can a tenant do when a landlord refuses to return the deposit? First determine your rights by understanding the law. You might want to check our Deposits, Disputes and the Law page. You may also want to know what kind of damage is deductible. Check our Wear and Tear page. In some states a landlord can charge you for cleaning. Then, put your claim in writing and include photographs that document your position (keep copies for your records). If you have pictures that show that you left the rental unit clean and undamaged, it will help prove that the landlord is unjustified in withholding a deposit -- and he will know that.
If your letter and photographs don't resolve the problem, you can go to small claims court, which is a very simple process. Most states allow tenants to receive substantial additional damages from the landlord if a deposit is illegally or unjustly withheld. Landlords usually know that too. Return to top Can a landlord come in whenever he wants? NO! There is an appropriate legal term called "Quiet Enjoyment" which means that a tenant has a right to be left undisturbed as long as they pay their rent. (and are quiet about it)
If you have a written lease or rental agreement, it will most likely spell out the conditions under which a landlord or his agent can enter your demised premises for maintenance, repair or inspection. If not, common sense should prevail. But except for an emergency, no one, including a landlord, should ever enter your home without your permission.
Some municipalities have recently instituted rental inspection programs where they charge high fees and do regularly scheduled mandatory inspections of all rental housing. However, an owner occupied wreck of a building right next door is ignored because of an "owners right to privacy". Landlords and tenants need to cooperate in fighting the concept that tenants are second class citizens.
Return to top Can landlords prohibit pets? Usually yes. However, Ontario, Canada passed a law in 1990 prohibiting the eviction of tenants just because they have pets. In Toronto, it is now illegal to discriminate against people who have a pet. In the U.S. legislation is in place allowing seniors in federally funded housing to have pets.
Courts have allowed tenants to keep pets, in violation of no pet provisions, if the pet is needed for therapeutic reasons. You might also want to check out our Pets page for further insight and information on how to overcome landlord objections in a more reasonable manner.
Return to top Please explain rent with an option to buy. Think of the term as two separate issues and subsequent agreements. You want to own a home but cannot buy at this time for many possible reasons. For example: your debt to income ratio is too high to get financing, or you are considering a job transfer to another area and won't know until some months later. But while you are shopping for a place to rent, you find a home that is perfect for you. So you make an offer to purchase it with an option to close on some date in the future, subject to your ability to complete the deal on or before that date. You agree to pay some amount of money, either up front or each month, to hold your option. You might also agree to rent the property during the option period under the normal landlord/tenant relationship. There is additional information on the Lease Purchase, Rent with Option to Buy Page. Return to top Do military personal have special rights as tenants? Yes. see: Soldiers' & Sailor's Civil Relief Act of 1940 Return to top Is there a good tenant help site on the web? We hope you mean -- other than this one. In fact there is a very "powerful" site called TenantNet™ where they bill themselves as: A National Online Resource for the Residential Tenant. They have done an excellent job of presenting tenants rights. However, we believe that they may be a little too militant. (perhaps that is just the way New York folks appear to mid-westerners) Our impression is that they perceive landlords as the enemy, while we believe that the relationship must be symbiotic.
We at Rental Housing On Line contend that rental housing should be looked at just like any other business. Book stores, restaurants and shoe stores are not usually considered bad guys because they charge a fair price to those people who want to do business with them. Return to top If you're just looking for a place to rent. Amazing things are happening with real estate on the web. It is a natural medium for buyer/seller and landlord/tenant interaction. It also allows for showing a property to potential buyers and tenants, in their own home, and across the world. There are a lot of good sites where you may find an apartment to rent, however, we believe the best new home hunting site on the Internet is our own VacancyList.net. It will soon have most of the large apartment community listings in large metro areas. But in addition, if you are looking for something in a small town, or perhaps a single family home in a quiet neighborhood somewhere, the only place you may ever find it on the entire Web is right here. Return to top |