Leasing & Onboarding New Renters
Everything you need to know about signing new lease agreements and onboarding new tenants.
Preparing to sign a lease agreement?
Don’t sign it lightly.
Have you collected rental applications from a large pool of candidates? Have you run credit, criminal and eviction reports on all applicants? Collected application fees or charged the screening reports to the renter, to verify they’re committed?
If you’ve done all that, and made all the phone calls to verify income, employment, housing history, etc., and you feel 100% rock solid about this tenant… now you need to make sure you have a defensive lease agreement.
Think of your lease agreement as your shield, your armor. Most state landlord-tenant laws are extremely tenant-friendly, and designed to protect the renter, not the landlord. That means you’re responsible for protecting yourself.
How do you do that? With a comprehensive, protective lease package. Read on for more details, and happy leasing!
“Required Reading” – Start Here First!
Want more? We have you covered! Here’s some further reading on lease agreements, security deposits, move-in and everything else you need to know about onboarding new renters.
Full Library of Leasing & New Tenancy Articles:
Private Parts: How Far Should Landlords & Investors Go for Privacy?
“When I was your age, we actually had this thing called privacy!” Is privacy dead? Long live privacy? I’ll let the politicians and data pirates debate that point, but here’s what I do know: landlords and real estate investors are juicy targets for lawsuits, so they...
A Family Affair: 8 Ways to Irresistibly Attract High-ROI Family Renters
Kids. Dogs. Cats. Sound like an unholy trinity for high-impact, high-damage to your rental properties? That’s not necessarily untrue, but it’s also not the whole story. Why should landlords go out of their way to attract families? For starters:...
Should Landlords Rent to Illegal Immigrants?
*Note on Terminology: Conservatives and liberals can’t even agree on terminology, with conservatives using the pejorative “illegal aliens” and liberals using the cuddly “undocumented immigrants.” We’ll split the difference here and use the term “illegal...
4 Preventative Maintenance Jobs to Save Landlords Thousands
Not everyone is a born handyman (or woman!), and it’s often easier to hire a professional contractor for preventative maintenance and repairs. And hey, at least you can sleep at night without fear of causing even more damage than if we’d called...
More Cities Upping Legal Liability for Landlords: 5 Tips to Protect Yourself
Many, many years ago, I had a tenant who violated a zoning ordinance. The ordinance prohibited placing barbecue grills on apartment patios or porches. Mind you, this was not about use; it was about storage. Guess who received a violation notice...
Should Landlords Accept Rent by Credit Card?
There was a time when only established businesses could accept credit cards. Fortunately, those days are long gone. Today, even individual landlords can accept rent by credit card. (Hint hint: landlords can accept rent by credit card and...
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