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March 9, 2007
Don’t be a Landlord
Continuing on with lesson 6, we were warned that Oral agreements are unenforceable in Utah, and to always get things in writing.
We then learned about some basic property terms:
Easement/lien: Claim on property
License: permission to use for a set amount of time
Encumbrance - Claim, charge or liability on real estate.
(There are Physical and non physical ones)
As a tenant you are a guest. Landlord must give notice before they enter(24 hours) and must be let in, or they can EVICT you. That said, if they do not give reasonable notice, you can leave your property despite any contracts, and not be legally accountable.
Eviction often depends on the judge dealing with it. Many swing in favor of tenants, particularly female ones according to our instructor.
If you know what you’re doing, you can evict in 15 days in Utah. Utah passed a law accelerating eviction, and you get an appearance before a judge in 3 days. Out of thousands of renters, our instructor claimed that he only had two evictions, though he’s had to threaten a lot more. One of those actually went to the sheriff who escorted them out, the other negotiated and left after a few days.
While most renting contracts here in Utah are yearly, a Landlord must remember that even with a month to month term, he must give proper notice even if lease is up. In Utah that is 15 day notice. So choose the 15th or 16th, no reason is required, just don’t tell them you don’t like them!
This information led to the following cautionary tale from our instructor:
“Some time ago I had a renter doing drugs, drove a lowride with loud music, intimidated women, especially his manager. I suspected he was smoking in the apartment, so when his lease expired, I told my property manager to inform him that his lease would not be renewed. Some time passed and I was disappointed to learn that he had intimidated her into letting him stay. Thankfully, Utah law is in the landlord’s favor in this situation, and I made it clear to him that he would have to be leaving. ”
“He confronted me demanding to know why he wasn’t given an extension, clearly intending on hitting me if I didn’t let him stay. I remained firm, and had my secretary call the police to escort him off my property. He finally left, giving an angry ‘california howdy’ and swearing as he went.”
“When your lease is up, per state law you don’t have to say why you don’t renew. Later we found he was a drug user and smoker. Sadly for the landlord. you cannot accuse without proof, and even with proof of a lease violation, things can get difficult. That problem tenant also later raped someone…”
Our instructor was interrupted by the question:
“So today we learned to never be a landlord?”
The rest of the class clearly agreed with the one asking the question. This kind of mentality among agents may explain why the vast majority of real estate agents do not own investment property.
read comments (4)
March 9th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
What’s a California howdy?
March 9th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
People in Utah like to use that as an euphemism for flipping someone off.
March 9th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Strange they would come to that conclusion. It seems like Utah laws are really nice to investors, atleast compared to Cali where it takes like a year to kick someone out.
Too bad property taxes are higher for investors…Otherwise, I’d totally be there.
March 15th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
[…] arguments can occur between the landowner and renter. Again, this may explain why most agents have no intention of ever owning more than one […]