I cannot stress how important understanding your local landlord & tenant laws can be.
I am a member of multiple landlord groups on the internet and I help landlords around the planet through this website and time after time I see questions about evictions, raising rent, fees and other items that I can’t answer.
The main reason I can’t answer them is because the askers don’t bother to specify where they are located. This is a huge problem because local landlord & tenant laws are different not just from country to country but from state to state and city to city and even county to county.
From 3 day pay or quit notices to 14 day eviction notices to 5 day demand letters there is simply no standard.
Some landlords are so lost they use completely inappropriate forms they randomly downloaded from the internet and set themselves back days, weeks or even months.
I had one landlord use a Rhode Island eviction form that replied to specific rules and sections of the landlord and tenant bylaws that didn’t even exist in the location of his property. He wasted his time!
The tenant knew far more than the landlord and waited until the last day of the incorrect notice to point this out and it only set the landlord back 14 days , but it cost him another month of unpaid rent.
How To Find Out Local Landlord & Tenant Laws
Learning local tenancy laws isn’t that hard. Yes you may have to do some research and yes you may have to do some reading, but you need to know the laws to protect your investment!
The majority of states, provinces, cities and/or counties have their own basic landlord tenant laws. You can typically reach out to municipal, state, provincial or county government to be directed to where you can find them.
With the more and more frequent 311 services available everywhere it could be as simple as calling 311 and asking where to find the information or who to talk to.
Or, take advantage of the internet and do a simple search for landlord tenant laws and append your state, city and or county to the search to see if the results differ, or help you narrow down the answers.
Most regions have some form of unilateral landlord tenant act that covers the main points of residential tenancy laws. This is typically a state wide or province wide set of rules.
From there many cities and/or counties have additional rules laid out on top of the main rules. The most common revolving around land use (think how many occupants per dwelling as an example or whether the location is residential or commercial designated or a mixture.)
Other local city rules that can differ within a state or province often include rent controls or licensing. These variances make it important to understand both regional and local laws affecting your property.
While your state law may list the number of days needed on an eviction notice or outline the process for an eviction hearing, your local law may cover how much you can raise the rent or whether your smoke detectors can be battery operated or need to be hardwired.
Knowing the differences can be extremely important and directly affect not just how you deal with problem tenants, but the safety of your properties and reducing any liabilities you could incur.
Additional Resources For Local Landlords
Another fantastic resource (other than me of course 8′)) for landlords are local landlord groups.
Most cities and larger areas have local landlord or apartment owner groups where you can get information, advice and often forms and applications to help you be a better landlord.
Some of them have yearly or monthly fees and some are free. Personally I’ve found the paid ones tend to be better as they have an incentive to keep members and as such they provide better and more valuable information.
On the other end of the scale I’ve also seen some paid groups that simply nickel and dime members so you may have additional diligence you have to complete.
Most importantly, you need to learn you might not be able to do this on your own. The larger your network, the more people you surround yourself with, the better the odds of picking up helpful and useful tips and advice to improve your landlord business.
You simply need to keep learning as the process continually changes and evolves.
Want to Help Other Landlords and Me?
Currently I’m on a personal challenge to write 30 articles like this over the next 30 days. This is article number three with 27 more to go.
I’m doing this for multiple reasons. Some to help me, but mostly to help others.
Since I started out as a landlord I’ve rolled an immense amount of knowledge of what works, what doesn’t work and how to adapt as the rules and situation changes into my big noggin.
If I disappear, it’s gone which would be a shame.
If I share it and only one person reads it and it dies there, it’s a step further and is better but it could be far better.
If however, I share it and you too share it with other landlords and landlord groups or forums your involved with maybe we can gain some momentum and help even more landlords grow and prosper.
With over 27 more articles coming, and possibly many more after that if this takes off, I’m not expecting you to share everything. But if you do thank so much!
If however you read any information that helps you or turned on a light bulb in your head about an aspect of landlording, please take a minute to forward it on whether it’s to someone on LinkedIn, to your Facebook profile, your Instagram account or your local Landlord group.
Let’s see how many people we can help together! Thanks for reading this far and as always leave any comments or feedback below, I respond to all comments!