Tenant Rights Landlords Should Know

As landlords learn to be better landlords and tenants learn to be better tenants, frustrations, costs, unnecessary complexity, and animosity wane from the historically bitter tenant/landlord relationship, breaking new ground in the way rent is approached. Let's begin making this world a better place, one renter and one landlord at a time with the fundamentals - basic tenant rights.

The following review of rights will hopefully provide a basis on how to act in certain situations, be you a landlord or tenant. The goal today is to shed light on how to prevent mishaps and act appropriately when mishaps do occur without ever overstepping the legal parameters, designed to protect both landlords and tenants under the cloak of Tenant Rights. Let's start with the tenant selection process - don't discriminate!

No Discrimination - It is illegal to reject tenant applications based on discriminatory reasons, set forth by the Fair Housing Act. Discrimination based on the following is illegal, (so don't get the Department of Justice on your back) race, color, religion, national origin, age, familial status (children, pregnant), physical or mental disability.

Obvious enough, right? Think again. How many times have you heard "I only want girls living here; boys are too messy." Maybe, you even heard the sentence flipped around. Regardless, the gender stereotype is insufficient to circumvent discrimination laws, and it is illegal to operate in this fashion. In fact, it is even illegal to advertise in any discriminatory way. There is, however, an exception to the rule worth noting - Landlords with 4 or fewer rental units are exempt from such discriminatory laws, so spare yourself the litigious thoughts if you got rejected by Mrs. Smith who won't rent you her basement (her only rental) because you are a 21-yr old, male, student/party connoisseur.

Other exceptions to the rule include housing specifically designed to meet certain needs of certain people. Example: retirement home, low income housing etc.

Next, the tenant has a right to "Habitable Premises." Here's another deceptively dicey one. As it may, again, seem straightforward and obvious that all living conditions must be safe and clean for tenant use, it is often mistaken by the tenant that a gross infestation, for example, of rats or cockroaches is justification for breaking the lease. This, however, is not always the case. If the infestation or poor living condition is a result of the the tenant's lifestyle, than the tenant is financially responsible for the correction, and it provides no grounds to legally break the lease agreement. It is however, the landlord's responsibility to respond to a tenant request regarding the treatment of the inhabitability issues, but the bill may be forwarded from landlord to tenant.

Why Is it Important for your Residents to have Renters Insurance?

Nowadays more property management companies are requiring that residents carry personal liability coverage as a condition of their lease agreements. One reason why they are requiring it is simply because many renters do not choose to obtain it voluntarily. The question of whether to purchase various types of elective insurance is difficult for many because it is money spent on the unknown. This can be especially true of renters insurance. Although many people are long-term renters, many residents live in their properties temporarily and do not want to invest any additional funds in renters insurance. Overall, most renters don’t believe they need insurance. A survey conducted by Cambridge Reports, Inc, for the Insurance Information Institute found that fewer than 3 out of every 10 renters purchase renters insurance. So why should any resident invest in renters insurance and why is it important for you to require it?
Renters insurance provides a simple peace of mind when it comes to the resident’s valuables and personal liability. Nearly 75% of residents have no renters or liability insurance, and community owners often end up paying the price. Losses can be in the form of damages caused by fire, smoke, explosion, and in some instances, water.
Have you ever thought about what would happen if you or one of your residents accidentally started a grease fire and it damages one or more of your units? Don’t think it can’t happen. The Wall Street Journal recently reported a fire that swept through an Austin, Texas apartment building leaving all the building’s units uninhabitable and 20 tenants without homes. Just this month an apartment fire in Detroit took the lives of a mother and her 3-year-old son. Investigators said the fire started on an electric stove. Catastrophes such as these could easily happen on your property and cause immeasurable damage.
Policies for renters insurance will cover your residents’ personal property in the event of a fire, theft, or other liability damages. The policy can also cover living expenses if there are forced to vacate their home because of damages due to a covered loss.
By encouraging your residents to obtain insurance you are informing them that they are the ones responsible for potential losses or personal liability. Explain to them that renters insurance is really the only security they have to replace their belongings in the event they are damaged or destroyed, and to protect their personal liability if others are accidentally injured in their home. Requiring renters insurance can ultimately offer peace of mind to both the property manager and the resident.

Deflation? Inflation? Lessons from the Three Little Pigs

by Steve Stanganelli, CFP ®, CRPC ®
Just when you thought it was safe to get back into the investing waters, talk of deflation has creeped back into conversation.

Why does it matter? Well, how you position your portfolio to deal with these two scenarios will make a big difference to your personal bottom line.

With inflation, your money is worth less the longer you hold onto it. So you’re more likely to spend in the now because prices may be moving up.

With deflation, your money may buy more later the longer you hold onto it as prices continue to drop. (Not good for a seller but a better deal for a buyer – just ask someone trying to sell a house in Florida these days).

Since consumers respond differently to these two opposing forces, the ultimate direction of them can have a decidedly different impact on how the recovery progresses because of the way consumers react and business respond to their actions. Ultimately, this will impact how to position an investment portfolio accordingly.

The Right Hook
During a fight a boxer may expect to be hit from both the right and left. It’s just not known when and with how much force. But a good boxer, like a Boy Scout, knows to be prepared.

First the economy has been peppered with jabs from the right that could result in higher inflation: expanding money supply, ballooning government deficits, higher commodity prices, weak currency value.

Given the huge inherited, current and projected government deficits here and abroad, the conventional thought has been that all of this government stimulus will ultimately result in “crowding out” private investment and raise the ugly head of higher inflation down the road. The prospect of higher taxes to pay for these past deficits also lends support to these thoughts.

Recent run-ups in certain commodity prices like oil and energy products have resulted in a rise in consumer prices in January bolstering fears of inflation.

The Left Hook

Now comes the left hook – the deflationary threat: asset prices continuing to fall, increasing slack in industrial capacity, and continuing pressure keeping a lid on labor expenses because of high unemployment.

Credit is still tight with bank lending down. While dollars have been pumped into the economy through the TARP program, it’s mostly sitting in bank vaults. Money that isn’t circulating isn’t a cause of inflation.

Recent economic reports have indicated that core consumer prices actually are flat, well below the 10-year average of 2.2%.

Despite some recent reports, housing prices and rents are down and still expected to fall in key markets, dampening the immediate threat of inflation.

Defensive Portfolios: Lessons from Spencer

The best and strongest home depends on your environment and the threats faced.

Each evening before putting our infant son, Spencer, to bed, we read a story. The favorite for now is


The Three Little Pigs
(undoubtedly because of Spencer’s dad’s animation).
We all know the story: Three pigs, three houses built from different materials, one pig survives because of his well-built brick house.

The same can be said for portfolios. Heck, a house of sticks can provide some shelter in some circumstances but what happens if a big bad wolf shows up?

Since we don’t know which type of bad wolf will be showing up at the door (inflation or deflation), it makes sense to be positioned to survive either threat.

The elements of a portfolio will likely be the same regardless of an investor’s mind-set. The differences will be in the proportion of the components used.

Inflation Protection Portfolio
To protect this type of portfolio consider elements more likely to retain value even as inflation increases. Example: Commodity funds or ETFs; inflation-linked fixed income funds that include TIPS and/or floating rate notes; Real Estate Investment Trusts or REIT funds (10%); Cash to take advantage of higher short-term interest rates.

Deflation Protection Portfolio
The majority of this type of portfolio is positioned in long-term Treasurys followed by cash and municipal bonds. As consumer prices and interest rates fall, the fixed income stream from the bonds would be worth more.

To protect against surprise inflation, a smaller proportion would be set aside into TIPS, commodities and higher-quality/large cap US stocks.

Little Pig, Little Pig, Let Me In
Not sure where the market will go? Not sure which threat to expect? Learn from the third little pig: Build the strongest house possible.

If there is inflation, the economy will be expanding. As such equities will be the place to be. So consider an allocation of 20% to 25% in the US and a like amount in foreign equities. A portion of these equities should include high-quality firms that are dividend-paying. Commodities and cash will likely benefit from inflation so a 10% allocation to each is prudent. The fixed income component can include some exposure to TIPS (5%) as well as intermediate high-quality bonds (20% – 30%).

To hedge against the risk of deflation, a portfolio with exposure to municipal bonds (5%) and long-term Treasurys (5% – 10%). And some of the equity portfolio should include exposure to consumer staples that tend to do well in such an environment.

To provide some added diversification consider adding positions in companies that focus on infrastructure and firms that can maintain pricing power like utilities, pipeline operators and the like.

Taking these steps should allow an investor to sleep better at night. At least it works for Spencer.

About Steve Stanganelli, CFP ®, CRPC ®
Steve Stanganelli, CFP ®, CRPC ® is a five-star rated, board-certified financial planning professional with over 20 years of investment and banking experience coaching individuals and businesses on ways to improve and protect their bottom line.
His practice encompasses qualified plan design, retirement income planning, investment management, college funding strategies and exit planning for business owners and professionals.
Steve is a published author on financial matters and has appeared on Boston-area TV and radio. He has also presented on real estate investing strategies to the Greater Lowell Landlord Association.
Steve holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ and CHARTERED RETIREMENT PLANNING COUNSELOR(sm) designations and has been awarded a Five-Star Quality Rating by independent advisor rating service, the Paladin Registry, earned by fewer than 3% of financial planners.

See his insightful blog: http://moneylinkpro.wordpress.com