Our first tip for every Maryland Landlord is this, Your reputation as a landlord is critical to your overall success. As a result, it is essential that you are up to date on your knowledge of tenant rights and responsibilities. Here are ten points every Maryland landlord should know before they rent their property. In this blog post, we will cover everything from security deposits to money judgments and evictions, along with case filing requirements and property compliance.
The Basics of a Maryland Lease Agreement
What is a lease agreement anyway?
At its most basic level, A lease is a legally binding contractual agreement between the landlord and Tenant (s) that establishes the terms of your relationship with the Tenant.
What you should include in the lease agreement.
Now that we’ve covered a lease agreement let’s review what should be included. At a minimum, you need to include the following:
The Parties: Who is the Landlord, and Who is the Tenant?
Addresses: The premises being leased by the Tenant and an address for the landlord where rent is sent along with other correspondence from the Tenant.
The Rental Amount: The total amount of rent due broken down into 12 monthly payments (Assuming you are providing a one-year lease agreement)
Utilities: A Maryland lease agreement must also include which party, the landlord or the Tenant, will be responsible for providing essential utilities such as heat, gas, electricity, and water.
Charges Under The Lease Agreement
Will you pay the water bill or a portion of the Gas bill? Does the Tenant need to put all utilities into their name, or will you keep them in your name and invoice them for usage? These little points can add up to big dollars, so it’s best to outline all of this upfront in your lease agreement.
What’s Included?
It’s also important to include a checklist of included appliances like washers and dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers, and hot tubs. This information must be documented and instructions provided, especially for less common items like the hot tub or a wine fridge, trash compactor, etc.
Severability Clause
Suppose a landlord includes any prohibited clauses within a lease. In that case, this will invalidate the prohibited clause and allow the remaining lease agreement to remain in effect and enforceable.
Security Deposit Receipt
In Maryland, the Tenant must receive a receipt when a landlord collects a security deposit or any other payment from a tenant. The easiest way to remember to do this is by adding it to your lease agreement under a security deposit clause.
Required Documents
What should be given to the Tenant along with the lease agreement?
You may need to provide your incoming tenants with additional paperwork depending on where the property is located and when it was built. For instance, if your property was built in or before 1978, you must provide a lead certificate and the Lead Paint In Your Home pamphlet from the EPA. Suppose your rental property is located in Baltimore City. In that case, all lease agreements must include the following lease addendum Legal Assistance Resources and Tenant’s Rights.
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What You Cannot Include In The Lease Agreement
Above, we covered the bare minimum of what you should include in your lease agreement. Here we will cover what you cannot include in your Maryland lease agreement.
Tenant Unions Or Organizations
You cannot evict tenants, refuse to provide services, etc., because of the formation of a union or tenant association. Usually, these are formed by tenants for collective bargaining purposes but can also include other things.
Confessed Judgment Clause
This type of clause allows one party to enter a judgment against another party without going through the judicial process, or in our case, would allow a Landlord to enter judgment against a tenant without court proceedings. Confessed Judgements are used chiefly in commercial contracts to ensure the other party’s performance, and it is entirely illegal and unenforceable in your residential lease.
Late Fees
You can charge up to 5% for a late fee in a residential lease agreement. In Baltimore City, you can charge up to 5%, and the late fee can only be accessed on the 10th day of the month.
Tenants’ right to a jury trial
You cannot include any provision that requires your tenants to waive their right to a jury trial.
10-Day Notice to Quit
You cannot include any clause or provision that shortens the 10-day notice period, nor can you remove the requirement that you, as a landlord, provide a 10-day notice to quit.
Self-Help Evictions
Your lease agreement cannot allow you to take possession of the property without going through the eviction process. Eviction is the legal process of removing possession of real property from an individual or corporation if they fail to comply with the terms of your lease agreement.
Security Deposits
You may not collect more than two months’ rent for a security deposit from a tenant. Nor can you include any provision that adjusts the timeframes for refunding a security deposit.
Indemnification
You may not include any provision that indemnifies you as the landlord against your own acts of negligence on the property or on any portion of the property that is not solely in the Tenant’s possession and under their control.
Lease Termination
Once A lease has been signed and executed by both parties, it can not be terminated unless one of the following conditions is met:
- Both parties agree to the lease termination in writing.
- The Tenant abandons the property.
- The Tenant is evicted.
- For Domestic Violence.
Determining Abandonment
If you believe your rental property has been abandoned, do not rush over to change the locks; instead, gather evidence that backs your position. Prepare a Notice Of Abandonment and send it to the Tenant via certified mail, first class mail, and post the notice on the front door. In the notice, state that you believe the property has been abandoned and give the Tenant 14 days to contact you. On the 14th day, if you have not heard from them, place a 24-hour notice of entry on the door, and on the 15th day, make entry. If they have moved the majority of their belongings out of the unit, it’s safe to say the property was abandoned. Please note- we do not condone or recommend this course of action unless it is absolutely necessary. The best way to handle the situation is via the legal eviction process.
Termination Due To Domestic Violence
Under Maryland law, if your Tenant is a victim of sexual assault or domestic violence, they can terminate the lease agreement. To end a lease agreement due to the above situations, they must provide you with a notice to vacate and the protective order that the court issued. After they provide you with the notice, they have 30 days to vacate.
Verbal Lease Agreements and Maryland Law
Maryland law allows for Verbal lease Agreements. Verbal leases are, in general, a terrible idea, and while an oral lease will not affect your rights as a landlord or the rights of your tenants, using one makes it difficult to prove the terms of your agreement and will land you in a he said / she said battle with your Tenant if any issues arise.
To recap, we have covered some examples of what you cannot incorporate into a Maryland lease agreement and what you should include in your lease agreement. This is by no means an all-inclusive list, and we recommend that you have your lease reviewed at least once every couple of years to ensure compliance with ever-changing landlord & tenant laws and regulations.
Taking possession at the beginning of the lease
All residential leases contain a Writ of Habitation as well as a covenant of quiet enjoyment. This convent states that a Tenant has the right to peaceably and quietly enter into the leased premises at the beginning of the lease as well as use and inhabit the premises without disturbance; both the writ of habitation and covenant of quiet enjoyment is implied meaning that neither has to be written provision in the lease agreement.
Although this does seem obvious, situations do arise that can prevent this, the most common of which is the previous Tenant failing to vacate or the property is not move-in ready. If this situation arises in your property, your Tenant has two options. First, they could request that the lease agreement be terminated. If the lease is terminated, you must refund all rent and deposits paid to you, and you could also be responsible for paying any additional costs incurred by the Tenant, including moving expenses, hotel bills, etc. The second option is they agree to a rent abatement-They don’t pay you a dime until they take possession of the unit.
As you can see from the above points, it is vital that you have a solid grasp on all of your paperwork and know for sure the intent of your current Tenant.
The Definition Of Rent
Until 2016 “Rent” was not defined in Maryland Real Property Statues and was whatever the lease determined. For instance, the Tenant was responsible for the monthly cost of the lease payment, plus the water bill and other utilities.
Lockett v. Blue Ocean Bristol
It was a defining case for Landlords across Maryland. Before this case, if a tenant did not pay a water bill, you could file an eviction for the unpaid amount as long as the lease agreement stated that utilities were deemed additional rent. After the case, the Maryland Appellate Court ruled that rent- “denotes the periodic charge for use or occupancy of the premises, but not the various other payments that the tenant may owe to the landlord from time to time, even if the lease characterizes them as ‘deemed rent’ or ‘additional rent.”
What does that mean for landlords today?
Judges across Maryland have interpreted the ruling differently; in Baltimore City, for example, you cannot under any circumstances include utility bills as rent in an eviction filing, meaning if your Tenant pays the fixed monthly amount to occupy the property and nothing else, they cannot be evicted for nonpayment of rent. You still have the option of a civil lawsuit; however, that is not a rent court matter. Other jurisdictions in Maryland are more lenient and will allow you to include water bills and other utilities.
Move-In and Move-Out Inspections
Move-In and Move-Out Inspections are absolutely vital for you if litigation should arise. Many landlords do not take this extra step before the move-in. A move-in inspection documents the condition of the property at the time you turn possession over to your new Tenant. You can use this paper and pen form and take pictures or an app like Happy Inspector. The importance of a move-in inspection is unrated until there is a security dispute, where you will need to prove the condition of the unit at the time the Tenant took possession.
Move-out Inspections are equally important and for the same reasons. Suppose you plan to withhold your Tenant’s deposit. In that case, you need to be able to prove with documentation that the withholding was warranted. When conducting your move-out inspection, it’s important to remember that the Tenant has a right to be present. If they plan to be present, they must notify the landlord that they wish to attend the inspection. You, as the landlord, must provide the date and time frame in which the inspection will take place.
Renewing and Terminating Your Lease Agreement
Residential lease agreements will become month-to-monthly tenancy at the end of the term if a renewal lease specifying a new term is not signed by the Tenant or the lease does not contain a provision detailing the specifics of the renewal or non-renewal in writing.
Maryland law, as well as jurisdictional statutes, dictate certain timelines and procedures for renewing or terminating a lease, whether the lease is for a specific term or a month-to-month agreement. If you intend to nonrenew a lease agreement, the minimum timeframe you can provide is 30 days’ notice in writing to your Tenant. Please also remember that if your intent is for your lease to automatically renew on a term basis, such as annually, this needs to be specified in writing; otherwise, it’s not enforceable.
Irrespective of which party provides the notice to terminate, it needs to be detailed and provide the following information. There should be a date that the notice was provided, a date when the lease agreement will be considered terminated, and if the Tenant provides the notice, it should contain a forwarding address where the security deposit can be mailed to. It is imperative that the dates provided on the notice meet the minimum timeframes required in your local jurisdictional statutes, and it is advisable that the notice be sent via the certified certificate of mail as well as posted on the premises with an affidavit of service so that all of your bases are covered if any legal action arises. There are also special rules that apply to individuals serving active duty in the military that takes effect under certain situations.
Subletting
A sublet occurs when your Tenant allows an individual to occupy your property. If you are aware of the situation and give your OK for it, no further action is required; however, if you were unaware of the sublet, your Tenant is in breach of the lease agreement and can be evicted for breach if you have a clause in your lease stating that subletting is prohibited.
There are several factors that you need to take into account prior to allowing the sublet. The biggest factor is that the original Tenant is still responsible for their obligations and that they are the party that will be held responsible for late rent payments or any damage to the unit. Basically, the original Tenant acts as the guarantor of the individual to whom they subleased the property to. As with any other business arrangement, it is best to draft a lease amendment stating the updated tenancy terms and signed by all parties.
Lease Amendments
Modifying a lease agreement is possible through amendments, allowing for changes in various aspects such as rent amount, due date, Tenant and landlord identity, guarantors (if applicable), and utility payment provisions. When only some parties involved in the original lease agreement sign the amendment, it can result in a lease novation. In such cases, any party who did not agree to the amendment is no longer bound by the lease. This is an essential consideration when evaluating the risk associated with future lease performance. During the initial term, a landlord cannot unilaterally alter the lease. However, after the initial term, the landlord can make changes by providing the Tenant with at least thirty (30) days’ notice.
Maryland Eviction Process
In this section, we will cover the eviction process in Maryland, what tenants can be evicted for, and the requirements to file.
Eviction is the legal process of removing possession of a property from another. You can only evict a tenant in Maryland under the following three circumstances listed below. When starting the eviction process, you must file the correct paperwork with the court so your case is not thrown out when you get to trial.
1.) Failure to Pay Rent
Notice Of Intent To File
Hands down, the most common reason for eviction is Failure to pay rent. You begin by serving your Tenant a 10-day notice of intent to file. In Baltimore City, you can only serve the notice on the 11th of the month. In all other counties, you can serve it on the 5th. Remember that other special caveat in Baltimore City limits we discussed further in this article?
- Any utility bills or additional charges under the lease agreement
- Only the rent amount due and owing
Serving the Tenant- Evictions in Maryland
In almost every county and city in Maryland, posting the Failure to pay rent complaint on the property in a “conspicuous manner” is how serving the Tenant would occur. This is still true in almost all of the states except for Baltimore City if you have filed a case on a tenant in a multifamily building. In the latter part of 2022, a new sheriff was elected. Prior to the new sheriff, the deputy assigned to serve your case would post the complaint on the mailbox or the front door of your building and call the case served. The new sheriff has set a requirement that all eviction notices be posted on the front door of the Tenant’s apartment. Furthermore, the deputies are not permitted to open lock boxes to retrieve keys or a key fob to allow entry into the building.
Hearing date
At a minimum, you should take a copy of your rental agreement, rental license, and your lead certificate if you are required to have one. It’s also advisable to have your lease ledger, payment receipts you issued to the Tenant as well as any recent correspondences that support your claim.
Be at the courthouse 30 minutes before your hearing is scheduled to begin. If you’re in Baltimore City, the judge will most likely only be hearing rent cases. If you are in another jurisdiction, there could be multiple types of cases that the assigned judge will hear that day. Make sure that you check in with the clerk at the front of the courtroom. Now you wait, it could be 30 minutes, or it could be 3 hours. Once your case is called, you will state your case, the amount of rent due and owing. If the Tenant agrees that they owe the money, judgment is in favor of the landlord, and if there’s any disagreement, both you and your Tenant will be presenting evidence. There are only a couple of defenses that exist for a failure to pay rent case, the most prevalent being that the rent you claimed was due has been paid again; that is why it is imperative that you keep precise records.
FTPR Form
If you have not received payment in full after ten days, you can file the Failure to pay rent complaint. The court will assign a hearing date after filing the complaint and paying the fees. Sounds easy enough. Not so fast.
Requirements to file the case
You must meet the following requirements to file a complaint against your Tenant for nonpayment of rent. In Baltimore City, all rental dwelling units are required to have a valid rental registration. If the property was built before 1978, you must also have a lead certificate. The same licensing requirements exist in Baltimore County unless your property has ten units or more, in which case you are not required to have a rental license. However, if the property was built in or before 1978, you must have a lead certification.
Assuming you have met the above requirements and valid certificates, you must input the rental license and lead certificate numbers on the FTPR filing.
Money Judgements
Unless otherwise requested, the court will enter a judgment for possession, thus giving the landlord the right to repossess the property if the judgment amount is not satisfied but the same rights conferred by a money judgment.
For a landlord to obtain a monetary judgment, the Tenant must be personally served with the summons. This can be handled by a process server, the sheriff, or if authorization is granted by the court, by mailing the summons via certified mail return receipt requested. Although the summons is usually served by the sheriff’s office, personal service of the summons is not guaranteed as it is not required to obtain an eviction. Again following the standard Maryland eviction process, you will still be able to obtain a judgment for possession, and your eviction will still be granted; this is the route that most end up taking.
If the landlord is unable to serve the Tenant personally, they can bring a separate case to obtain a monetary judgment. However, different rules apply for nonresidential tenants who are served with a summons. They can appear and defend in an eviction proceeding without risking a monetary judgment as long as they claim it’s for the purpose of defending an in rem action before evidence is presented in court.
2.) Breach of Lease
A lease agreement is a legally binding contract between two parties, the landlord and the Tenant. If a tenant fails to maintain part of their obligation under the lease, you may file a breach of lease with the court. Before you file your case, you must have given notice of the breach and time to remedy the situation in question. Breach of lease cases are complicated to prove because the standard of evidence is high. Under Maryland law, the Tenant must have committed a severe and dangerous offense to be found in breach of the lease. If the breach is causing significant damage to the property or impacting the safety or health of the Tenant, you may provide a 14-day time frame to remediate the issue; otherwise, you must provide 30 days before you file for eviction under a breach of lease case. Do not file your breach case prior to the last day of the notice period; otherwise, your case will be dismissed due to the fact that you did not provide proper notice. At trial, the judge will make the final determination on whether a breach occurred and, if it did happen, was substantial enough to warrant an eviction.
Maryland Landlording Tip:
3.) Tenant Holding Over
A holdover tenant is one who continues to reside in the property after the expiration of the lease agreement. Tenant holdovers can be voluntary, meaning that the lease was not renewed at its expiration, but neither party provided a notice to vacate, or it can be involuntary, meaning that either you or the Tenant provided notice to vacate and they have stayed past the notice expiration date.
When providing the Notice to Vacate, it should always be done in writing. The notice should be posted in a conspicuous place on the property, sent via certified mail, as well as via first class mail certificate of mailing. In Baltimore City, you must provide 60 days’ notice; in most other counties, you can provide a minimum of 30 days. If your Tenant is providing you notice of their intent to vacate, make sure that you request the notice in writing. During the notice period, it is a good idea to communicate with your Tenant in a firm but fair manner. Being curious, having a good attitude, and acting in a professional fashion is the best way to handle the situation. On the notice expiration date, call the Tenant and find out if they have vacated the property. Hopefully, they have; however, if they have not, you will need to file the case. Once you file a tenant holding over complaint, the Tenant is served with a summons by the sheriff notifying them of the trial date, as with an FTPR case, you do not need a process server. At the hearing, the presiding judge will make a determination on whether or not there was a valid lease in place and if proper notice to vacate was given. If your case meets those minimum requirements, a judgment will be granted for possession of the property.
4.) Wrongful Detainer
When a person who has no legal right to occupy your property does so, you will file a wrongful detainer against them to have them removed. The following criteria must be met in order for the case to be heard in court:
- The individual who occupies the property has never had a valid lease agreement, either written or verbal, with you.
- The person has never had legal possession of the property.
An example of a good case for a wrongful detainer would be a squatter who has taken up residence. You need to have them evicted, or if you have purchased a property that you expected would be vacant on the closing date only to find out that you have an unexpected tenant.
After the hearing
Assuming that all went smoothly for you at the hearing and you received a judgment for possession. You have some more waiting time for the appeals process to pass for Tenant holding over, wrongful detainers, and breach of lease cases. There is a 10-day appeal period, and for Failure to pay rent cases, you are looking at a 4-day timeframe. You cannot take any further action while you’re waiting for the appeal period to expire; once the expiration date has passed, you can file the warrant of restitution.
Warrants Of Restitution
Warrant Defined
First, let’s cover what a warrant of restitution is; It is a lawful order signed by a judge that directs the sheriff or constable to remove the occupant and restore possession of the property to its rightful owner.
You are not out of the water yet; this is where things can get complicated. How, you may ask? The appeal period has passed, and I filed the warrant! Let’s cover that now.
First, if you filed a warrant related to Breach of Lease, wrongful detainer, or Tenant holding over, you are most likely not going to face any of the tribulations discussed below. Once the appeal timeline has passed, it’s final.
Requesting No Right Of Redemption
No Right Of redemption or a “No Right” means the eviction will go forward regardless of payment from the Tenant. You must request No Right Of Redemption at the time of filing the complaint with the district court. To obtain a No Right, you have three prior judgments against them in Baltimore City or two prior judgments everywhere else in Maryland. You will need to provide case numbers and court dates on the complaint for the judge to review. The court will make the final determination on whether or not to grant the No Right request at the hearing.
Please Remember that…
Your Tenant has up until the eviction paperwork is signed by the sheriff to pay the judgment amount and continue residing in the property unless you request No Right Of Redemption be granted in the case. This can be a major source of financial hardship for you because they only need to pay the money due and owing from the FTPR you filed three months ago. Second, they can still appeal the warrant of restitution. If the Tenant claims they were not properly served with the eviction notice or notified of the eviction date and time, then there is a chance that the case will be referred back to the district court that day for a hearing on the matter.
Rent Escrow
We discussed the implied writ of habitability earlier in the article. A rent escrow case is filed by the Tenant against the landlord if they feel this implied covenant is breached. Under Maryland Landlord Tenant law, a tenant can file an escrow case if conditions in the property affect the life, safety, or health of the occupants or if there is a major structural issue that, if not addressed, could result in injury. Common reasons that tenants file an escrow are lack of heat, lack of adequate water pressure, the landlord not being responsive to maintenance requests, rodent infestation, and issues or defects in the structure that pose a danger to life, safety, or health. While a rent escrow is not intended to be used as a method to correct aesthetic issues such as torn rugs, or small cracks in the floors or walls, it is important to note that if your property is classified as affected under Maryland Environmental Code Title 6 section 801, you are required to repair and/or replace any chipping, cracking, peeling, or alligatoring paint. Before a tenant can file a rent escrow case, the landlord must be provided with notice of the defects via certified mail. Notice can also be implied if the Tenant had reported this issue to the landlord previously and the landlord failed to take corrective action. After providing notice, the landlord must be given the opportunity to correct the defect. If the landlord fails to repair the issue within a reasonable amount of time, a rent escrow case can be filed.
Once the case is filed, the landlord is served with a summons along with a written list of alleged defects that the Tenant is asking to be corrected. A city inspector will also schedule a visit to the property with the Tenant to perform a walkthrough and take pictures of the defects listed in the Tenant’s complaint. You should attend this walkthrough along with your contractor so that you can get a jump on fixing legitimate issues and you can formulate your defense for Tenant caused issues. It is also advisable to have a maintenance tracking system to show what issues have been reported and corrected during the tenancy period.
During the escrow hearing, a tenant may make requests for the reduction of rent, refund of a deposit, breaking of the lease, or a combination of all the above. Usually, the judge will order that rent be paid into an escrow account at the courthouse. The Tenant is supposed to be current with rent and continue to pay rent on time during the escrow proceedings; however, this is not always the case.
There are a couple of defenses that A landlord can raise, including the Tenant refusing access to the unit and the other being that the Tenant caused the defects in question that gave rise to the escrow filing in the first place.
At the conclusion of the case, there are many possible outcomes. The case may be dismissed. The court may abate rent payments. The court could order the termination of the lease agreement and return possession of the property back to the landlord. An order disbursing escrow funds will also be issued. Usually, if you have made the repairs in time, the funds will be distributed to you; however, the Tenant may also receive a portion or all of the money paid into the escrow account back.
Money Judgements
When a rental agreement ends, whether it’s because the lease was not renewed, due to eviction, or abandonment, there are often disputes between the landlord and Tenant regarding money owed. This could include unpaid rent, damages, or the Tenant’s security deposit that hasn’t been returned. In Maryland, when damages claimed are less than $30,000, either party can bring a claim in the District Court.
To initiate the claim, complaint forms can be found on the Maryland Judiciary website. These forms are easy to understand and can be completed online, printed, and taken to court. There is a filing fee of $28 for claims under $5,000 and $38 for claims exceeding $5,000. After filing, the District Court Clerk’s office will generate a summons that needs to be personally served to the defendant, and a court date will be set.If there is a written lease, the plaintiff can file their complaint under affidavit. If done correctly, the court can enter a judgment in favor of the plaintiff without a trial by attaching sufficient evidence and submitting an affidavit supporting the judgment. However, if the defendant files a notice of intent to defend, an affidavit judgment is not available.In cases where a notice of intent to defend is filed, or the complaint is not filed under affidavit, both parties will have to present evidence in court. This includes testimony regarding the terms of the lease and what transpired. Additional witnesses and relevant documents, such as contracts, correspondence, and photographs, can be called upon.
If the plaintiff successfully proves their case, the court will enter a judgment for monetary damages in their favor and award the court costs. In cases where the claim is less than $5,000, the small claims rules apply, allowing the judge to consider hearsay evidence and forgo document authentication. However, if the claim is over $5,000, all formal rules of evidence must be followed, making it advisable to hire an experienced landlord-tenant attorney. Once a judgment is entered and 30 days have passed, the plaintiff can file a request for an oral exam. This request requires a visit to the courthouse to obtain a carbon, multi-part form that must be filled out and filed along with the fee. After filing, the court will assign a hearing date, during which the defendant will be ordered to appear, usually with relevant documents pertaining to their assets and income. With information on the defendant’s assets and income, the plaintiff can proceed to file a request for a writ of garnishment or a request for a writ of execution/levy. The former is used to attach wages or money to a bank account, while the latter is used to seize the defendant’s personal property for sale to satisfy the judgment. A writ of execution can also be used to force the sale of real property.
Interest on a judgment accrues at a rate of 10% per annum, except for judgments on rent of a residential property, which accrue interest at a rate of 6% per annum. The interest is not compounded, and payments are first applied to costs and interest before being applied to the judgment principal. The plaintiff also has a duty to file a monthly report when payments on a judgment are made. It is important to note that rent judgments for residential properties have a special rule that sets the interest rate at 6% per year. Interest on judgments is not compounded. Payments are first applied to costs and interest and then to the judgment’s principal. When making payments, the plaintiff must file a monthly report with the court and provide a copy to the defendant. Once the judgment is fully paid, the plaintiff must file an Order of Satisfaction with the court and provide a copy to the defendant.It is important to note that both parties to a contract are responsible for mitigating damages.
This means the landlord must act promptly and take reasonable steps to re-rent the property after an eviction or abandonment. If the landlord does re-rent the property, any money received from the new Tenant during the original lease term must be subtracted from the landlord’s claim against the original Tenant. Overall, obtaining a judgment may be the easiest part of the process, as collecting that judgment can be challenging. However, a successful outcome can be achieved by following the proper legal procedures and utilizing the available resources.
Conclusion
Being a landlord should be rewarding professionally and financially. There will be some risk whether you are investing in real estate or the stock market. If you plan ahead, understand the pitfalls, and work to mitigate potential issues before they arise, you can ensure a successful rental property investment.