How Much Power do Landlords Have?

The specific rights that a landlord is entitled to will depend on the location where they live. While they can make many rules of their own too such as restricting the number of people that can reside there or if pets are allowed there are restrictions to what they can do. This is to protect innocent tenants that have a difficult landlord to deal with. It is also to ensure they have adequate time to find another place to live. This isn’t to say though that any landlord should be taken advantage of or their property destroyed.

Landlords have the right to decide who they will rent to and who they won’t. They don’t have to give a reason either for not offering the property to someone. Many of them will, like if the person is under 16-years-old, poor credit, no income to show they can pay the monthly rent, or a criminal record. Many landlords do request an application to be completed. They also ask for consent to complete both a background check and a credit report. These rights are in place to help give a landlord the best chance of getting someone into the home that will take care of the place and be able to maintain their end of the contract.

A landlord needs to protect their property from damages. This is why they have the right to ask for a deposit. They can also ask for two months rent upfront just in case a person leaves without paying the last month. These terms should all be in the contract though that is signed by the tenants and the landlord. Any additional rules and policies need to be in that document as well.

Should a landlord find that a tenant is breaking the rules they will likely talk to them first. Most of the time a landlord doesn’t like having to ask someone to move out. They also don’t like the process of cleaning the location and then trying to get someone else to move into the location. However, if the tenant isn’t following the rules or isn’t paying rent then can serve an eviction notice.

This gives the landlord the right to ask the tenant to move out for non compliance. The amount of time that has to be given will depend on the laws where the property is located. Generally it has to be served by a court of law. Some of them have stipulations such as if the tenant pays the past due rent by a specific date they can remain in the location. Others are due to rule violations and so they specify why the person needs to leave and how long they have to do so.

Even though the landlord has ownership, they can’t just dictate for a tenant to leave for no reason. Should such an eviction notice be served the tenant has the right to follow with what is being asked. They also have the right to counteract and file their own claim in court. Then a hearing will be set for the matter to be discussed further.

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