There is no guranteed way to avoid the eviction process, however the information provided here may help.
Tips for Landlords
Simple suggestions to help your landlord or property management business run smoothly.
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. Use a written rental application to properly screen your tenants.
2. Get it in writing.
Be sure to use a written lease or month-to-month rental agreement to document the 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.
7. Disclose environmental hazards.
If there's a hazard such as lead or mold on the property, tell your tenants. Landlords are increasingly being held liable for tenant health problems resulting from exposure to environmental toxins in the rental premises.
8. Oversee managers.
Choose and supervise your property manager carefully. If a manager commits a crime or is incompetent, you may be held financially responsible. Do a thorough background check and clearly spell out the manager's duties to help prevent problems down the road.
9. Obtain insurance.
Purchase enough liability and other property insurance. A well designed insurance program can protect you from lawsuits by tenants for injuries or discrimination and from losses to your rental property caused by everything from fire and storms to burglary and vandalism.
10. Resolve disputes.
Try to resolve disputes with your tenants without lawyers and lawsuits. If you have a conflict with a tenant over rent, repairs, your access to the rental unit, noise, or some other issue that doesn't immediately warrant an eviction, meet with the tenant to see if the problem can be resolved informally. If that doesn't work, consider mediation by a neutral third party, often available at little or no cost from a publicly funded program.
If your dispute involves money, and all attempts to reach agreement fail, try small claims court, where you can represent yourself. Small claims court is good for collecting unpaid rent or seeking money for property damage after a tenant moves out and the security deposit is exhausted.
Screening and Selecting Tenants
Landlords should require all prospective tenants to fill out a written rental application that includes the following information:
- employment, income, and credit history
- Social Security and driver's license numbers
- past evictions or bankruptcies, and
- references.
Before choosing tenants, landlords should check with previous landlords and other references; verify income, employment, and bank account information; and obtain a credit report. The credit report is especially important because it will indicate whether a particular person has a history of paying rent or bills late, has gone through bankruptcy, or has ever been evicted.
To avoid trouble with fair housing laws, be sure to be consistent and fair in your screening. For instance, make it your policy to require credit reports from all applicants.
If you turn down an applicant because of negative information on a credit report, you must send the applicant an "adverse action" letter, which informs the applicant of three things:
- the reason you rejected the applicant
- the name and address of the agency that reported the negative information, and
- the applicant's right to obtain a free copy of the report by requesting it from that agency within 60 days.
To run a credit check, you'll need a prospective tenant's name, address, and Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). You can order a credit report from a credit reporting agency, which will get the report from one of the three major national credit bureaus:
Equifax: www.equifax.com
Experian: www.experian.com
TransUnion: www.transunion.com
To find a credit reporting agency that operates in your area, look in the Yellow Pages or type "credit reporting agency" in your browser's search box.
Asking prospective tenants to fill out written applications can protect you from lawsuits filed by irate applicants that you rejected as tenants.
For example, suppose you talk to six applicants before renting one of your units. You pick Applicant #3 because you feel he is most likely to reliably pay the rent. Two weeks later, you get a call from a lawyer representing Applicant #5, who claims she was discriminated against because she is African-American and a single mother. If you aren't willing to pay $10,000 to settle the matter, you'll promptly be sued in federal court for $50,000.
Because you have no written documentation explaining how you picked Applicant #3, your insurance carrier proposes to pay the rejected applicant $10,000. After all, the insurance company points out, it looks bad that you picked a white male with no children, especially since it turns out that the African-American single mother has a higher-paying job.
Had you been able to produce all the candidates' comprehensive written applications, their credit reports, and references from previous landlords, the result would likely have been different. You would have had good written documentation supporting why you picked Applicant #3 -- his credit history and job stability were far better than that of Applicant #5, who (despite her current good job) had recently declared bankruptcy and had poor references from previous landlords.
Fair housing laws specify illegal reasons to refuse to rent to a tenant, such as rejecting an applicant because of race, religion, ethnic background, sex, or because the applicant has children or a disability.
In addition, some state and local laws prohibit discrimination based on a person's marital status, sexual orientation, or age.
Landlords are legally free to choose among prospective tenants as long as their decisions comply with these laws and are based on legitimate business criteria. For example, a landlord is entitled to reject someone with a poor credit history, insufficient income to pay the rent, or past behavior -- such as damaging property -- that makes the person a bad risk. A valid occupancy policy limiting the number of people per rental unit -- one that is clearly tied to health and safety -- can also be a legal basis for refusing tenants.
Landlords must apply selection standards, such as requiring a minimum income and a good credit report, equally to all tenants.
The Fair Housing Acts prohibit landlords from taking any of the following actions based on race, religion, or any other protected category:
- falsely denying that a rental unit is available to some applicants
- advertising that indicates a preference based on group characteristic, such as skin color
- setting more restrictive standards, such as higher income, for certain tenants
- refusing to reasonably accommodate the needs of disabled tenants, such as allowing a guide dog, hearing dog, or other service animal
- setting different terms for some tenants, such as adopting an inconsistent policy of responding to late rent payments, or
- terminating a tenancy for a discriminatory reason.
Do I need a written lease or rental agreement?
The lease or rental agreement is the key document of the tenancy, setting out important issues such as:
- the length of the tenancy
- the amount of rent and deposits the tenant must pay
- the number of people who can live on the rental property
- who pays for utilities
- whether the tenant may have pets
- whether the tenant may sublet the property
- the landlord's access to the rental property, and
- who pays attorney's fees if there is a lawsuit concerning the meaning or implementation of the lease or rental agreement
Leases and rental agreements should always be in writing, even though California Courts will enforce oral (spoken) agreements for a certain period. While oral agreements may seem easy and informal, they often lead to disputes. If a tenant and landlord later disagree about key agreements, such as whether the tenant can sublet, the end result is all too likely to be a court argument over who said what to whom, when, and in what context. This is particularly a problem with long-term leases, so courts in most states will not enforce oral agreements after the passage of one year.
What's the difference between a rental agreement and a lease?
A rental agreement provides for a tenancy of a short period (often 30 days) that is automatically renewed at the end of the period unless the tenant or landlord ends it by giving written notice. For these month-to-month rentals, the landlord can change the terms of the agreement with proper written notice.
A written lease, on the other hand, gives a renter the right to occupy a rental unit for a set term -- most often for six months or a year but sometimes longer -- as long as the tenant pays the rent and complies with other lease provisions. The landlord cannot raise the rent or change other terms of the tenancy during the lease, unless the tenant agrees.
Unlike a rental agreement, when a lease expires it does not usually automatically renew itself. A tenant who stays on with the landlord's consent after a lease ends becomes a month-to-month tenant, subject to the rental terms that were in the lease.
What should be included in every lease or rental agreement.
A lease or rental agreement sets out the rules landlords and tenants agree to follow in their rental relationship. It is a legal contract, as well as an immensely practical document full of crucial business details, such as how long the tenant can occupy the property and the amount of rent due each month. Whether the lease or rental agreement is as short as one page or longer than five, typed or handwritten, it needs to cover the basic terms of the tenancy.
Here are some of the most important items to cover in your lease or rental agreement.
1. Names of all tenants. Every adult who lives in the rental unit, including both members of a married or unmarried couple, should be named as tenants and sign the lease or rental agreement. This makes each tenant legally responsible for all terms, including the full amount of the rent and the proper use of the property. This means that you can legally seek the entire rent from any one of the tenants should the others skip out or be unable to pay; and if one tenant violates an important term of the tenancy, you can terminate the tenancy for all tenants on that lease or rental agreement.
2. Limits on occupancy. Your agreement should clearly specify that the rental unit is the residence of only the tenants who have signed the lease and their minor children. This guarantees your right to determine who lives in your property -- ideally, people whom you have screened and approved -- and to limit the number of occupants. The value of this clause is that it gives you grounds to evict a tenant who moves in a friend or relative, or sublets the unit, without your permission.
3. Term of the tenancy. Every rental document should state whether it is a rental agreement or a fixed-term lease. Rental agreements usually run from month-to-month and self-renew unless terminated by the landlord or tenant. Leases, on the other hand, typically last a year. Your choice will depend on how long you want the tenant to stay and how much flexibility you want in your arrangement.
4. Rent. Your lease or rental agreement should specify the amount of rent, when it is due (typically, the first of the month), and how it's to be paid, such as by mail to your office. To avoid confusion and head off disputes with tenants, spell out details such as:
- acceptable payment methods (such as personal check only)
- whether late fees will be due if rent is not paid on time, the amount of the fee, and whether there's any grace period, and
- any charges if a rent check bounces.
5. Deposits and fees. The use and return of security deposits is a frequent source of friction between landlords and tenants. To avoid confusion and legal hassles, your lease or rental agreement should be clear on:
- the dollar amount of the security deposit (be sure you comply with any state laws setting maximum amount)
- how you may use the deposit (for example, for damage repair) and how the tenant may not use it (such as applying it to last month's rent)
- when and how you will return the deposit and account for deductions after the tenant moves out, and any legal non-returnable fees, such as for cleaning or pets.It's also a good idea to include details on where the security deposit is being held.
6. Repairs and maintenance. Your best defense against rent-withholding hassles and other problems (especially over security deposits) is to clearly set out your and the tenant's responsibilities for repair and maintenance in your lease or rental agreement, including:
- the tenant's responsibility to keep the rental premises clean and sanitary and to pay for any damage caused by his or her abuse or neglect
- a requirement that the tenant alert you to defective or dangerous conditions in the rental property, with specific details on your procedures for handling complaint and repair requests, and
- restrictions on tenant repairs and alterations, such as adding a built-in dishwasher, installing a burglar alarm system, or painting walls without your permission.
7. Entry to rental property. To avoid tenant claims of illegal entry or violation of privacy rights, your lease or rental agreement should clarify your legal right of access to the property -- for example, to make repairs -- and state how much advance notice you will provide the tenant before entering.
8. Restrictions on tenant illegal activity. To avoid trouble among your tenants, prevent property damage, and limit your exposure to lawsuits from residents and neighbors, you should include an explicit lease or rental agreement clause prohibiting disruptive behavior, such as excessive noise, and illegal activity, such as drug dealing.
9. Pets. If you do not allow pets, be sure your lease or rental agreement is clear on the subject. If you do allow pets, you should identify any special restrictions, such as a limit on the size or number of pets or a requirement that the tenant will keep the yard free of all animal waste.
10. Other Restrictions. Be sure your lease or rental agreement complies with all relevant laws including rent control ordinances, health and safety codes, occupancy rules, and antidiscrimination laws. State laws are especially key, setting security deposit limits, notice requirements for entering rental property, tenants' rights to sublet or bring in additional roommates, rules for changing or ending a tenancy, and specific disclosure requirements such as past flooding in the rental unit.
Any other legal restrictions, such as limits on the type of business a tenant may run from home, should also be spelled out in the lease or rental agreement. Important rules and regulations covering parking and use of common areas should be specifically mentioned in the lease or rental agreement.
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