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Rights of Landlord

Rights of Landlord
All landlords must understand the laws surrounding their business, including those statutes that regulate the screening of tenants, tax breaks, privacy rights, hazard disclosures, fair notice of termination and repairs. All of these issues make-up landlord rights. To get a better understanding of your rights as a landlord please visit our site and click on the real estate section. On /real-estate click on the tab titled “rent” found on the right side of the menu and scroll down to the article titled “rights of landlord.”


Landlord rights are privileges awarded to landlords, enabling them to rent their properties to pre-qualified tenants. Landlord rights are federally mandated and state implemented. Because of this structure, landlord rights will fluctuate based on the individual state’s interpretation. That being said, the federal government will institute a general framework regarding landlord rights for all the individual states to follow and subsequently apply. 

In most states, landlords will be exposed to some degree of liability concerning crime committed to or within their rental properties. Legal responsibility for criminal activity is derived from the respective jurisdiction’s statute, ordinance, building codes and precedent. Landlords will typically be held liable when a crime occurs on a property where a similar crime occurred to the same property in the past. Landlords must make an effort to curb illegal acts to their properties. 

Landlord rights state that all landlords possess the right to institute credit checks and criminal/civil background checks on prospective tenants. If a prospective tenant refuses these tests, the landlord may choose to reject the application. 

A landlord may legally require a prospective tenant to submit the following information with their rental application: a list of references, information regarding past evictions or bankruptcy filings, driver’s licenses and social security numbers, a statement of income, employment history and credit history. Before accepting a tenant application, a landlord, according to landlord rights, is also permitted to contact the prospective applicant’s previous employers, landlords or other references.

Before you issue a rental agreement be sure to go over the contract. You can view a stock rental agreement by clicking on the “legal forms” tab located at the top right portion of the our site homepage.  When you are scroll to the real estate section and click on the “lease purchase agreement” link.

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