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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, July 5, 2009 Landlords should read up before they rent out By Steve Tytler Question: A while back you had mentioned a new edition of a good book for landlords, but I can't remember the name. You had mentioned that it had lease agreements. Our rental will soon be empty so we would like to use an updated lease when I rent it again. Answer: The book I mentioned is called "Landlording" by Leigh Robinson. It is a good beginner's guide to the subject. You can find it at Amazon.com and it may be available at your local book store. The book is updated every few years, so be sure you get the latest version, which is the 10th edition published December 2006. Now keep in mind that this is a general landlord information book and is not specific to the state of Washington. A good source of local landlord information is the Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound, www.rha-ps.com/. It provides links to the state landlord-tenant law, as well as links to rental housing ordinances in King County, Seattle and other government agencies. Many new landlords are not aware that some cities have rental rules that are stricter than the state landlord-tenant law. The city of Seattle is by far the toughest place in the state to own rental property because of all the additional rules and restrictions. As for rental forms, I suggest reading the landlording book and collecting sample lease forms from other sources such as the RHA. I have developed my own 10-page lease agreement over the years by picking and choosing clauses from other people's rental agreements. I use a hard-nosed approach in my lease agreements. For example, there is no grace period: The rent is due on the first day of the month, period. If the tenant pays after 5 p.m. on the first of the month, he or she is subject to eviction. Now, that may sound very harsh to some people, but the idea is to scare away the bad tenants who might try to string you along for the rent payments. If you are renting to responsible people who intend to pay their rent on time, they should have no objection to that clause in a lease agreement. I have been doing this for 20 years and it has worked well for me. Somebody once said, "The cheapest eviction is the one you do before they move in." There is a lot of truth to that. I also use positive incentives in my lease agreement. For example, the stated monthly rent in the lease agreement is $50 more than I actually intend to charge, but the tenants get a $50 discount by paying early (on or before the first of the month). In other words, I reward them for paying their rent early rather than imposing a penalty for paying late. Another important key to successful landlording is to make sure that you use a good tenant screening service to run a credit report and criminal record check on all rental applicants. You want to be sure that you are renting to somebody who has proved they will pay their bills on time and does not have a criminal background. Mail your real estate questions to Steve Tytler, The Herald, P.O. Box, Everett, WA 98206, or e-mail him at economy@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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