Your Memphis Apartment Landlord’s Rights
Oct 5th, 2007 by Memphis Apartments
You have entered into a lease with your new Memphis apartment landlord. The lease details some of your rights and some of your Memphis apartment landlord’s rights. Leases are often written from a legal stand point so the language can be difficult to understand. It is important you know what your Memphis apartment landlord’s right are so you do not violate any them.
He has the right to screen applicants and make subjective decisions about their potential as good tenants. He has full authority to select the tenant he wants as long as his decision is not discriminatory. He decides the terms of his lease. It is not negotiable. He sets the rent and security deposit amounts.
Your Memphis apartment landlord has the right to receive your full rent payment on time each month as stated in the lease. He should not have to worry about whether you are going to pay or not. If each of his tenants missed a month’s payment, he could very well be out of business.
Remember that he owns your Memphis apartment. He has the right to expect you will maintain his property in good condition. If anything that belongs to him breaks or becomes damaged, you must immediately report it to him. All requests for repairs should be submitted in writing to your Memphis apartment landlord.
He has every right to expect you to follow the terms of the lease in their entirety. He has entered into a legally binding agreement with you on good faith. He does not know you and therefore cannot vouch for your trustworthiness. His protection is the lease. This includes notice to move as outlined in the lease. The notice should be in writing and for the minimum number of days listed. If you have to give thirty days notice, then give thirty days notice.
Your Memphis apartment landlord has the right to know when you are leaving your Memphis apartment for a specified period of time. Perhaps you are going on vacation for two weeks. You might have a job assignment that takes you to another state for two months. He should be informed that you have not vacated your Memphis apartment. He should be prepared to keep an eye on things in your absence to protect his investment.
He has the right to increase the rent at the end of each lease term. Some states allow him free reign to determine the amount of the increase. Other states limit the amount of the increase.
Your Memphis apartment landlord has the right to enter your Memphis apartment with proper notice. In cases of emergency, he can enter without notice. He has the right to assign his workers to conduct maintenance and repair work in Memphis apartments at the request of tenants or for routine purposes. He has the right to charge you for damages you do to your Memphis apartment. He can keep all or a portion of your security deposit to repair the damages as long as he provides an accounting to you of how he used your deposit. If your deposit is insufficient to cover the cost of the damages, he can sue you for the remainder.
Your Memphis apartment landlord has the right to ask you to leave for a variety of reasons. He can initiate eviction proceedings against you. The primary reason is for nonpayment of rent. He can ask you to leave for violating any term of the lease you signed with him.
Obviously he has as many rights as a Memphis apartment landlord as you do as a tenant. It is important for you to know, understand and respect each other’s rights. You will have a better relationship with one another if you do not step on the rights of one another.