Why Choose and Use
the Landlord
Designed for Owner Managed Properties.
When I began my career in property management in 1977, I didn’t quite know where to begin. I had just spent the past seven years flying airplanes for the Air Force and had no experience in managing residential rentals. I contacted an attorney and he gave me a lease he had used for another client. He suggested I modify it for use in my business. It worked OK for a while, but when I started having disagreements with tenants about repairs or cleaning, or other issues, I realized I needed a lease agreement that more specifically addressed the problems faced by a landlord.
I had other attorneys review my lease and they added more legalese, but the agreement still didn’t do what I needed it to do. The attorneys understood the law, but they didn’t have any experience in the day-to-day management of rentals.
I eventually sat down and wrote a lease agreement that addressed the most common areas of disagreement I had with tenants. I created a security/cleaning deposit so it could be used to pay for damages or cleaning when a tenant moved out of a property (I actually had a judge disallow a cleaning deduction from a security deposit because a security deposit was only to be used for repair of damages). I defined who was responsible for drain cleaning, who should pay for broken windows. I defined, in detail what was expected of tenants when they moved out of a property as far as cleaning and repairs were concerned. Throughout the agreement items are referenced that are the responsibility of the tenant and if not paid can be deducted from the deposit. I took the finished product to an attorney and had him make sure it was legal and finally had an agreement that worked for me and the owners of the properties I managed.
As I continued in the property management business, I added more forms to create a system that worked from the time an individual applied to rent a property until the deposit was refunded. The system has worked well for me for more than twenty years – in fact, I can’t imagine managing rentals without it – whether it is one rental or 500, the system helps to make the job easier, protects the owner and, by eliminating problems, can actually save money when used properly.
I am now making this system available to individual property owners who manage their own rental properties. I believe you can benefit from my more than 25 years of experience and avoid making costly mistakes. The Landlord is a comprehensive system that will make the management of your rental property easier and more cost effective.
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