CHAPTER 8 Laying Down the Law
ENFORCING THE LEASE
“Laying Down the Law” might seem a bit extreme for a chapter title in a book about renting out your property—it might even seem sarcastic—but trust me when I say it is neither extreme nor sarcastic. This is serious business, and you have to take it seriously in order to protect yourself and your investment. Laying down the law essentially means enforcing the lease, the details of which were covered in a previous chapter. There’s a reason you spent all that time, energy, and effort in ensuring you had a rock-solid lease in place for potential tenants, and this is it! Before we go further, keep in mind that when you’re renting out your property to good, responsible tenants, you won’t have to worry about this too much. You still need to enforce the terms and conditions of your lease, no matter who is renting out your home, but the “laying down the law” piece won’t be so necessary with good tenants. Good tenants understand the rules—like taking care of your property, paying their rent on time and in full, and following your policies—and they follow the rules. They won’t have problems with you enforcing the lease, because they understand it’s necessary and part and parcel of owners renting out their homes. But it’s those “bad apples”—the problem tenants—who are going to take issue with you enforcing the lease, and for whom you’re going to have to lay down the law. But think about it: Do you even want problem tenants to begin with? Remember the screening process, the minimum qualification standards, the watching out 62
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