Posts

Rental Services, Inc. December Newsletter

Welcome to the December Rental Services, Inc. newsletter! This month we will highlight landlords that were sued by their tenants and some helpful information to help avoid that situation. A discussion about my favorite subject bacon and a legal update for clients with property in Washington.
Reasonable Accommodation
Recently a landlord in Las Vegas, Nevada came to an agreement with the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to settle a Fair Housing claim.
The Silver Creek Apartments managed by Stout Management Company agreed to pay $6,000 and write off $1,392 in back rent to a disabled couple that had rented a second-floor apartment.
The tenants were promised they could transfer to a first-floor apartment when one came available. Over a seven-year period the couple repeatedly asked to transfer to a first-floor apartment. The disabled couple was denied a transfer as they watched new tenants move-in and occupy first floor apartments.
Eventually the housing manager appr…
Read more

Important Update for all Owners of Rental Property in the City of Tacoma WA.

The Tacoma City Council unanimously passed ordinance #28559, enacting a whole new law entitled “Rental Housing Code” which will be found in TMC 1.95. 
By amendment, they made the Effective Date December 1, 2018 (officially 10 days after ordinance is published on their website) for paragraph TMC 1.95.060 which requires giving at least sixty (60) days advance notice for rent increases of any amount. No penalty will be enforced until February 1, 2019, but if you tender a shorter rent raise notice, the City will not allow you to enforce the rent raise and require you to reissue a proper 60-day advance notice before any rent raise can be effective. This includes raising rent on any lease renewal offers – must allow at least 60 days before rent can go up. The one exception is if the fixed term lease has a built-in automatic increase/escalation clause, then the 60-day notice will not be required as the rent increases will have been pre-disclosed in the lease agreement. (This was approved as a…
Read more

Rental Services, Inc. October/November Newsletter

Property management Company Settles for $105,000
Another property management company was recently sued by a former tenant.
A&G Rental Management chose to settle a lawsuit with a previous tenant for $105,000. The suit claimed the property management company provided the tenant with deplorable living conditions.
The suit against the property management company claimed the tenant had to live with hypodermic needles, rats and overflowing garbage at their apartment community. The tenant consistently complained about the conditions over their lease term, but the property management company never addressed their concerns.
The tenant decided to file suit for emotional harm after they received several move-out charges from the management company totaling $1,500. The ex-tenant felt these charges were unfounded based on the living conditions and the move-out fees.
It seems like this lawsuit could have been avoided by taking two basic steps.
When buying real estate, they always say it’s al…
Read more

Rental Services, Inc. September Newsletter

This month’s RSI Newsletter features a review for Users of Consumer Reports, advertising and Fair Housing and a discussion about who’s application is it!
Notice to Users of Consumer Reports
Did you know the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires users of Consumer Reports to follow specific rules and guidelines?
When you originally setup your account with Rental Services, Inc. you signed the RSI Service Agreement as part of the setup process. Section 8 of this agreement acknowledges that you have read and understand your obligations under the FCRA. Section 8 specifically addresses a document titled Notice to Users of Consumer Reports: Obligations of Users Under the FCRA. If you’re not familiar with this document I recommend giving it a quick read at: Notice To Users Of Consumer Reports
A few highlights of the document include:
Users must have a permissible purpose to access someone’s credit file.
If you decide to take an adverse action toward the applicant based on the consumer report, you mus…
Read more

Rental Services, Inc. August Newsletter

Dear Valued Client, The August Rental Services, Inc. News Letter is focused on legal changes in Colorado and the formation of a group in Oregon to provide the first unified voice for landlords and property managers. Our secondary article will discuss ways to get information on prospective renters back faster when you order a background check. Finally, we will discuss a few best practices when conducting a background check.
Legal Issues On August 6, 2018 Denver City Council passed bill 18-0788 that makes it illegal for a property owner or manager to refuse to rent to an applicant based on their income source. Specifically addressing Housing Choice Vouchers/Section 8. The legislation will go into effect at the beginning of 2019. The bill was passed to help increase diversity and integration across the city and address the city of Denver’s affordable housing crises. The Council believes that treating all forms of income as equal will increase the housing choices for those who use housing…
Read more

RSI July Newsletter

This month’s RSI Newsletter features some updates about data purging, the difference between a hard and soft credit inquiry, changes to the “Rush Fee” used by some of our clients and a legal update and report completion times.
Data Purging Recent changes in the legal climate have made data security more important than ever. To limit application information from possible exposure, RSI has begun to purge old data from the RSI website. Reports that are older than five years will be removed from the system and will not show up in the system. If you are involved in any type of legal action with an applicant RSI can put a specific report on a litigation hold. This will preserve the report if the five-year mark is approaching. 
RSI Rush Fee Rental Services, Inc. has offered a “Rush Fee” for several years. This service was established to help clients who found themselves in a situation that required an application to be processed immediately. When this program was started back in the 90’s we c…
Read more

Rental Services, Inc. Offers Property Management Software.

Rental Services, Inc. is proud to announce that we’ve entered into a strategic partnership with a leading property management software company. This partnership allows RSI to offer cloud-based property management software to each of our clients.

RSI Property Management Software provides solutions to various aspects of property management.
When using the RSI Property Management Software, all monthly charges and late fees are automatically billed to the tenant. There is no need for Manager involvement or potential for human error on recurring charges. RSI Property Management Software ensures that your tenants are being billed accurately. Tenants are automatically billed based on your customized rules ensuring late fees are applied.
Post vacancies to popular website like Apartments.com, Apartment Finders, Apartment Living, Rent Jungle and Oodle.
Track work orders and maintenance requests online from the web-based control panel.
Let Tenants pay rent online using their smart phones or c…
Read more