Dozens of federal, state, and local laws govern the residential rental industry and the landlord-resident relationship. All of these laws are important. The following calls to your attention ten important laws for you to know and follow when you're a landlord. The Fair Housing Act The Fair Housing Act prohibits you from discriminating against applicants or residents based on any of the seven protected classes: Race Color Sex National origin Religion Handicap Family status The Fair Housing Act establishes only the minimum protections.

Residents often need or want to take on a new roommate, sublet the rental unit, or assign their rental contract to someone else. To deal with these types of situations, consider this advice when you’re a landlord: Require that all prospective roommates be screened and added to the rental contract. Prohibit residents from subletting their rental units.

How you choose to structure your business as the landlord depends in part upon your willingness to share its future and yours with others. Forming a corporation is a fairly complex legal endeavor that involves the following steps: Choose and register a name for your corporation that complies with state requirements.

Although the eviction process is rather straightforward in most areas, you still want to ensure you, as the landlord, don’t do anything to jeopardize the proceedings. There is no guarantee that the process will run smoothly, but if you keep the following in mind, you can alleviate many headaches: Do use an attorney.

The Internet is an exceptionally popular and productive medium for residential advertising, because many people begin their search for apartments online. However, posting advertisements and listings online is so easy that you need to be particularly vigilant in complying with fair housing law in all of your online advertising.

When landlords fail to maintain habitable and nuisance-free rental properties and fail to remedy serious issues raised by residents, several consequences may follow. However, for you to be held legally liable and for residents to have a right to take recourse, the following five conditions must be met: The issue makes the resident’s premise uninhabitable or a significant threat to the resident’s life, health, or safety.

Buying and selling houses is the primary business of real estate brokers and salespeople. Here's an overview of a typical house sale involving real estate agents.A couple decides to sell their house and enlist the services of a real estate agent. You're one of several agents the couple invites to their home to hear your listing presentation and explain what services you offer.

Got a property to rent but worried about everything that’s involved with being a landlord? Use this Cheat Sheet for tips on marketing your property, finding the right tenant and managing the rental process from start to finish. Handling a Telephone Call from a Prospective TenantAs the first point of contact between yourself and a prospective tenant for a rental property, the initial enquiry over the phone is extremely important.

Being a landlord certainly sounds easy. All you have to do is line up responsible residents, maintain the property, and count your money as the rent rolls in, right? Actually, no. Owning and leasing residential real estate requires that you comply with a host of federal, state, and local laws. Certain residents may complicate your life by taking legal action against you or forcing you to take legal action against them.