Landlord and Tenant Liabilities

Just because a landlord is giving you a place to live doesn’t mean that you aren’t doing him or her a favor. They are trying to rent out the place so really, you are doing them a favor, not the other way around. Just because you live in the landlords residence for the time being doesn’t mean that the landlord can violate laws. They can not enter your place without letting you know in advance at least 12 to 24 hours in advance. They can only enter your place in an emergency situation such as a fire or flood.
As a tenant you are required to maintain the property which includes cleaning the residence, mowing the lawn, paying the rent on time and letting the landlord know of any problems. If you have notified your landlord of problems and the landlord hasn’t done anything to solve the problems you might want to think of getting a lawyer and getting out of your lease.

Landlords are not allowed to violate your privacy or discriminate anybody according to race, sex, religion or any other reason. The landlord cannot raise your rent in the middle of a lease. Your landlord can only raise your rent with sufficient notice when your lease has ended giving you the option to vacate or remain in the unit for a higher price.

The tenant can be evicted for violating any rules and not paying rent or paying the rent late on a timely basis. If the landlord warns you to keep the trash out of your yard and you don’t do it, the landlord could give you an eviction notice. If you get a pet which isn’t on the lease and the landlord tells you that the pet needs to leave and you don’t listen you can also get evicted.

The landlord cannot retaliate and give you an eviction notice after you have opened up a lawsuit or taken further action unless there is a good reason for doing so. You can look up all the specific rules for your specific state to see what other laws exist in your area.

Make sure to take pictures with dates of everything. When you move in take pictures of all the flaws that you can possibly find. Also make sure to write down on the lease all the problems with the duplex.

Before you move out make sure to have pictures of everything with dates. Make sure you give a proper notice of 60 days or you will get charged another months rent per 30 days. Make sure to notify landlord of all problems or it could be your problem once you move out.