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Showing posts from August, 2013

COLORADO NOW AN ATTRACTIVE LIMITED LIABILITY STATE

The Colorado Supreme Court recently ruled that owners and managers of limited liability companies (LLC) now have less exposure to personal liability and no fiduciary duty toward creditors should the company become insolvent. Limited liability companies are primarily governed by each state’s LLC Act and LLC operating agreement. It is in this way that courts across the nation are being asked to determine a standard for LLC accountability. This landmark ruling makes Colorado very attractive to potential owners and managers forming new LLCs and serves as a precedent for other states. The rental industry in Colorado could stand to benefit greatly because of this appealing reduction to personal liability. Existing property owners operating under LLC can now take a deep breath and new property owners will be drawn to the state for its lower risk investment potential. -H. Evans

EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND SCREENING STANDS STRONG FOR SAFER COMMUNITIES…

In April, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its approach to employee background screening. Many anticipated that the EEOC would be implementing restrictions on the amount of information employers are allowed to monitor when hiring. Outright restrictions would have gone so far as to omit screening for a potential employee’s criminal history. Does an employer have the right to pry into their employees personal lives, in order to establish a pattern of high risk behavior? If a person has a history of theft or violence, do we in the rental community owe it to our residents and staff to be aware of these potential threats and prevent such activity to the best of our ability? Should the EEOC have moved forward with the restrictions, the safety of residents and staff in rental communities would have been greatly impacted. Instead, they recognized a company’s right to conduct consistent and unbiased, job-related background checks thereby ensuring a foundat

THESE THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM…

It is the classic nightmare for rental property owners. You do everything possible to protect yourself and your investment from the unscrupulous renter…dutifully screen the applicant for any criminal history…any eviction history…you take a close look at their credit report…you call their references and verify employment and salary. Everything looks stellar, perfect and wonderful…until it isn’t. The worst has happened and you ask yourself: HOW did this person get past all of my efforts weed out high risk residents? The answer is simple…criminals are not above stealing. Identity theft paints these criminals as stellar residents gaining them access to your rental property. Avoid finding yourself mired in nightmare tenancy by following these three simple steps: 1.)     Obtain social security verification in all your screening reports 2.)     Check for valid photo identification on each applicant 3.)     Conduct regular inspections on your rental property to stay on top o