Tenant Verification Services provides landlords and property managers with a variety of screening options. Select a market to sign up or learn more.
Whether it's a warning about bedbugs on your property, or insults posted on Twitter, it is important for landlords to be aware of what tenants are saying online. With so many apartment seekers searching the Internet for vacancies, information about a landlord is...
There are a number of conditions on a rental property that can increase a landlord's risk of income loss. Landlords have a duty to prevent injuries in and around their rentals. These rules -- referred to by legal experts as "premise liability" -- don't just apply...
All eyes are on the East Coast as Hurricane Sandy barrels down, promising to wreak havoc on millions of people, including countless landlords and tenants. Those of us who are not in the path of the hurricane might be tempted to breathe a collective sigh of relief. ...
A Lancaster, Pennsylvania landlord will pay $12,000 to a nonprofit serving immigrants to settle a lawsuit that he discriminated against immigrant tenants. The government, through HUD, charged the landlord with implementing an illegal leasing policy. The charges came...
A landlord from Bellows Falls, Vermont has taken to the street in an attempt to coax her tenant into paying overdue rent. According to a news report, the landlord lives at the property and rents out a couple of rooms. One tenant has not paid rent in months. She told...
In a recent case from British Columbia, a tenant who was subject to two eviction attempts for failing to pay rent was nonetheless able to obtain a $700 award against her landlord for withholding her security deposit. In another case, landlords in British Columbia were...
A poll released by BMO Bank of Montreal shows that while nearly one-in-ten Canadians (7 per cent) have purchased property near a college or university because they intend to rent it to students or have their children there during their studies, two-thirds (67 per...
Experienced or novice, one unit or hundreds, every landlord is susceptible to these two costly mistakes. But anticipating these missteps can be the key to preventing income loss: Love at First Sight Getting excited about an applicant because they are likeable is a...
Filling a vacancy is hard enough without wasting time and energy on applicants who aren't going to work out. Here are some policies that can save time, money, and help keep landlords safe when showing rental properties. Narrow Down the Prospects It is crucial to...
A landlord in Atlanta last week agreed to pay $10,000 to a tenant who says the landlord's policies were discriminatory. The tenant had asked to be transferred to a ground floor unit to accommodate a disability. Although a unit became available, the landlord's...
It's difficult for a landlord to be tough on tenant crime unless their lease is as well. These tips can help you avoid tenant crime, and the resulting income loss: Reserve the right in the lease to approve any new occupants, and if possible require new occupants to...
The Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board announced that some rule changes are expected for 2013. The LTB referred to pending legislation, Bill 140, which amends the Residential Tenancies Act. The bill, when finalized, is likely to result in these changes: The LTB will...
It takes single-minded focus, money, and time for a landlord to win an eviction order. Unfortunately, this is only the first step in recovering from a problem tenant. Landlords must be prepared to take on what follows next: The next task at hand may be to wait, while...
Have you ever found yourself in that ugly scenario where your ex-tenant owes you money for back rent or damages, but they are impossible to track down? If not, then you are one of the lucky ones. Professional collection agencies have “tried and true” processes for...
The owner of a Grand Rapids, Minnesota apartment complex has been charged with violating the Fair Housing Act by denying a request from a disabled woman to reside in her apartment with a medically-prescribed support animal. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful for a...
A tenant who has been evicted six times in seven years has been charged with fraud over her dealings with landlords. The woman has been dubbed "the tenant from hell" by the Toronto Star, which has been tracking the current landlord's several attempts over many months...
Just as checking an applicant's credit history is necessary to determine credit-worthiness, evaluating a tenant's past rental history is crucial for establishing tenant-worthiness. Has this applicant left behind a trail of distressed landlords? Will the...
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada is seeking to educate individuals who don't understand how credit reporting works. "Our recent survey on Canadians' knowledge of their rights and responsibilities found that knowledge of credit reports was particularly low,"...
The mailbox rule -- a complicated law that says dropping something in the mail means it is deemed delivered, has plagued legal scholars and lawmakers for decades. The rule has been applied to real estate transactions, insurance contracts, and even to IRS papers. This...
By Bill Biko Have you ever shopped at Walmart? I think I know the answer, but humour me and just admit to it as it appears 99% of the North American population has shopped there. There are many reasons people shop there and there are many reasons people keep coming...
