Articles

Most landlords and property managers who have been to eviction court know that, when the judge enters a judgment of eviction, the tenant has seven days to vacate the rental unit. However, the lesser-known fact is that the tenant has another option within that seven-day window: to file an appeal to the local Circuit Court. Step One: Notice of Appeal In order to file an appeal, a tenant needs only to file a written document with the court notifying the court that he wishes to appeal the eviction and pay an appeal fee. This appeal fee can be waived by...

“This can’t be happening!”, John said, as he opened the mail and read the letter inside. John and his wife, Becky, had just endured a rough few months with their last tenants. The tenants had gotten arrested a few months ago for Possession of Marijuana. John and Becky learned of the arrested when they received a letter one day from the local police department that was titled Public Nuisance Warning. The letter notified them of the arrest of their tenants and told them that if it happened more than twice in year that they could be fined and their property...

I’ve gotten a lot of questions recently about a landlord’s ability to refuse to renew a lease, and it seems like there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Most landlords have heard that they can “non-renew a lease for any reason” or that they “don’t have to give a reason”. Both statements are partly true, but don’t tell the entire story. That’s my goal today. Unless the lease says otherwise, a landlord is free to refuse to renew a lease for any reason that is (1) non-discriminatory and (2) non-retaliatory. In other words, you can refuse to renew a lease...

In last week’s post, we reviewed some statistics on housing discrimination complaints filed in 2017. One positive note from that review was that landlords are rarely found to have committed acts of housing discrimination. This week, I want to look at some cases across the country that shed light on some important topics in Fair Housing. One of several lessons from this week’s review: while housing discrimination might be rare, it can be very costly for landlords. Here are four cases that illustrate that point and give us lessons to consider: Case #1 - Fair Housing Center of West Michigan...

Every year, the National Fair Housing Alliance issues a report on Fair Housing Trends from the prior year. The report reviews the most recent data on claims of housing discrimination across the country. In April 2018, the NFHA’s 2018 Fair Housing Trends Report was released. You can read the full report using this link. Here are the highlights: I’m always most interested in two things in the report: (1) statistics on housing discrimination claims and (2) important housing discrimination cases. Today, I’m just going to review the statistical data regarding the housing discrimination complaints filed in 2017. 2017 Housing Discrimination...