Becoming a landlord

Does anyone have any links and resources for what info you need when trying to rent out an apartment or a home? Like what laws you must follow, what's required in the apartment. What questions you can/cannot ask of a potential tenant. I'm looking for NYC specifically.

Does anyone have any experiences/best practices to share?

Becoming a landlord

I'm a property manager on long island so not too sure about NYC but I'm pretty sure you need to go to your cities building department and make sure all rental permits are up to date and in place.

You must draft a lease that includes all clauses of your rules and legal protection. Some people like to do this with an attorney but for long island I know all the things that are needed to be covered.

With a potential tenant you obviously cannot ask them about their religion, race, creed, sexual orientation etc. You also cannot discriminate against disabilities. You would need a signed agreement allowing them to give you permission to do a credit check, background check, employment verification etc.

You need to set up an interest bearing bank account to hold security deposits.

Re: Becoming a landlord

I became a landlord by default (couldn't sell my condo when I got married so I had to find a tenant). I did everything myself- from crafting a lease, dealing with my condo boards rules for renting, advertising the unit on Craigslist, screening the tenants, and collecting rent.

This website was a godsend for me. Any specific questions, feel free to ask or FM me!

http://www.thelpa.com/lpa/index.html?id=Cjb6WrGd

PS my condo is in Queens.

Message edited 1/8/2013 2:01:11 PM.

Re: Becoming a landlord

This gives you an idea of the rights of tenants. I'm a landlord and I reference it to ensure I"m not infringing on any rights. AG's tenant guide

With regard to appropriate questions, you can not ask anything or base your decision on anything that can be interpretted as discriminatory against any class of people (i.e. race, age, disability, etc.). Obviously the person's ability to pay rent and abide by the terms in the lease are concerns you will need to explore.

Re: Becoming a landlord

As an aside, part of my job is finding housing for my clients in both NYC and Long Island.

It is so hard to enforce the anti-discrimination thing.

On the plus, many landlords like working with us once they find out what the program is all about, because our peeps end up for the most part being model tenants (this is really the only way they can afford to be in the community so they don't "act up") and the fact that most of their rent is subsidized is practically guaranteeing the majority of the rent each month to the LL vs. taking their chances with someone else off the street so to speak. They also all have a caseworker to intervene if there is some kind of issue that arises. Don't have that again with the general public ;).

It sucks though because most rents are so high that we are priced out of a lot of places, and so many dwellings too are not wheel chair accessible/cannot be made w/c accessible, which is our primary need in terms of housing.

I have a huge need for housing right now for multiple people so I always put the word out that if this is something you would consider, please do FM me.

Re: Becoming a landlord

To follow up on fair housing laws - aside from the obvious "protected classes" (race, religion, etc.), you also cannot discriminate in NYC based on "source of income." So while you can verify that a potential tenant has adequate income to pay the rent, you cannot discriminate against Section 8 tenants, for example, or only rent to someone with a full-time job (if other applicants can show they have other sources of income that would suffice).

There are various disclosure forms (e.g., lead paint disclosures for properties built prior to 1978) that have to be signed. You may want to consult with a real estate agent who specializes in city rentals. Many tenants prefer to go through an agent so they are not providing personal information (such as social security numbers, etc.) directly to the landlord to have credit run, etc. And a real estate agent would make sure all of the required disclosures are met.

In New York, landlord-tenant laws are very favorable to the tenant.