Jill Stradley

Who Pays When Furnished Furniture Gets Damaged in a Rental?

A broken bed frame. A stained sofa. A television with a cracked screen. In a furnished rental, damage to the landlord's property is one of the most disputed move-out situations there is. Both sides usually believe they are right, and without the right documentation, neither can prove it. The answer to who pays almost always comes down to two things: what the lease says and what was documented at move-in...

What Is the Maximum Late Fee in New York?

New York has one of the strictest late fee laws in the country. The cap is low, the grace period is mandatory, and a landlord who has been charging above the limit on every late payment has been collecting illegal fees that a tenant can demand back. If you are a landlord in New York and you have not checked your lease against the current statute, it is worth doing before the next late payment arrives...

How Much Notice Does a Landlord Have to Give in California?

California has more notice requirements than almost any other state, and they vary depending on what the notice is for. Entry, rent increases, termination, eviction, sale of the property — each has its own timeline, its own rules, and its own consequences for getting it wrong. A landlord who gives 30 days notice when 90 are required does not just lose the case. In some situations the notice is void and the clock starts over...

What Happens If a Tenant Signs a Lease and Never Moves In?

A tenant signs the lease, pays the deposit, maybe even pays first month's rent. Then they disappear. They never pick up the keys, never move in, and stop responding. Or they call a week later saying they changed their mind and want out. Either way, you have a signed lease, an empty unit, and a tenant who has decided the arrangement is not happening...

When Rentals to a Friend Go Bad: The Legal Mess No Lease Creates

Renting to a friend starts the same way every time. The arrangement feels obvious. You trust them. They need a place. You have a unit. Nobody wants to make it weird with paperwork. So you skip the lease, shake hands, and move forward on the assumption that everything will work out because you know each other...

What to Do When You Find Out Your Tenant Has an Unauthorized Pet

You find out your tenant has a dog. Maybe you saw it through the window. Maybe a neighbor mentioned it. Maybe you walked in for a maintenance visit and there it was. Now you have to figure out what you can actually do about it, and the answer depends almost entirely on what your lease says, or does not say...

Renting Out a Basement Apartment: What the Lease Needs to Cover

Renting out a basement apartment is one of the more practical ways to generate rental income from a property you already own. The unit is attached to your home, the setup costs are usually lower than a standalone rental, and the income can meaningfully offset a mortgage. It also comes with complications that a standard above-grade rental does not have, and most of those complications trace back to one thing: a lease that was not specific enough about the situation...

What to Do If Your Landlord Is Harassing You

Most landlord-tenant problems are disputes about money or maintenance. Landlord harassment is something different. It is deliberate conduct designed to make the tenant's living situation uncomfortable enough that they give up their lease and leave without the landlord having to go through a legal eviction. It happens in every state, it is illegal in every state, and tenants who experience it have real legal remedies if they know how to use them...

Renting to Family or Friends: Why You Still Need a Written Lease

Renting to someone you know feels different from renting to a stranger. There is an existing relationship, a level of trust, and usually an assumption that things will work out because they always have between you. That assumption is exactly what makes informal arrangements between family members and friends one of the most reliably expensive rental mistakes a landlord can make...

How Landlords Can Confirm Their Late Fee Is Legal Before It Becomes a Problem

A late fee that violates state law does not just become uncollectible. In some states it creates liability for the landlord who charged it. Tenants can demand reimbursement for fees collected above the statutory cap, file complaints with housing authorities, or raise the illegal fee as a defense in eviction proceedings. The landlord who has been charging a $150 late fee on a $1,500 unit in New York has been collecting an illegal fee on every single late payment. The maximum in that state is $75. That math adds up quickly if the tenant ever decides to pursue it....

Renting Month-to-Month After a Divorce: What Both Sides Need in Writing

Divorce reshapes living situations fast. One person stays, one person leaves, or both leave and neither wants to be locked into a long-term lease while the rest of their life is still being sorted out. Month-to-month rentals become the practical choice for a lot of people going through a divorce, either because they need flexibility while a settlement is finalized, because they are waiting to see where they end up financially, or because they are not ready to commit to anything longer than 30 days out...

What Happens When an Annual Lease Expires and Nobody Signs a New One?

A lease end date comes and goes. The tenant does not bring up a new lease. The landlord does not send one over. Rent hits the account on the first and nobody says anything. This is one of the most common situations in residential rentals and most people on both sides have no idea what it means legally until something goes wrong.

How to Tell If Your Lease Agreement Is State-Compliant

Here is how to tell whether a lease is actually compliant with the law in your state, and what the consequences are when it is not....

What to Do When a Tenant Breaks Their Lease Early

A tenant calling to say they need to leave before the lease ends is one of the more disruptive situations a landlord faces. The income you counted on is suddenly in question, the unit may sit vacant during a slow rental season, and you have to figure out what you are legally allowed to do and what actually makes sense to do. Those two things are not always the same. Here is a clear-eyed look at what your options actually are...

Virginia Lease Agreement Requirements: What Changed

Virginia has been one of the more active states for landlord-tenant law changes over the past few years, and 2025 brought a significant round of updates that affect every lease signed or renewed on or after July 1, 2025. If you are using a lease template from two or three years ago without updating it, there is a real chance it is out of compliance. Here is what the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act currently requires and what changed most recently...

First Time as a Landlord? Here's What Your Lease Agreement Should Actually Say

Florida Lease Agreement Requirements: What Landlords Must Include

Here is what Florida landlords are actually required to put in a lease...

Tenant Red Flags Landlords Should Catch Before Signing the Lease

A bad tenant can cost a landlord anywhere from $3,500 to $10,000 once you factor in legal fees, lost rent, property damage, and turnover costs. Most of those problems could have been caught at the application stage. Here's what to look for before you hand over the keys...

What to Do When a Tenant Refuses to Pay and Won't Leave

A tenant who stops paying rent but refuses to leave is one of the most financially damaging situations a landlord can face. The unit is occupied, no income is coming in, and the path to resolving it runs through a legal process that takes time and patience to execute correctly. The good news is the law gives landlords a clear set of tools. The bad news is those tools only work if used in the right order...

Landlord Insurance vs. Renters Insurance: Who Covers What When Something Goes Wrong?

When something goes wrong at a rental property, the first question both the landlord and the tenant ask is usually the same one: whose insurance covers this? A pipe bursts and floods the unit. A tenant's guest slips on an icy walkway. A fire destroys the tenant's belongings. The answers are not always what either side expects, and the gaps between the two policies is where people get hurt financially...

How to Handle a Tenant Who Won't Leave After the Lease Ends

The lease end date has come and gone. Your tenant is still there. They are not paying new rent, they are not responding to messages, and they show no signs of leaving. This is a holdover tenancy, and it is one of the more stressful situations a landlord can face. The good news is that the law gives you a clear path forward. The key is knowing what that path is and, just as importantly, what it is not...

How to Read a Lease Agreement Before You Sign

Most people spend more time reading the terms and conditions on a streaming service than they do reading a lease agreement. That is a problem, because a lease is a legally binding contract worth thousands of dollars that governs where you live for the next year or more. Every clause you skip is something you have already agreed to...

How a Sublease Agreement Protects Both the Original Tenant and the Subtenant

Subleasing happens for all kinds of reasons. A tenant takes a job in another city for six months, a student goes home for the summer, or someone needs to break a lease early without losing it entirely. Whatever the situation, subleasing puts three parties in a relationship that most people do not fully think through before it starts. A written sublease agreement is what keeps that relationship from becoming a problem...

States With the Strictest Landlord-Tenant Laws (And What That Means for Your Lease)

Landlord-tenant law is not the same from state to state. In some places, a landlord can raise rent with 30 days notice and no cap on the increase. In others, the law dictates exactly how much rent can go up, what reasons are required to end a tenancy, what disclosures must appear in the lease, and what happens if the landlord gets any of it wrong. If you rent in one of the states below, your lease agreement needs to...

California Lease Agreement Requirements: What Landlords Must Include

California has some of the most detailed landlord-tenant laws in the country, and that complexity flows directly into the lease agreement. A generic lease template will not cut it here. California landlords are required by law to include specific clauses, disclosures, and terms that go well beyond what most other states mandate. Miss something and you could be looking at fines...