As with many property management decisions, it can depend upon market conditions, market rents, the property itself, the amenities already provided, and the tenant in question. Offering an incentive for lease renewal can be cost-effective for a landlord saving the costs of vacancy while helping a good tenant save the costs and stress of moving.

Incentives can be financial incentives applied to rents or non-monetary items such as unit upgrades (kitchen appliances, flooring, carpet, or interior painting) or an amenity such as covered parking.

If your rental units have become a revolving door of move-ins and move-outs, minimizing tenant turnover should be a top priority of your property management.

Tenants move for a variety of reasons and stay for a variety of reasons, most of them personal to the tenant. If good tenants are moving for reasons that you could have controlled, you are costing yourself business.

Rental properties can be affected by a number of local market conditions. Have you done a market survey to determine how your property compares with other rental properties in the local area? Are you competitive for rents, amenities, and customer service?

A review of the market should be followed by a review of your property management. How easy is it to do business with you? If you manage your own properties, you know the answer. If you use a property management company, you may want to conduct due diligence on their current general management operations, customer service, and tenant screening and selection practices.

Tenant screening and selection standards play a critical part in management operations. Qualifying an applicant to rental standards should include a review of previous rental housing behaviors. Does an applicant have a history of moving around? His turnover may just be the established pattern of his rental behavior. Does an applicant have a history of disruptive behavior? As your tenant, his behavior may be the reason that good tenants are moving.

Your rental policies and practices directly affect your business operations. Generally a tenant stays because the rental housing continues to meet the tenant’s needs. Tenant satisfaction surveys show that tenants place high priority on the following:

• Location
• Rents
• Amenities
• Rules enforcement
• Customer service
• Cleanliness/upkeep
• Maintenance/repair
• Tenant privacy and quiet enjoyment
• Security/safety

When tenants give notice of their intent to move, do you ask them the reason why they’re moving? If the reason(s) they give for their move-out are issues under your control, corrective actions on your part might save a future tenancy.

A business policy of reviewing upcoming lease expirations 60-90 days ahead of the expiration dates gives you time to decide if the current tenant is a tenant you want to keep. If the tenant is a good tenant, offer a lease renewal with lease terms and conditions that are of interest to the tenant and are competitive with the local market.

The following discussion is an abbreviated version of an article I once wrote for the Web site.

Cosigners or guarantors are sometimes of importance when rental market conditions result in no applicants who meet a landlord’s qualifying criteria. They are also particularly useful when the location of the rental property means that most applicants are college students who depend on their parents for much of their income or for anyone else who has little or no credit history of their own.

A guarantor is often differentiated from a cosigner as someone who assumes certain financial liabilities for a lease, but does not actually sign the lease agreement itself and, accordingly, has no rights to the premises. However, no matter what the person is called, it is best to adequately define all rights and responsibilities in documentation executed by the one guaranteeing the lease agreement on behalf of the tenant-to-be.

Depending upon laws of particular states, there may be little or no legal difference between a cosigner and a guarantor. However, while the terms cosigner and guarantor are often used interchangeably, they can be significantly different, depending on state law and/or on the clauses contained within the documents. In particular, there can be a significant difference between a cosigner and a guarantor if the cosigner becomes a co-tenant due to the manner in which the agreement is constructed rather than simply being financially liable for the tenant

In some states, a cosigner for a lease agreement is the same as a signer of the lease agreement. Accordingly, absent adequate language in the lease specifying otherwise, the cosigner may have all the same rights as a tenant who resides in the subject rental unit or doing business in a commercial rental property. That is, the cosigner can become a co-tenant even though not living in or doing business in the leased premises. Thus, if not specified otherwise in whatever documents the cosigner executes, it is important that cosigners for a lease agreement be served with all notices or other legal documents (e.g., eviction complaint) that are served on those signers who are occupying the unit.

There are basically two different types of guarantees, broad and narrow. As examples, a broad form might make the guarantor liable for all financial matters including rents and damages, whereas a narrow form might limit the guarantor’s liability to the rent.

The cosigner and guarantor documents are often drafted so that there is little or no difference between the two. Both agreements are contracts between the guaranteeing party and the landlord, so they can pretty much be written however those parties can agree and the terms of the agreement are much more important than the title given to it. For simplicity, I will hereinafter use only the term “cosigner” even though all discussion will apply no matter the title of the agreement. Although there are times when there will be multiple cosigners for the same tenant, I will use the singular term “cosigner” unless specifically talking about more than one cosigner.

Whatever the title of the agreement, it is important that the language makes it clear that the co-signer is only guaranteeing financial aspects of the tenant’s lease and is not occupying the premises pursuant to the lease and that the cosigner does not become a tenant.

There are as many different formulations of cosigner agreements as there are publishers of the document. While landlords may wish to start with a form of the document available from a particular source, it is usually best to develop one’s own document if the obtained document does not include the terms I mention in this discussion.

Cosigner agreements can be written to cover only an initial lease term or to include future extensions and/or renewals.

Although lease agreements should always contain clauses prohibiting (within the limits of state law) subletting or assignment without the landlord’s written permission, cosigners should always be held responsible when the tenant sublets or assigns his leased premises during the term of the guaranty.

The cosigner agreement should always make the cosigner fully responsible for the full amount of any reasonable legal and other fees that become necessary because of the tenant’s default on the lease.

When there are multiple tenants, cosigners should, if possible, be made jointly and severally liable for the lease rather than only for obligations of the co-tenant who was required to provide a cosigner. After all, the lease agreement should make each co-tenant jointly and severally liable and the reason for having a cosigner is because the subject applicant is not qualified to be severally liable in the event of default of his co-tenants. A landlord is usually most likely to collect from the one who is best financially qualified and/or the one who is easiest to serve with a lawsuit if some of the co-tenants disappear.

It is best to require a cosigner who lives in the same state as where the rental property in order to avoid the extra trouble and expense of collecting a judgment in another state. This will not always be possible when parents are cosigning for a college student enrolled in another state.

Each cosigner should complete a separate application form, be required to prove identity, submit to the same financial screening procedure, and meet the same qualifying criteria as any tenant applicant. The same fees required from applicants should also be required for a credit report and all other screening reports that the landlord performs.

If a cosigner does not sign the lease agreement in person in the landlord’s presence after providing proof of identity, it is very important that the signature be notarized in order to reduce the possibility of fraud.

If a lease is modified in any way during the guaranty period, the cosigner should be required to sign a new document covering the modified agreement, whether the modification is done via a new lease agreement or amendment to the old agreement.

The cosigner agreement should designate the tenant as the cosigner’s “agent for service of process” and also state that the cosigner or guarantor is not entitled to service of any notices that might be served on the tenant or have any other rights of a tenant. By doing this the landlord need only serve notices or lawsuit complaints on the tenant and does not have to personally serve notices or complaints on the cosigner. It will usually be easier to serve the tenant and it will be up to the tenant to inform the cosigner about notices and complaints filed on the cosigner. Failure of the tenant to notify his cosigner will allow the landlord to obtain a default judgment against the cosigner.

The agreement should make it clear that the co-signer is only providing a financial guarantee and has no rights to tenancy or other type of occupancy. This is to avoid the need to evict the cosigner before obtaining possession in the event of serious problems, an unneeded additional complication.

While one can add the desired clauses and basic cosigner contact information and signature and date lines at the end of the lease agreement, an adequate cosigner agreement is best done as a separate document that refers to the premises, parties, and date of the lease agreement. The agreement should also state that the cosigner has read the lease and that a copy of the lease agreement is attached – and should be done.

Although the cosigner agreement should explicitly continue the cosigner’s responsibilities when the lease agreement is amended, renewed, or otherwise modified, it is still advisable to require that the cosigner sign a new document related to the modified lease.

Many landlords prefer to avoid allowing applicants to qualify via cosigners because of the extra work involved and the limited practical value of them. Fair housing laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of a number of characteristics, but, if the applicant does not qualify because of documented bad credit history, denial would not be on a prohibited basis and that would be demonstrable.

However, there is one situation when landlords must consider cosigners under federal fair housing law. This is when an otherwise suitable disabled applicant having insufficient income to qualify on his/her own requests the use of a cosigner who is willing to pay the rent if needed. In this case, so long as the proposed cosigner is solvent and stable, federal law requires landlords to accept the applicant regardless of the landlord’s policy regarding cosigner qualifications.

Applicants need not disclose income of any type which he/she does not wish to include in showing their financial qualification for the rental unit. However, applicants should provide information about every source of cash flow that they wish the landlord to consider when evaluating their financial qualification. This should include both items that are income and those which are not. For example, while alimony is income under tax laws, child support is not. For young applicants, gifts from parents might also be a non-income source of cash flow, but should be verified as being regular during a reasonable length period. Landlords can require proof of sources of cash flow, but to avoid discrimination charges, similar verification must be required for all applicants and similar sources must be treated similarly.

On the other side of the coin, applicants should provide adequate information regarding monthly expenses. An applicant with high income, but also high monthly expenses may not be an acceptable credit risk. The landlord should compare expense information (e.g., installment credit payments) provided by applicants with information provided in credit reports and discuss discrepancies with applicants.

First, the existing lease agreement is valid and enforceable until its expiration date and the lease binds the buyer if sold before the date of its expiration or as otherwise terminated.

Second, most lease agreements and the laws of many states require tenants to cooperate with any agents of the owner including real estate agents, appraisers, contractors, etc. However, entry to the property must be preceded by the required advance notice. The minimum period is 24 to 48 hours in most states, but this would be overridden by any longer period specified in the lease or by any lesser period if state law allows tenants to waive a longer law requirement. However, the entry time must be at reasonable hours. If a tenant refuses to cooperate, entry cannot be made and the only recourse would be to file a lawsuit.

Due to possible problems with access and the fact that the property may not show well when occupied by tenants, it is usually best to not try to sell a single-family property while leased.

The fact that an applicant looks good on the submitted application form does not guarantee you’ve found a good tenant. Being in a hurry to offer tenancy without conducting all necessary tenant screenings can prove foolish. The value of a comprehensive tenant screening process should not be underestimated. Without adequate tenant screenings a landlord places his business at risk and fails in his duty of care to his tenants.

Reference checking with previous landlords is an essential tenant screening. There is no better source of direct information regarding a former tenant’s (now your applicant) interactions with a landlord and neighboring tenants.

A landlord wants a stable, responsible tenant who is ready and willing to pay rent as agreed, maintain the rental premises to acceptable standards, and conduct himself as a good neighbor. In checking with previous landlords, do the references characterize the applicant as meeting these qualities?

If past behaviors give indications of expected future behaviors, then past rental behaviors are key to risk assessment of a future tenancy. Former landlords can provide the type of information needed to assess potential risk. While the applicant’s interview and his application information may preliminarily qualify him to rental standards, details of a previous tenancy as provided by the landlord may tell a different story.

Reference checking is a simple step but some landlords skip over this critical screening, thinking it unnecessary if the credit report is satisfactory. Some applicants hope that a landlord will be too busy to check rental references and the applicant can slide by, therefore avoiding a negative reference or calling attention to the fact that he is being evicted. Calling landlord references to determine whether the applicant satisfactorily fulfilled his lease obligations is a business safeguard. Failing to conduct all due diligence on applicants has the potential for claims of liability and negligence.

Current Landlord

An applicant may request that the current landlord not be contacted. The applicant may not have given notice or may not want the current landlord to know he is looking. There is also the possibility that the applicant thinks the current landlord will give unfavorable information, which may or may not be justified. While the request is understandable, the landlord should adhere to his stated tenant screening policies. If one exception is made, other exceptions might follow. However, the timing of the decision to contact the current landlord could depend upon whether the applicant meets other qualification criteria. If the applicant fails to meet minimum criteria there is no need to continue the process. If the applicant meets criteria, the current landlord should be contacted. Any information obtained from the landlord interview would be analyzed with information obtained from other screening reports for final evaluation.

No Previous Rental History

An applicant applying for his first rental does not have a rental history to check, but that does not mean the applicant is automatically disqualified from renting or potentially less qualified than a tenant with years of rental history. A landlord must look to other references to qualify the applicant. Commonly these other types of references are work references and personal references. Standard tenant screenings for credit and background checks are still conducted in accordance with applicable laws.

Former Landlords

If the applicant has been a renter for several years, calling former landlords may provide more honest answers to questions about rental behaviors. The tenant moved on but his records and his reputation likely remained with the landlord.

While some former landlords could be hesitant to provide detailed tenant information due to privacy concerns, a landlord should be able to confirm dates of tenancy, rental amount, and the security deposit amount.

Reference Questions

Applicants wanting to withhold rental history may try to use friends or family members as landlord references, provide false or misleading street addresses, or aliases. A landlord calling on reference checks must verify the identity of the reference, the rental address, and confirm the full name of the applicant to the full name of the former tenant. Verification of applicant identity is critical if the applicant has a common surname or generational suffix. A landlord must vet the same tenant as his applicant.

It is helpful to have the rental application, a written list of questions, and a prepared script available when contacting landlord references.

A customized rental references worksheet might ask questions such as:

• When did the tenant’s lease begin and end?
• What was the amount of monthly rent? What was the security deposit?
• Did the tenant consistently pay the rent on time?
• Did the tenant have roommates that contributed to the monthly rent?
• Did the tenant take good care of the property? Did he leave it clean at move-out?
• Did the tenant cause disturbances or generate complaints from other tenants or property owners?
• Were any legal notices for evictions served?
• Was notice given per the lease agreement?
• Was the full security deposit refunded?
• Is there any other information that I should know before renting to this tenant?
• Would you rent to this tenant again?

Most landlords consider the last question to be the most important question that should be asked of a landlord reference. The answer is a synthesis of the tenancy. The answer provides an opportunity to ask “why” as the final question. The landlord’s answer, whether positive or negative, should be analyzed in context of that landlord-tenant relationship.

Information obtained through landlord references should be assessed against information obtained through other types of tenant screenings. A landlord must keep an open mind regarding any mention of personality conflicts, subjective feelings, or personal preferences as expressed by a former landlord. A positive reference by a former landlord does not necessarily mean a trouble-free tenancy. A decision to offer tenancy must be based on all objective data collected by the landlord’s tenant screening process.

A landlord should make sure there is no rush to judgment without sufficient information and analysis of all screening data. Equally a landlord must be sure there is no unintentional violation of fair housing laws by extending preference, privileges, or waivers of rental policies to certain individuals in certain circumstances. A policy of non-discrimination must apply to each and every applicant so that tenant screenings are conducted in the same manner, in the same way for all applicants.

Checking references with previous landlords is an essential risk assessment tool and perhaps the strongest predictor of an applicant’s future rental behaviors. A landlord must however evaluate an applicant’s qualifications using a variety of tenant screenings, not just one type of assessment. By using multiple types of screenings, if the tenant has been a problem tenant in the past there will likely be red flags that show up in other screenings.

It might be, depending upon the circumstances and your willingness to take a risk. Keep in mind that the tenant’s financial condition could change over time. Being “judgment proof” is not necessarily a permanent condition.

To collect a money judgment, a judgment creditor must be able to successfully reach the debtor’s assets. If a debtor has no assets, limited assets, or only exempted assets, the debtor’s position would make it practically difficult or even impossible for a judgment creditor to legally collect the judgment. The debtor is said to be judgment proof. Taken literally, you would not want to waste your time to even file suit against such individuals. Any judgment awarded would likely be difficult if not impossible to collect.

However debtors can later acquire sufficient assets that could be used to satisfy the debt. The risk is that this debtor may never have enough reachable assets to satisfy even a relatively small judgment.

A debtor being considered judgment proof does not mean that a judgment cannot be awarded against the debtor. Some creditors prefer to file against the debtor to have the judgment on record and defer collection efforts to a future date.

A recorded judgment can sometimes result in unexpected payment without further effort by the creditor because the debtor must years later pay the judgment in order to obtain financing.

Judgments are typically good for 5 to 10 years and can be renewed for additional periods, so the chance of collecting a judgment at a future date may be worth the expense of filing the lawsuit now.

Finally, judgments can usually be collected in another state if the debtor moves from the state where the judgment was obtained. However, it will usually result in increased costs and complications.

Whether you ever get the money depends in large part on the defendant’s ability to pay and on the landlord’s ingenuity and perseverance. No law forces a person to pay a judgment. The Court will not collect the money for you. Instead, the laws provide procedures to attempt to ‘execute’ on a judgment. If the defendant really cannot afford to pay the judgment even these procedures will prove useless, at least at the current time.

Once you have a money judgment, common sense does come into play when deciding when and how hard to pursue collection.

If your decision is to defer collection until a later time, it is important to regularly monitor your debtor’s physical location and financial condition to determine future collection efforts.

Yes. By law each state is required to give full faith and credit to the official acts and judgments of every other state. Accordingly judgments obtained in one state are entitled to full faith and credit in any other state.

However before pursuing collection of the judgment in another state, you should first determine if the debtor still has assets in the state where your judgment was obtained and proceed against these assets. You can still pursue collection in the ex-tenant’s new state at a later date if insufficient assets are available to satisfy the judgment.

However when the debtor’s assets are located in a state other than the original judgment issue state, the judgment creditor needs to decide whether to (1) transfer the judgment to the debtor’s new state in order to enforce the judgment there or alternatively to (2) initiate a new lawsuit against the debtor in the new state based upon the underlying debt. You cannot do both.

Starting over with a new lawsuit can be a time-consuming and expensive for the judgment creditor. Accordingly, most judgment creditors will decide to transfer the judgment to the new state.

The process to register the judgment in another state as a “foreign sister-state” judgment is known as domesticating the judgment. A judgment must be domesticated before it can be enforced in the sister-state. More specifically, one cannot get a writ or put a lien on any property in another state without domesticating the judgment in that state. Once the foreign judgment has been domesticated in the sister-state, the judgment has the same effect as any other judgment in that jurisdiction.

The judgment creditor, after domesticating or registering the foreign judgment, should immediately record the judgment in the property records of the county or counties where the debtor owns real estate or has other assets. By recording the judgment, the creditor establishes his priority right to any assets the debtor may have. The recording serves to reserve the creditor’s place in line for distribution of the debtor’s assets when there are multiple liens on property and other assets. In collection efforts the creditor who is at the head of the line is generally the creditor who must be satisfied first.

Any ordinary method of judgment collection including garnishments, placing liens, and executing on property can be enforced following service.

If you completed an eviction action through the court system whereby the judge terminated the tenancy, in most courts of jurisdiction you should have been able to include a money judgment for unpaid rent and damages along with the judgment for eviction. If your eviction judgment included a money judgment, you can go ahead with collection of the judgment. If you didn’t obtain a money judgment along with the eviction judgment, you will have to file a separate lawsuit for the money owed to you and begin collection efforts after obtaining the judgment.

As a judgment creditor, it is your responsibility to collect your court awarded judgment and to do so in a legally compliant manner. There are several different collection options available to judgment creditors. You may decide to hire an attorney, contract with a collection agency, or collect the debt yourself.

Your strategy will depend upon a number of factors such as: the amount of judgment, the debtor’s assets and income, the cost of collection, the amount of time and energy you are willing to commit, and extenuating factors such as the debtor filing bankruptcy. You will need to take into account the time and energy necessary to locate your debtor, the debtor’s assets and prepare and implement a strategy to collect your money.

The first thing you should do in your efforts to collect your judgment is to make a list of everything you know about your debtor. The amount of information you are able to list is a good indication of how hard it might be to collect your judgment. The more information you know about the debtor, such as place of residence, employment status, and financial condition, will help you in preparing your collection strategy.

The most basic collection strategy is to ask the debtor for your money. A formal demand for payment, written in a businesslike manner, with full details of the judgment award, may motivate the debtor to pay the debt. Reminding the debtor that an unpaid money judgment stays on the debtor’s consumer credit report as a negative item until the debt is satisfied may also provide incentive for payment.

Noise Complaints

Noise can be a nuisance. Noise is frequently cited by tenants as one of the biggest issues in multi-family properties.

A tenant’s noisy behaviors can be disruptive to his neighboring tenants which in turn can cause problems for the landlord. Noise complaints from tenants should not be ignored by landlords. Any complaint should be taken seriously and investigated accordingly.

Sometimes tenants complain about noise that is not in the landlord’s control. Noise and disturbances that occur off the rental property, such as a barking dog on a neighboring property or loud street traffic, can be nuisances but are not the landlord’s responsibility. However, if a tenant’s dog barks all night or a tenant plays his music too loud, other tenants expect the landlord to take responsibility to address the issue and take appropriate action. A noise disturbance involving domestic violence should be reported immediately to the appropriate law enforcement agency.

In handling a complaint, a landlord should acknowledge the complaint, listen to what the complainant has to say, and then state that the matter will be investigated and feedback provided. Tenant complaints of excessive noise against another tenant can be troublesome since one tenant’s complaint of noise may simply be part of another’s tenant’s daily living routine. Noise happens with ordinary living activities. In multi-family living, even ordinary noise can be magnified. All tenants create some noise but some tenants are more sensitive to noise than others. It will take some time and effort on the landlord’s part to investigate, evaluate, and respond appropriately to a complaint.

There are some rental practices that can help a landlord handle noise complaints and possibly reduce tenant complaints about noise. As a first step, the landlord should act on the complaint as quickly as possible.

Why is it important to address noise complaints in a timely manner? A landlord has the duty of care to ensure the tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment of the rental premises. The tenant’s quality of living can be compromised by a nuisance. If a complaint is ignored or dismissed, the landlord can be subject to legal actions for tolerating the nuisance. Tenant remedies may include abatement of rents, release from the lease agreement, or even damage awards.

The landlord should keep in mind that failure to protect tenants’ rights for quiet enjoyment could damage the reputation of his business and affect the marketability of his property. A landlord who tolerates a nuisance may find it more difficult to attract applicants which could extend vacancy periods. More importantly, existing good tenants may choose to move on once their lease has expired.

A landlord’s lease agreement should always include a clause that prohibits tenants and their guests from creating a nuisance by disturbing or interfering with the quiet enjoyment and peace and quiet of the rental property by other tenants or nearby residents. If the tenant violates the lease by creating a nuisance with loud or excessive noise, the landlord’s actions should be in accordance with the remedies set out in the lease or by law.

An oral warning may be given to a tenant for a first offense. Repeated violations of the lease by the tenant for noise disturbances may require a cure or quit notice to end the nuisance or be subject to eviction. The majority of states allow landlords to terminate a tenancy for a tenant’s repeated violation of the terms of the lease agreement. An eviction may be necessary to protect the rights of other tenants to peace and quiet.

A landlord should keep detailed documentation of the complaint, actions taken, and resolution as part of his tenant files. In the event of legal action, it may be needed to substantiate the landlord’s actions.

Some landlords may advise tenants with complaints about other tenants to work it out directly with each other. The emotions of some conflict situations may make it inadvisable to depend upon either tenant to work toward a mutually satisfactory solution. A landlord’s better practice is to manage his business by enforcing his lease agreement terms and conditions.

A landlord’s lease agreement is a powerful property management tool. The lease agreement is the legal contract between landlord and tenant with specific duties, obligations, terms and conditions of tenancy. The lease agreement is the governing document to enforce rules for tenant behaviors and remedies for tenant breach of contract. Therefore the lease agreement must be strong enough in language and terms and conditions to protect tenants’ rights and, when necessary, to evict a tenant who commits repeated violations of the lease or a material condition of the lease.

The rules for community living must be clear and to serve as a guide for resident behaviors and to act as a deterrent for unacceptable behaviors. Landlords should incorporate as much detail in their lease agreements as needed to protect the property and the residents. Caution is advised that arbitrary or excessive rules and regulations can serve as a deterrent for business. Tenants do not want to be regulated or restricted unnecessarily, unfairly, or illegally. Lease clauses must comply with applicable federal, state, and local laws for fair housing, consumer protections, and landlord-tenant statutes. Any policy, procedure, practice, rule or regulation cannot discriminate against a protected class or characteristic nor deny rights afforded by law.

As an example of a lease clause that might help with noise and disturbance complaints, a landlord could include in his lease a clause that sets a noise curfew, designating the hours for “quiet time” at the rental property, perhaps between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Additionally the lease clause could list some of the common noise disturbances that are prohibited, such as loud music or TV, barking dogs, or noisy parties. Having specific rules will make it easier for tenants to understand what is expected and the consequences for violating the lease.

Explaining landlord rental policies and qualification standards during an applicant interview can help an applicant understand what is expected of a tenant. In qualifying an applicant as part of standard tenant screenings, a landlord should check with previous landlords to determine if warnings and/or notices for noise or disturbances were issued to that tenant during his stay at their property. Previous warnings and notices may be an indication of potential future problems. The landlord may need to further discuss findings with the applicant.

As part of tenant move-in orientation, the landlord should review all material lease clauses with the new tenant, emphasizing the rental rules and regulations including noise restrictions, quiet hours, and the consequences of violation of the rules. The landlord should emphasize to the tenant that by the tenant’s signature on the lease the tenant acknowledges his understanding and consent to terms and conditions. A tenant should also understand that he is responsible for his guests’ conduct and adherence to rules and regulations while the guests are on the rental property.

Noise and noise related complaints are part of community living. Landlords can help to reduce noise complaints through specific lease language, adequate tenant screenings, addressing complaints promptly, and enforcement of rules and regulations.