Landlord Newsletter November 2010 | Free Lease Clause

Dear Fellow Landlord,

In this issue:

• Daylight Savings Time & Smoke Detector Reminder Letter to Tenants
  
• Ask the Attorney, Real Estate Attorney, John Reno
  
• Landlord Tip: FREE LPA Lease Clause
  
• "Wealth Quotes"
  

Please e-mail us if you have any questions or would like to add or share any material / information.
John Nuzzolese
John@theLPA.com

Free Forms for Your Tenants Daylight Savings Time & Smoke Detector Battery Reminder Daylight Savings Time & Smoke Detector Battery Reminder This is a friendly reminder form to remind tenants to change the clocks for daylight savings time and more importantly, to protect your property by reminding them to change the batteries in their smoke detectors. More about Daylight Savings Time: In 2010, daylight time begins on March 14 and ends on November 7. Starting in 2007, daylight time begins in the United States on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. On the second Sunday in March, clocks are set ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m. local standard time, which becomes 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. On the first Sunday in November, clocks are set back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time, which becomes 1:00 a.m. local standard time. These dates were established by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. no. 109-58, 119 Stat 594 (2005). Not all places in the U.S. observe daylight time. In particular, Hawaii and most of Arizona do not use it. Indiana adopted its use beginning in 2006. Many other countries observe some form of "summer time", but they do not necessarily change their clocks on the same dates as the U.S. Daylight time and time zones in the U.S. are defined in the U.S. Code, Title 15, Chapter 6, Subchapter IX - Standard Time.

The Landlord Protection Agency® is proud to introduce John Reno, Esq., a highly experienced Landlord - Tenant attorney based on Long Island, NY.

John Reno also does Mortgage Loan Modifications (Nationwide).
(Mention The LPA for a 10% discount!)

If you have a landlord tenant problem you'd like to ask a question about, please feel free to e-mail me your question.
Submit a landlord / tenant question for Mr. Reno
Please try to keep your questions as short and to the point as possible.

Dear Mr. Reno:
We are the owners to our property and just moved in 2 months ago. Going thru the files we found some tenants who have pets and have not paid a pet deposit. We have one tenant who never paid his security deposit. Can we have them pay even if its been 6 months or more since? The previous managers never followed up.
Thanks,
Diane, Alaska

A: If it's in the lease, it is enforceable, but there's a catch. In some jurisdictions, the eviction court only has jurisdiction over rent. So in those places (like in my area) you can only evict if the lease categorizes these things as "added rent". Either way; you can sue for a judgment; the only question is can you evict.

FREE LPA Lease Clause: BASEMENTS AND GARAGES

Sometimes basements and garages leak or are subject to moisture and mildew and can cause damage to personal property. We find this clause is most helpful in leases for single family home rentals, but has also been successful in multi family dwellings.

<!-- Start Copying here --> BASEMENTS AND GARAGES In the event the dwelling has a basement or garage, use of the basement or garage is not included in the rent, nor shall it be considered living space. Any use of the basement or garage shall be at Tenant's own risk. Tenant agrees to be responsible for maintaining these areas properly, including using a dehumidifier in the basement to minimize moisture. <!-- End Copying here -->

Just copy and paste into your lease document. (If you already use The LPA Lease, the clause is already there.)

"One of my biggest fears is having a tenant with more landlord - tenant knowledge and expertise than I have." - John Nuzzolese

"It is better to have NO tenant than it is to have a bad tenant." - John Nuzzolese

"How much did your last tenant problem cost you?" - John@TheLPA

Quick Check Credit Reports, Inc. is proud to announce its affiliation and partnership with The LPA in helping landlords protect their interests by better screening tenants at lower costs!!

• NO sign-up or set-up fees,
  
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• Just lower prices!

Not only is Danielle Babb one of our county's most knowledgable real estate anylists, she also shares excellent landlord information and advice in her book, "The Accidental Landlord". Plus she's a super nice person! - John Nuzzolese

FREE BONUS - FORMS DISK
comes with all 2 - 5+ year LPA Memberships
Be a more powerful landlord - able to handle just about any landlord / tenant situation in a professional way, saving you time and money.
ALL FREE with LPA Membership!


Yes, this offer also applies to LPA membership renewals!
Having all the forms all on disk is a handy time saving convenience.

LPA members: FREE!

1. Be logged in with your LPA username & password
   
2. On the "Main Menu" (top right), click on "Your Orders" (right below your name)
   
3. The beginning date of your membership will be listed to the left of your membership order # in this format: YYYYMMDD
   

LPA members have been asking me for a while now about how to set up automated rent payments with their tenants. I'd like to bring your attention to ClearNow, the leader in electronic rent collection. ClearNow enables you to have your rent automatically withdrawn from your tenant's bank accounts and directly deposited into your bank account.

If you haven't done so already, please check out

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