Tenant Tips: 5 Things You Must Know About Your Tenant Rights
Renting for the first time can be very confusing especially in a big city such as Los Angeles. In most cases, most first-time renters don’t know their tenant rights. Some landlords or property managers with questionable characters will easily take advantage of you if you don’t know your tenant rights.
Of course, the relationship between a tenant and landlord can easily go south. If you don’t know what your tenant rights are, it will be hard to protect yourself. The only way you can be fairly treated is when you know your tenant rights or when you are working with a good property management company such as Los Angeles Property Management Group. In this article, you will learn about tenant rights and how you can protect yourself by knowing these rights. Keep on reading to find out more.
5 Tenant Rights You Need to Know
- Right To Rent a House
According to the Federal Fair Housing Act, a landlord has no right to refuse a potential renter base on race, family status, nationality, sex, religion or disability. This law ensures no discrimination when you want to rent a house.
When a potential landlord refused to rent a house to you because of your color, sex, or religion, you have the right to sue such landlord.
- State Laws Protect Tenants
Most tenants have no idea that there are state laws that protect them from their landlords. As a tenant, the first thing you should do is read your state laws. It will help you to understand what your rights are. This will also make it easier for you to know when you are being treated unfairly for any reason.
- Right To a Livable Conditions
Both federal and state laws state that every tenant has a right to livable conditions. Your landlord must provide you with a space that is habitable and must include working electricity, plumbing, and heat. Every state has the basic requirement of a habitable condition. These laws state what a landlord must provide the tenant and what the tenant will need to do when their needs are not met. You will find out more when you read your state housing laws.
- Right To Pay Your Rent
It is your duty to pay your right as agreed with your landlord or property manager. In most states, you cannot refuse to pay rent to provoke your landlord to perform maintenance or other duties. Most state laws allow the landlord to evict a tenant that refuses to pay his rent. In some states such as California, if something is broken and the landlord refuses to fix it, you can repair it with your own money and deduct the payment from your rent.
- Your Lease Don’t Surpass the Law
There are tons of property managers and landlords in Los Angeles who always take advantage of tenants’ ignorance of housing laws. Fortunately, if you mistakenly sign a lease which includes rules that violate tenant rights, the lease cannot be enforced by the law or landlord. Take, for instance, water and plumbing should be the landlord’s responsibility. If your landlord state in the lease that it is the tenant’s responsibility, then this policy is not enforceable.
Final Words
You need to understand your rights as a tenant. A great way to know your tenant rights is to right both the federal and state housing laws. Reading them will help you get familiar with your rights as a tenant and help you avoid falling for bad landlords. Alternatively, you can work with honest and trusted property managers such as Los Angeles Property Management Group when you are looking for a property to rent. This way, you will have honest property managers who will never take advantage of your ignorance of housing laws.
