Your Rights As a Landlord

Being a landlord and owning rental property has its own sets of rights between landlord and tenant. When a prospective tenant looks over your property and you decide to rent to them, you enter into a contract known as a rental agreement or lease. This rental agreement outlines what your and your new tenant’s rights are.

As a landlord it is your right to receive your rent on time. In your lease, it should state when the rent is due. Some leases have a late payment penalty when the rent is in arrears 30 days. You can increase the rent under a lease when the lease expires unless it’s stated differently in the lease itself. You have to give 30 days notice before a rent increase.

When can you legally enter your rental property when it’s occupied by a tenant? You have to give reasonable notice before entering the dwelling. You have the right to inspect the property if there is cause for concern. You can enter it to make repairs and to show the apartment to prospective tenants, buyers or lenders. If there is an emergency, then you can enter unannounced if the tenant isn’t home.

What about utilities? You can require tenants to pay their own utilities as long as it‘s in the tenant agreement. If you supply the heat and you’re paying for it, there are compliances that you have to follow. The heating season goes from September 16th through June 14th. Each room must be heated to between 68 degrees F and 78 degrees between 7am and 11:00 pm. The heat can go to 64 degrees in the remaining hours. If the tenant is paying their own water bill, the landlord must still have the facilities for heating water to a temperature of between 110 degrees and 130 degrees.

Okay the rent is overdue and the tenant isn’t answering the door; what can you do? Well, you CAN’T lock the tenant out, shut off the utilities or remove the tenant’s property. You can’t take the door off the apartment or the appliances from the apartment. If you do any of this, you can be ordered to pay the tenant any damages that they feel have been subjected to. So what can you do? If the rental property is rented on a month to month basis, then you must give at least a 15 day notice of termination. Any notices have to be in writing and can be posted on the door if you can’t reach the tenant. If the tenant refuses to move out, you can start eviction proceedings. This is a long process and involves sheriffs, court and judges. It’s best handled by an attorney that specializes in this type of work. A single mistake can result in delays over regaining back your property.

The tenant is moving out and there’s damages, can I keep the security deposit? At the end of the lease, your property has to be returned to you in good shape with no damage beyond the normal wear and tear. If the walls have holes, the carpet is stained beyond cleaning, then you have a right to take the repairs out of the deposit. The tenant didn’t live up to the terms of the lease.

As you can see, knowing your rights as a landlord can make renting out your property smoother. It’s when everything isn’t in black and white that causes the problem. If you have a question concerning your rights, please contact a real estate attorney that specializes in landlord/ tenant issues.

By Linda Lee Ruzicka

Linda Lee Ruzicka lives in the mountains of Western PA , happily married and with her 8 cats and three dogs. She has been published in Twilight Times, Dark Krypt, Fables, Writing Village, June Cotner anthology, The Grit, Reminisce , the book, Haunted Encounters: Friends and Family. She also does freelances work for Beyond and Realestatejobsite. You can read more of her blogs on Realestatejobsite blog.