This is a question that does not come up much, but I thought I should address it:  “Do I need to make any special accommodations for a handicapped tenant/applicant”.

First, who is considered handicapped under the law?  The federal Fair Housing Act and Fair Housing Amendments Act (42 U.S. Code §§ 3601-3619, 3631) prohibits discrimination against people who:

• Have a physical or mental disability that substantially limits one or more major life activities — including, but not limited to:
  • mobility impairments
  • hearing impairments
  • visual impairments
  • chronic alcoholism (if it is being addressed through a recovery program)
  • mental illness
  • HIV, AIDS, and AIDS-Related Complex, or
  • mental retardation
• have a history of such a disability, or
• are regarded by others as though they have such a disability.

Here are the general rules that you must follow as a landlord (if you have further questions, I recommend you contact an attorney or a special interest group):

• As a landlord, you may not ask an applicant about any handicaps.
• You must base your decisions to rent to (or continue to rent to) a person solely on the basis on credit, criminal, and rental history.  You may not deny them solely because of their handicap.
• Even if it is obvious that they are disabled — for example, they use a wheelchair or wear a hearing aid — it is nevertheless illegal to inquire how severely they are disabled. In practice, if there are units available on the ground floor and 2nd floor in the same complex, you must offer both units to a person in a wheelchair, even if you believe they would not be interested in the 2nd floor unit.
• Landlords must reasonably accommodate, at the landlord’s expense, the needs of a disabled tenant such as (but not limited to):  rules, procedures, services to give the disabled tenant an equal opportunity to enjoy the common elements and his/her unit.  Designating the front parking space would be an example of this.
• Alternatively, landlords must allow a disabled tenant to make reasonable modifications to their units or common areas at their expense in order to allow the tenant to live comfortably or safely in their unit.  These modifications may not interfere with current or future tenants ability to use the property.  Typical modifications that can be done (and paid for) by a disabled tenant can include:  installing a ramp to allow wheelchair access, installing special faucets or door handles to allow for tenants with limited hand mobility.  The landlord can require that they changes are removed once the tenant leaves the property and can only be done with prior approval.
• If the need for the modification to the property is not obvious (such as a wheelchair ramp), the landlord may request a doctor’s letter prior to approving the change.  This is especially common in mental illness disability and/or phobias.

While this is not an exhaustive list, you need to be aware that you must give a handicapped tenant or applicant every opportunity to rent your apartment.

The city of Saint Paul is debating an ordinance that would require rental property owners to attend a class every 2 years.  This class would be required in order to obtain or renew a rental license in St. Paul.  Read more about it at the Saint Paul Real Estate Blog.

The holiday’s have kept me away from posting much.  John Gall shot over this question the other day and I want to respond with an answer:

I have technically three tenants in a SFH [single family house]. Two singles and one married couple. The lease goes until 5/31 and the tenants can’t stand to live together anymore. The two singles want to move out 4/1 and I’m guessing the married couple will also if given the chance. The set of tenants are mixed. Good on taking care of the property but mixed on rent collection paying late most months but always up to date by months end. I’d actually like to get rid of them and get a new tenant in place.

My strategy is to have them sign an early least termination agreement contingent upon my obtaining a new tenant for 4/1 with a signed lease. If I cannot secure a new tenant for a 4/1 move in and their stuff is not out then the original 5/31 lease date stands. My hope is to 1: get rid of the deadbeats and make them happy. 2: They now have an incentive to make things show worthy and make the property available to prospective tenants.

John, I think you are headed down the right path.  I am have zero patience or time for playing mother to bad tenants. I would prefer to just let them go and find someone else.

The positive is that they gave you plenty of notice to figure out a solution and re-rent the property.  I would remind them to keep the place clean and picked up as to help you rent it out by 4/1 (which also is to their benefit to get out early).  Most tenants will be fine with this.  If the property needs any upgrades, you may want to tackle these now (again using your leverage to get them out early to do it).

Unfortunately, I think you are going to have to pick a move out date now.  I would be concerned that if you found a tenant on 3/15, would the existing tenants then have enough time to find something and move out by 4/1?  If one or more of them couldn’t find a place to live, it could get dicey as the new tenant needs to move in and the remaining one(s) now need to be evicted as a hold-over tenant.  This could lead to some sleepless nights and could take 1-2 weeks to resolve.

My other option would be to talk to the married couple seperately (I assume they like living together!).  See if they want to stay and would start a new lease.  I assume since the had roommates, they can’t afford the extra rent, but it is worth a try.  Also, if you have any other vacant units, move one or more tenants over to that one.

I suspect that if you start advertising your rental now, especially in Craig’s list, you will have no trouble getting it filled by 4/1.  Good luck!

John dropped me a quick note asking me:

I have a tenant whose lease ends 5/31/09 for a SFH [single family house]…When would you start showing the house in order to have it rented for a 6/1 move in? Would you recommend striking a deal with the tenants on keeping the place in show condition or is that usually not a problem?

I try to start as early as possible, but 60 days is about the max that people are looking.  Here are some of my experiences, depending upon the neighborhood:

• The “typical” tenant in some areas will be looking 60+ days in advance.  I see this in South Minneapolis around the lakes.  I also experience this when renting houses   These same tenants will generally arrive at the apartment showing as planned.
• Other neighborhoods seem to thrive on procrastination.  I will get calls less than 30 days in advance, in fact, I will get calls 1 week before they are looking to move in.  I experience this often in both North and NE Minneapolis.  I will book 5 people to look at an apartment and maybe 1 will show up.

As for “striking a deal” with the tenants to keep it clean, I just expect that they keep the place in order.  Also, I work hard to show their place no more than 2-3 times per week to limit them being frustrated.  I book everyone at the same time, just like an open house.

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In the old days, landlords would use yard signs and the major newspaper to advertise rental properties. Now we all use Craigslist to find tenants. It is fast, easy and free. What a blessing!

Clark with the Bourke Group (Keller Williams) in Asheville, NC wrote a fantastic post on How NOT to write a Craigslist For Rent Ad. It is insightful and very well thought through. Every landlord needs to read this!

I try to ask lots of questions when I meet a prospective tenant.  This will usually allow me to ferret out any problem tenants or issues.

There are so many examples of interesting tenant screening discussions that I have on a monthly basis.  I thought this one was worthy of posting, not because it was funny, but for some of the subtle red flags, that I was hearing while talking to this prospective tenant.

This prospect called about a 2 bedroom apartment in an investment property in Crystal, that I own.  It was recently renovated and is priced at a below market rent of $765.

Me:
So where do you live now?

Prospect:
I live just down the block in Crystal.

Me:
Great, why are you moving?

Prospect:
The landlord is going into foreclosure and he won’t fix anything and we can get in touch with him.

Me:
How about sending him a letter with your rent?

Prospect:
Oh, we haven’t been paying rent there since March (8 months).

Me:
Really! And no one has contacted you about that.

Prospect:
Nope.

Me:
[Joking] So you should have all kinds of money saved up for the damage deposit and first month’s rent on my apartment, right.

Prospect:
No, I am going to need to get my damage deposit and probably my first month’s rent from emergency assistance.

Me:
OK…………[explained my screening process] Do you have anything on record that I should be concerned with?

Prospect:
Well, I have an eviction from 2 years ago and my credit is bad.

[Thinking to myself-I saw that one coming!]

Informal tenant screening is nothing more than carrying on a conversation with some subtle questioning.  I was just asking questions to understand more about where she lived and worked and such.  As I heard a red flag, I steered the conversation that direction.  While I did this in person, it is a great way to weed out bad tenants on the phone, saving yourself a trip to the property.