Articles

Katie is the property manager for a new 300-unit luxury apartment complex. During the construction phase, Katie worked with the property owners to develop a Resident Selection Policy (RSP) that would ensure that only top-notch tenants would be approved as residents. As a result, the RSP prohibited any residents who had been arrested for or charged with committing a crime from being approved. Johnny Football's Application As luck would have it, Katie was floored to receive an application one day from a Jonathan Paul Manziel. Katie had family in Texas and is a huge football fan, so this application caught...

Merle is property manager at Opry Village, a 250-unit property in Muskogee. He has been managing property for many years and recently guided the property through a massive renovation. Through the years, he has worked with the property owners to develop a resident selection policy that brings in the best tenants to the property, as well as rules and regulations that keep the property safe, orderly, and clean for all the residents. When the renovations were completed, Merle enacted a no-pet policy in order to prevent damage to the newly renovated units. One afternoon Merle is a bit surprised to...

Today’s Lesson from Eviction Court demonstrates the old adage that “no good deed goes unpunished”. For most landlords, any time a tenant becomes past due on the rental payment, a notice is sent advising the tenant that if the payment is not made within a certain number of days, depending on the applicable lease and law, the tenancy will be terminated. In some cases, the tenant pays the rent and the problem is solved. In other cases, the tenant moves out and the problem is partly solved. In still other cases, the tenant fails to pay and the landlord files...

I recently encountered an interesting situation in eviction court that provided an opportunity for clarification on the best practices for evictions. The tenant being evicted lived in a building containing multiple units. The building had access doors in the front and rear. Each access door was locked, but had a coded entry pad. When the tenant failed to pay the monthly rent, the landlord taped a notice on the door of the tenant’s rental unit indicating that the tenant would be evicted if the rent was not paid in full. When the tenant failed to pay within the proper time...

As some of you might have noticed yesterday, the state House of Representatives passed House Bill 41, which addresses victims of domestic violence in rental housing, by a 90-3 vote. I wrote a blog post on HB 41 f few weeks ago, found here, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the bill from a landlord’s perspective. As those of you on my e-mail list know, I was able to meet with Representative Joni Jenkins, the sponsor of HB 41, and the bill’s advocates in order to discuss the concerns of landlords with the early version of the bill. Representative Jenkins...