Articles — lease termination

The Tenant's Bill of Rights

Posted by Stephen Marshall on

The Tenant's Bill of Rights

There's been a lot of talk in Lexington about adopting a set of proposals being called the "Tenant's Bill of Rights". That talk sounds good. We're all in favor of rights for everyone - so why not rights for tenants? No one in history worth remembering ever opposes a "bill of rights", right? This crusade is an excellent example of framing an issue to gain sympathy and support from those who don't have the time or the interest to look further into the issues. But here's the truth of the matter: tenants in Lexington already have a "bill of rights"....

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How to Non-Renew a Lease

Posted by Stephen Marshall on

How to Non-Renew a Lease

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...

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Kentucky's New Domestic Violence Law: What Landlords Need to Know

Posted by Stephen Marshall on

Kentucky's New Domestic Violence Law: What Landlords Need to Know

On March 30, 2017, the Kentucky General Assembly passed House Bill 309, a bill creating new rights, obligations, and protections for landlords and tenants affected by incidents of domestic violence. Similar bills had been filed in previous years, but had never been brought to a vote. This year, the bill passed both houses of the legislature easily and, on April 11, 2017, was signed into law by Governor Bevin. The new law, which will be found in KRS Chapter 383, will take effect this week on June 29, 2017. It will drastically change the way many landlords do business, so...

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Lessons from Eviction Court: Dealing with Partial Payments

Posted by Stephen Marshall on

Lessons from Eviction Court: Dealing with Partial Payments

If you’ve read many of my articles on evictions, you know my mantra: Details Matter. A simple miscalculation can easily lead to an eviction case being dismissed, and I see it happen almost every time that I go to court. In eviction cases, sequencing is everything. Here’s the proper sequence in a non-payment of rent case: tenant fails to pay → landlord gives notice → tenant fails to pay → notice expires → landlord files eviction But what happens to our sequence when the tenant wants to make a partial payment? Three Options for Partial Payments In that scenario, the...

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A Supreme Letdown: the Latest Supreme Court Opinion on Evictions

Posted by Stephen Marshall on

A Supreme Letdown: the Latest Supreme Court Opinion on Evictions

One week ago, I got really excited while checking Twitter. Actually, that happens every day. For those of you who don’t use Twitter, I highly recommend it if you’re into breaking news. Twitter is where you read about it first. Sorry for the digression. Anyway, I was scrolling through my Twitter feed last Thursday and saw that the Kentucky Supreme Court had issued an opinion in a landlord-tenant case. And not just in a landlord-tenant case, but in a forcible detainer case. I had found a unicorn! Very rarely do the appellate courts publish opinions on residential landlord-tenant cases, and...

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