Laws About Rental Property
Whether you are a renter or a landlord, a plethora of federal, state and local laws affect your choices and decisions. At the federal level, laws focus on protecting broad classes of people from discrimination. At the state level, laws focus on the nuts and bolts of security deposits, notice requirements, tenancy terminations and evictions process. At the local level, some towns and cities have rental laws and others don't. When they do, the laws often address rent control.
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Federal Rental Laws
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The key federal law affecting rental property is the Fair Housing Act. This federal law prohibits landlords from making housing decisions -- such as choosing tenants, setting tenancy terms, raising rents and terminating tenancies -- based on a tenant's race, color, gender, familial status, religion, national origin or disability. A landlord cannot treat tenants differently based on any of these characteristics, often referred to as "protective classes." A landlord cannot, for instance, deny tenancy because a prospective tenant has children, even in a building occupied predominantly or entirely by single adults without children. A tenant has up to two years to file a complaint against a landlord she believes has violated the Fair Housing Act.
State Laws
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State law provides the regulation aimed at day-to-day operations of rental housing. Although every state is different and some states regulate more heavily than others in this area, state law generally addresses requirements having to do with how much money a landlord can require of a tenant to move in, apart from the rent, and in some cases spells out how and when deposits must be accounted for and returned. How and how much notice a landlord must give a tenant in order to terminate a tenancy is often regulated by state law, along with the notice and process rules associated with an eviction. Two states, New Jersey and New Hampshire, strictly regulate the conditions under which a landlord can evict a tenant.
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Local Laws
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Rent control is a local law limiting how much and how often rent can be raised. It usually also limits the circumstances under which tenants can be evicted. Laws in 35 states prevent localities from passing rent control ordinance. Of the other states, 11 do not preempt rent control but have no local rent control ordinances in the state. A number of cities in four states -- New York, New Jersey, California and Maryland -- and the District of Columbia have rent control ordinances.
Contract Law
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In any subject area that is without federal, state or local regulation, the terms of a lease provide the legal basis for action. In most places in the United States, the lease determines most rights and responsibilities for both tenant and landlord.
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References
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