This entry was posted on Thursday, April 19th, 2007 at 11:03 am and is filed under Laws, Lessons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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April 19, 2007
The final class today dealt with Utah laws covering property ownership. The instructor shared his experience with partnerships in the past, advising that one always try to have a controlling interest in a partnership, rather than an equal one. A general partnership is the standard shared liability which most people are familiar with. A limited partnership is different, in that it provides limited liability, and is often used to provide extra money.
After discussing the risks and advantages of a partnership, we talked about corporations and their advantages (low liability) and problems (double taxation).
Class then delved into things we’ve already covered regarding Co-ops and condos. Our instructor claimed that many co-ops here used to require that buyers provide a genealogy history before being permitted to buy in.
One thing I found worth noting, that legally, one must provide a list of damages within 30 days of leaving if a landlord plans to keep the security deposit, or any portion thereof. If this is not done, the tenant may sue for their deposit plus $100. This can be done via small claims court, and if the landlord loses, he will be liable for the fees of the other party.
Landlords must give 24 hour notice to enter a home, except when entering for fire or police purposes. One should be sure to specify this in their lease so as to be clear on the landlord’s right to enter a home.
In Utah, a landlord is required to provide tenants with the ability to transfer possession either by assignment (finding a new tenant), subleasing, or by novation (creating a new lease, allowing the old tenant out of their lease)
This brought a story by our instructor who had lost a suit when he tried to refuse other tenants from being assigned the lease on the basis of them not meeting his income requirements. The judge ruled against him stating he could not be as strict given there were only a few months remaining on the lease.
A lease agreement should outline that tenants cannot sublease, but a landlord does have the right to refuse a tenant.
Per Utah law one must permit a tenant to vacate their lease if the landlord enters the home without permission. This brought some interesting stories from classmates, such as one who had a landlord entering while she was away and stealing her clothes.
I myself had a landlord come in with a gun when I was living in Argentina, but I’ll save that story for another day.
Class concluded with a diagram explaining that one must give the tenant opportunity to pay their rent after they miss a payment before seeking court action.
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June 25th, 2007 at 7:51 am
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