Every Landlord's Legal Guide: Leases & Rental Agreements, Deposits, Rent Rules, Liability, Discrimination, Property Managers, Privacy, Repairs & ... (Every Landlord's Legal Guide, 1998)

Anyone who has ever been a landlord knows that the rental business is tightly regulated. As the authors of Every Landlord's Legal Guide point out, "a landlord either knows and follows the law or doesn't stay in business long." This book clearly outlines what the law requires of a landlord and, just as importantly, offers advice on how to be conscientious yet profitable. This useful book is filled with helpful information on finding good tenants, agreements and leases, liability issues, and even terminations and evictions. The advice is extremely thorough. For example, the chapter on the landlord's maintenance duties contains information on who is responsible for minor repairs, ways to avoid problems by instituting a preventive-maintenance program, and even possible tenant responses to landlord negligence. The book is rounded out with a chapter on finding a lawyer and an appendix of state laws that may affect your business. Dozens of sample forms are included both as blank hard copies in the book and as templates on the enclosed disk. This book is extremely user-friendly: Stilted legalese is translated into simple English, handy icons highlight particular points in the text, and sidebars provide in-depth analysis on a variety of issues. The authors maintain that success is based on "choosing tenants carefully, keeping good tenants happy, teaching mediocre tenants how to improve and getting rid of bad tenants by applying policies that are strict, fair and legal." This book will help you do just that. --C.B. Delaney