How To Protect Yourself as a Renter

The real estate industry can provide lucrative careers to those who are dedicated enough to stick with it long enough. However, any business provides enough challenge that it can drive people away or see them fail, and real estate is no different. These are just a few of the problems you’ll face when working as a landlord and how to solve them.

Legal Disputes

One of the most important elements of real estate is that it's a product and a service that is always in demand. Everyone needs a roof over his or her head, and that means that troubled people will find themselves engaging with the product you have to see. This is important, because financial troubles can lead to legal disputes with tenants. Any landlord needs to be prepared to be taken to court over some kind of exchange for that very reason.

The first thing that you’ll need to know is that disputes between renters and tenants are civil in nature, and that will have an impact on the court environment. For example, you may have to Google “court reporters Sacramento” if you want the minutes taken in a civil court battle, because the state doesn’t always provide that crucial service in civil cases. You’ll need to find a lawyer to represent you, as well, and that means that you’ll need to find a lawyer that specializes in property law and landlord tenant disputes in particular. The law is incredibly complex, and it takes specialization for lawyers to be able to provide the best results.

It’s also important to understand the law regarding landlord tenant relationships, because it can often be counterintuitive. Landlord tenant law often favors tenants, and you’ll have to know your rights and those of your tenant if you want to avoid trouble. One example of this is that you can’t evict a tenant from an apartment without a notice of at least 30 days prior to the eviction. You also cannot enter an occupied rental unit without permission from the tenant or an advanced notice.

Maintenance

One of the reasons that being a landlord is the dream job of many is that it isn't a lot of work. This is somewhat true, but that kind of thinking overlooks the extensive labor, time, and money that go into basic maintenance. A landlord is responsible for the condition of their rental units at the end of the day, and that means that you’ll need to take the necessary steps to ensure that your property remains in good shape.

First and foremost, you’ll need to get security deposits from your tenants in order to give yourself some recourse if your tenants leave the place worse than they found it. More importantly, doing some maintenance work is unavoidable, because even the best tenants can avoid the damage inherent to the passage of time. You have two options here, essentially. You can invest the time into learning how to do basic home maintenance yourself, or you can hire a maintenance worker who can do it for you.

Technology

Technology has many benefits to offer any business, and that’s only more true when a lot of the job at hand involves data. Recordkeeping is one of the most important things a landlord will need to be able to do to succeed as a business, because you’ll have to keep track of what you’re owed and what’s already been paid, for example. Staying organized is essential, and there are more apps than ever for organizing information. These same apps can also help you to simplify the math, ensuring that your final tallies are accurate. It’s also highly recommended that landlords implement e-commerce functionality into the payment process. Online forms of payment are more convenient for consumers of all kinds, and this helps to ensure timely payments for landlords, because it doesn’t have to be based around your schedule or that of your tenant.