Here’s a substantial list of the top things every landlord needs to keep in mind when interviewing soon-to-be tenants, and how to avoid discrimination lawsuits under the Fair Housing Act. When selecting your tenant, keep these in mind.
It is against the law to discriminate. Federal and state anti-discrimination laws control what you can say and do in the tenant selection process. You cannot reject somebody your apartment house purely because of their race. If using a real estate agent to list your rental, you can’t tell them that you will not rent to a particular race.
Ask for Up to date Employment information, References, and proof of Credit Score. Landlords can easily run a credit check of likely tenants on the internet for a deminimis fee. Additionally, you can and should call up the tenant’s references, in particular previous landlords. You should also authenticate an applicant’s employment history, earnings, and bank savings account information. In case the landlord tenant bond goes sour and you need to hire an eviction new york lawyer, you will need the tenant’s employment information to garnish their wages so you can collect back rent.
Be consistent in your screening. Make it your policy, for example, to constantly insist on credit reports; don’t just get a credit report for a single father or persons of a specific race.
Make decisions based on the fact that you are running a business. You are legally free to select among potential tenants as long as your decisions are based on legal industry criteria. Don’t make choices based on personal reasons. You are allowed to eliminate applicants with poor credit histories, earnings that you fairly regard as insufficient to pay the rent, or previous behavior — such as home damage or consistent overdue rent payments — that makes them a bad risk. It goes without saying that you can legally refuse to rent to a personwho can’t come up with the security deposit, who has animals, or who fail to meet some other specification of the rental.
Be attentive of landlord tenant laws in your neighborhood. Fair housing statutes in particular indicate clearly unlawful reasons to refuse to rent to a tenant. The Federal Fair Housing Act prohibits prejudice on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, age, family status, physical or psychological disability (including recovering alcoholics and tenants with a previous drug addiction). Countless states and cities also prohibit discrimination based on marital status or sexual orientation. In addition, some city laws forbid landlords from collecting rent until they obtain a “legal apartment”, i.e. have a town or county issued permit authorizing a two family house or an accessory apartment. A landlord tenant new york attorney can help notify you of the statutes applicable in your area.
Guide those helping you to rent so that they comprehend the rules, too. Everybody who de als with prospective tenants ought to follow fair housing laws. This includes owners, landlords, family of landlords, managers and real estate agents, and all of their workers. As the property owner, you may possibly be held lawfully accountable for your family’s prejudiced statements or conduct, including sexual harassment.
Be consistent. Consistency is crucial whendealing with future tenants. If you don’t act toward all tenants more or less equally — for example, if you arbitrarily set different standards when renting tomembers of a racial minority — you are violating federal laws and opening yourself up to civil suits. And if you give one person a break (such as lowering thesecurity deposit for a single mother but not for other tenants), you’ll also risk a charge of discrimination from other renters.
Desire to learn more? There’s a lot more to finding and screeningfirst-rate renters. You can e-mail a ny tenant landlord lawyer for a gratis consultation about the laws relevant in your area.