9 articles
Your tenant wants out 6 months early. Can you keep the deposit? Can you charge for the remaining months? Do you have to re-rent? Here's exactly what your state likely requires, what you can collect, and how to handle this without losing money.
Owning rental property gives you a lot of rights — but not as many as you think. Here are 15 things that will get you sued, fined, or hit with a criminal charge, even if you think you're being reasonable.
A tenant just handed you an ESA letter and your no-pets lease suddenly feels useless. Here's exactly what the Fair Housing Act requires you to do, what you can legally ask for, and the limited situations where you can say no — without a discrimination lawsuit.
You own the property, but you can't just walk in. Here's exactly how much notice your state requires, what counts as a valid reason to enter, when you can skip notice entirely, and the one mistake that turns a routine inspection into a harassment lawsuit.
A generic lease template is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Here are the 12 clauses that actually protect you in court — including the ones most landlords leave out until it's too late.
An LLC costs $50–$500 to form and creates a legal wall between your rental business and your personal savings. Here's when it's worth it, when it's overkill, and how to set one up without triggering your lender's due-on-sale clause.
Evictions cost $3,500–$10,000 and take 3 weeks to 12 months depending on your state. Here's the exact legal sequence — what to file, when to file it, and how to avoid the mistakes that get cases thrown out.
Tenant screening is where most fair housing violations happen. Here's how to run credit checks, verify income, and reject applicants legally — with the exact criteria that keep you safe.
Security deposits are the #1 source of landlord-tenant lawsuits. Here's exactly how much you can charge, what you can legally deduct, your return deadline by state, and how to avoid the 2x–3x penalty for getting it wrong.
