Legal
11 articles
What a landlord can and can't take out of your security deposit
The deposit fight almost always comes down to one line: normal wear versus damage. Here's where that line actually sits,…
How to fight a security deposit deduction and actually get it back
A questionable deposit deduction isn't the end of it. The process to challenge one is short, cheap, and tilted more towa…
Your landlord sold the building. What happens to your lease?
Getting a letter that says the property has new owners tends to read like an eviction warning. In almost every case the …
How to actually get your landlord to fix something
Asking nicely works until it doesn't. Here is the sequence that turns a broken furnace into a legal obligation, and the …
HUD narrowed assistance animal rules, and most ESA advice online is now out of date
For years the answer to whether a landlord could charge pet rent for an emotional support animal was a clear no. At the …
Military renters can break a lease without penalty. Most never use the right
Federal law gives service members a lease-termination right that overrides whatever the lease says about early exit fees…
When your landlord can walk in, and how much notice they owe you
A landlord owning the building does not mean they can come in whenever they like. Here is what notice actually requires …
Your roommate's unpaid rent is legally your problem. Here is what to put in writing.
Signing a lease with roommates usually means signing for all of it. Here is what joint and several liability actually do…
Serial squatter sentenced to 20 years after decades of evictions across Texas and Colorado
The woman Texas prosecutors called a serial squatter got 20 years. She also passed the same tenant screening that reject…
A Kentucky landlord must sell his rentals over sex-for-rent claims
A landlord accused of offering rent forgiveness in exchange for sex has agreed to sell his properties and leave the busi…
You may be owed money from the $360 million RealPage rent settlement. Here is how to check.
A $359.9 million settlement covers renters whose buildings used RealPage pricing software over a seven-year window. Chec…