| • Race • Color • Religion • National origin • Sex |
• Age • Familial status (including not allowing children, discrimination against pregnant women) • Physical disability • Mental disability (including alcoholism and past drug addiction) |
| • Marital status | • Sexual orientation |
| • The landlord may not make any similar
implication or statement. • A landlord cannot say that an apartment is not available when in fact it is available. • A landlord cannot use a different set of rules for assessing applicants belonging to a protected class. • A landlord cannot refuse to rent to persons in a protected class. • A landlord cannot provide different services or facilities to tenants in a protected class or require a larger deposit, or treat late rental payments differently. • A landlord cannot end a tenancy for a discriminatory reason. • A landlord cannot harass you. |
1. Bring your paperwork. The best way to win over a prospective landlord is to be prepared. Bringing the following information when you meet prospective landlords will give you a competitive edge over other applicants: a completed rental application; written references from landlords, employers, friends and colleagues; and a current copy of your credit report (see "How to Get a Copy of Your Credit Report," at the end of this list). 2. Review the lease. Carefully review all of the conditions of the tenancy before you sign on the dotted line. Your lease or rental agreement may contain a provision that you find unacceptable -- for example, restrictions on guests, pets, design alterations, or running a home business. 3. Get everything in writing. To avoid disputes or misunderstandings with your landlord, get everything in writing. Keep copies of any correspondence and follow up an oral agreement with a letter, setting out your understandings. For example, if you ask your landlord to make repairs, put your request in writing and keep a copy for yourself. If the landlord agrees orally, send a letter confirming this. 4. Protect your privacy rights. Next to disputes over rent or security deposits, one of the most common and emotion-filled misunderstandings arises over the tension between a landlord's right to enter a rental unit and a tenant's right to be left alone. If you understand your privacy rights (for example, the amount of notice your landlord must provide before entering), it will be easier to protect them. 5. Demand repairs. Know your rights to live in a habitable rental unit -- and don't give them up. The vast majority of landlords are required to offer their tenants livable premises, including adequate weatherproofing; heat, water, and electricity; and clean, sanitary, and structurally safe premises. If your rental unit is not kept in good repair, you have a number of options, ranging from withholding a portion of the rent, to paying for repairs and deducting the cost from your rent, to calling the building inspector (who may order the landlord to make repairs), to moving out without liability for your future rent. |
1. Screen tenants. Don't rent to anyone before checking credit history, references, and background. Haphazard screening and tenant selection too often results in problems -- a tenant who pays the rent late or not at all, trashes your place, or lets undesirable friends move in. 2. Get it in writing. Get all the important terms of the tenancy in writing. Beginning with the rental application and lease or rental agreement, be sure to document important facts of your relationship with your tenants -- including when and how you handle tenant complaints and repair problems, notice you must give to enter a tenant's apartment, and the like. 3. Handle security deposits properly. Establish a fair system of setting, collecting, holding, and returning security deposits. Inspect and document the condition of the rental unit before the tenant moves in, to avoid disputes over security deposits when the tenant moves out. 4. Make repairs. Stay on top of maintenance and repair needs and make repairs when requested. If the property is not kept in good repair, you'll alienate good tenants, and tenants may gain the right to withhold rent, repair the problem and deduct the cost from the rent, sue for injuries caused by defective conditions, and/or move out without needing to give notice. 5. Provide secure premises. Don't let your tenants and property be easy marks for a criminal. Assess your property's security and take reasonable steps to protect it. Often the best measures, such as proper lights and trimmed landscaping, are not that expensive. 6. Provide notice before entering. Learn about your tenants' rights to privacy. Notify your tenants whenever you plan to enter their rental unit, and provide as much notice as possible, at least 24 hours or the minimum amount required by state law. |
 |