New Landlords Beware: 10 Landlord Tenant Law Tips

Becoming a landlord isn’t always a choice. Sometimes work pulls you away from home for a prolonged period, and leaving your home vacant simply isn’t an option. While this can be an exciting time for your career, the added stress of becoming a landlord can sometimes seem overwhelming, especially if you are new to the prospect of drafting contracts, learning the ins and outs of local housing law, and finding a good, trustworthy tenant to entrust your home to. 

While it’s always best practice to consult with a lawyer to help ensure you are compliant with the rules that your tenant may wield when their term is up, you can protect yourself with a few of these simple tips.

Landlord Tenant Law Tips

1. Find a good, comprehensive lease

Use a lease that covers most of the things that matter to you, like lawn care, additional guests staying in the home, pets, renters insurance, and the many other little points you may not be considering until they become a problem down the road.

2. Require Renter’s Insurance

Require your tenant to obtain renter’s insurance to cover losses in case the property suffers a catastrophe like a burst pipe, fire, or other loss. While these losses will typically fall on the tenant anyway, the clear communication that this is their responsibility, not yours, will help ensure that you don’t face pushback if a covered loss arises.

3. ALWAYS perform an initial walk through with a checklist

After performing the initial walk-through, obtain a sign-off from the tenant as to the condition of the unit before you give the tenant your keys. Take copious amounts of photographs of the condition of the unit before the tenant moves in, and store them somewhere safe (you might be inclined to delete pictures off your phone in a rush and accidentally lose this valuable information).

4. Demand a significant enough security deposit 

Make sure your deposit will be enough for a decent level of clean up and repair once the tenant leaves. Be aware of local rules that may place limits or requirements on how you can collect these deposits. For instance, some municipalities may require a landlord to accept these initial payments in installments, rather than all at once. Check your local rules or consult with an attorney for the right answers for your home.

5. If you live in a condominium or deed restricted community, be sure that you have read the governing documents before renting your home 

Some homeowners’ associations require pre-screening of tenants before you are legally permitted to rent in the community (or face stiff fines if you violate these rules), some communities limit the percentage of the community that may be operated as a rental. Often, if you run afoul of the rules of your community, they can place a lien on your home and foreclose on that lien if you don’t fix the breach of the community rules or pay the stiff fines they can (completely legally) impose. 

6. Check references… fully

It’s a very simple proposition, but one that some folks who are anxious to rent may forego because someone has the money in hand and is ready to move in. Sometimes that money has been saved by not paying a prior landlord and fighting eviction elsewhere. Not all evictions will be of record (some folks are allowed to use fictitious names in court for various reasons). Here at Funke Law Firm, we have received references that, when investigated, were determined to be for public storage units, commercial or vacant properties, or otherwise fully fraudulent, so phone calls may not be enough. You need to make sure the person you are speaking to is, in fact, the owner of the prior rental property. If you don’t investigate, you won’t know the truth, and once a tenant moves in, the difficulty in getting a nightmare tenant out can be worse than most people expect.

7. Check local rules governing tenant’s rights

Local tenant’s rights laws usually include both state and city/county laws. If this is daunting, that’s what lawyers are here for, and as the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you cannot afford to hire an attorney for this task, check with local housing agencies and/or pro bono clinics that specialize in helping tenants. These attorneys tend to know the mistakes local landlords make, but honestly, they would probably prefer that landlords treated their tenants well in the first instance and offered the protections that are supposed to be afforded by law to tenants, so a quick call to these folks can help ensure you've done your homework and protected yourself and your single greatest asset (in most cases).

8. In Washington State, BE CAREFUL about the condition of your property. 

We have found more than a few landlords purchased a property that violated local occupancy codes (so the property was marketed as a five unit multifamily property when the owner purchased it, when in fact it was only zoned or approved to be a triplex), or had a major catastrophe like a pipe burst that caused the tenant to invoke Washington’s “demised premises” statute. Under RCW 59.18.085, if the home becomes uninhabitable for a tenant and the tenant is forced to move, the tenant may be able to invoke this heavily punitive code if the landlord knew or should have known about the defective condition at the property. If successful, the landlord could be forced to pay the greater of either three months’ rent or $2,000, their full security deposit and any prepaid rents returned, plus attorney’s fees and costs. This can sometimes top $10,000 at a time when the landlord might already be short on cash (usually this is the case with a unit that is in rough shape). Thus, it’s important to make sure your property is up to code and in good enough shape before you enter into a lease that may turn a difficult financial position into an impossible one.

9. No matter where you rent, be prepared for tenants to stop paying 

(sometimes based upon bad advice… or worse yet, because of good advice). Some tenants incorrectly believe Covid laws mean they no longer have to pay their rent. Often this is simply a misunderstanding, but in a few places, local governments have added notice requirements that the tenants can wield to help them avoid eviction; sometimes this is just a way to get a few months’ rent-free… in the worst cases, this isn’t just a single mishap or hardship, but standard operating procedure for folks who game the system. Again, the help of an experienced attorney can help ensure you don’t end up having to pay a tenant for a simple mistake after they’ve failed to pay you for months. 

10. Respect tenants’ rights

This means giving proper notice before dropping in, giving proper written notices before big changes that are fully compliant with state and local laws, and avoiding harassment of tenants when you’re frustrated. In most places, when a tenant leaves without removing all of their things, you will need to either give them certain notices or store the property for a short while to allow them to collect their belongings before disposing of these items. Even when you’re frustrated, the best advice is to a) get some distance, b) document, document, document, and c) involve a third party neutral like an attorney or law enforcement if the issue is serious enough (such as harassment of neighbors or destruction of property). 

If this all seems a bit overwhelming, a real estate attorney can help you navigate landlord tenant law!

To see how Funke Law Firm can help, contact us any time. We are here for you!

This Blog is made available by Funke Law Firm for educational purposes only, not to provide specific legal advice. By using this blog you understand that there is no attorney client relationship between you and the author/Funke Law Firm. This Blog/Web Site should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state.