Legal Issues
The Basics of Entering Into an Apartment Rental Agreement
· Jul 21, 2009
An apartment rental agreement is a written or oral short-term tenancy agreement between you, as a renter, and a landlord. It is automatically renewed at the end of the period (usually 30-days), unless you or your landlord terminate it by written notice. This agreement creates a legal relationship (a contract) between the two of you. […]
So you’ve found that perfect apartment, and now the last step is to sign the rental contract. Before signing the rental contract, there are 5 questions that you must ask the landlord. Make sure that you are comfortable with the landlord’s responses before signing. 1 – What Are the Terms of the Security Deposit? The […]
· Jul 21, 2009
Only a handful of states in the entire United States (including New York, New Jersey, California and Maryland) have rent control laws. None of them has statewide laws. Instead, cities within these states pass their own rent control laws. State laws affect city rent control ordinances (also called rent stabilization or maximum rent regulation), so […]
· Jul 19, 2009
A lease agreement, also known as a rental agreement, is a legal document that is written to specify the agreed terms and responsibilities the landlord or owner and you, as the tenant, have for the specified property. Why a Lease Agreement is Necessary A lease agreement is a very necessary part of rental transactions because […]
· Jul 15, 2009
Eviction, a term with negative connotations, is a legal process whereby a landlord removes a tenant from an apartment. As with all legal processes, both sides (landlord and you as tenant) have legal rights. Each state (legal jurisdiction) has different laws. So, if you find yourself facing eviction, you must take steps to learn the […]
· Jul 10, 2009
Receiving an eviction notice can be a scary situation. But, no matter what the reason for the eviction is, you do have legal rights during the eviction process. It’s up to you to make sure that your landlord follows eviction proceedings correctly. There are more than a few situations when a landlord may try to […]
· May 18, 2009
Not all apartment managers are perfect. Sometimes you move into an apartment complex and find out that the apartment manager acts more like a list of ‘what not to do at work’ than like a professional. Even in theses cases, though, there are steps you can take to protest your apartment manager’s actions.
· Jan 12, 2009
It’s the worst thing that can happen when you’re living in an apartment: the landlord — the person you pay for shelter — is responsible for damage to your possessions. Maybe the management is at fault for a burst pipe, or perhaps for a fire. If you don’t have renter’s insurance, it may seem as if you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.
· Aug 25, 2008
As a general rule, landlords aren’t exactly in favor of rent controls. There are plenty of tactics they use to work around rent controls, including trying to force out current tenants so that the landlord can adjust the rent to market rates, thereby leasing to higher-paying renters.
· Jul 28, 2008
Look in any newspaper these days and you’ll see a whole list of foreclosures. Not all of those foreclosures are just affecting homeowners, though.
Some of those houses were rentals, making life suddenly harder for tenants. If your landlord is losing your apartment, condo or house in a foreclosure, you still have some options.
· Jul 7, 2008