Important Landlord’s Rights You Should Know About

1. The right to visit and inspect your property.  Your tenant does not have the right to bar you from accessing the real estate that you own.  The law requires only that you visit at reasonable times and with reasonable notice.  Absent an emergency, it is best to give notice of a visit at least 24 hours in advance.  Notice of an inspection can be given by telephone, voice mail, text or e-mail.

2. The right to a well maintained property.  Your tenant does not have the right to damage your building or to make improvements or alterations without your permission.  Make sure you have strong language in your lease on these issues.  Failure to property maintain the property or to pay required utilities can be grounds to terminate a lease early and/or evict a tenant.

3. The right to a law abiding tenant.  Your tenant is prohibited from using illegal drugs, making excessive noise or violating any other local ordinances while residing in your property.  If the premises are governed by a homeowners or condominium association, make sure your tenant gets a copy of the rules and regulations and insist that they abide by them.

4. The right to timely payment of full rent.  You don’t have to take excuses for the tenant being late or only making partial payment of the rent when due.  Set a precedent by serving a 5 day notice every time the tenant does not pay in full on or before the due date.  Don’t let a tenant stretch the limits on payment as they will take a foot if you give them an inch.

Remember that bad tenants never get better.  At the first sign of a problem, start action to terminate the lease and remove the tenant.  The court system does not allow for immediate evictions and it can average 6 weeks or longer to remove a defaulting tenant through the courts.  Even if the tenant complies with default notices, the sooner you start the legal process towards a court eviction the better.