Episode 2: The Rules As A Tenant

Yes, I am a landlord, but I am also a tenant.  Actually, I have been a tenant MUCH longer than I have been a landlord.  As a tenant, you must know the rules to purchasing your housing.  Yes, paying rent is a purchase and you are a paying customer.  It is critical that you know your lease, know how to communicate with your landlord, and ultimately, know the rules as a tenant.

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Full Episode Transcription

Welcome to My Life As A Landlord, where we untangle all things housing and educate the curious. If

you're looking for some entertainment with some honest, awkward conversations, you've come to the

right show. I'm your host, Dr. Jennifer Salisbury. This is my life as a landlord. Welcome to it. 1s Let's

just jump right into it. Today's episode is all about the rules as a tenant sitting here at the moment.

Yes, I'm a landlord. But I'm also a tenant. I rent places. I'm a tenant as well. Let's go through some of the

rules in another episode. I've gone through the rules as a Landlord. Here are the rules as a tenant. And

you'll find if you Google a lot of local housing resources, a lot of things are geared towards helping

landlords. But that's not entirely true. Depending on where you look, there are all kinds of resources for

tenants as well. But how do you know what's right? How do you know Where to turn? How do you know

when to ask for help? And then this podcast. This is for tenants who are not sure what they aren't sure

about. And I've been there, it's not fun. So some basic foundation that you should follow. Number one,

know your area's housing doctrine, know the rules for your area. Two know your lease. And three, know

how to communicate with your landlord. We'll talk about the communication piece just in a bit. If

you've heard my first podcast about rules as a landlord, you're going to hear this again and again and

again. How can you play a game when you don't know the rules of the game? It's like trying to play

volleyball, but you don't know the rules of volleyball. You've got to know the rules. And as a tenant, this

is no different than a landlord. You've got to know what your housing rules are. And that way that you

find it is your local tenancy doctrine, your landlord tenant code, your Residential Tenancy Act, whatever

it's called. The way you find it. Go to good old Google or open Safari on your phone and you type in

either the state or the province that you're in, and then you type in Residential Tenancy or Housing code,

anything geared to that, the search engines are going to pick it right up. And whatever is applicable in

your area, your local area, is going to come right up. And that's what you want to do. 1s For example, in

Hawaii, it's called the Hawaii Tenant Landlord Code. In british columbia. It's called the british columbia

residential tenancy act. 1s If you're not familiar with it, I absolutely implore you. If you are already a

tenant and you haven't read your local Residential Tenancy Act or doctrine or laws or whatever it's called

in your area, you are yourself short and you're playing a game again that you don't know the rules to.

This is your guiding document and I encourage you to read it. There is a very good chance that your

landlord may or may not have read it. But you, you are armed and educated when you read your local

doctrine. So the first rule is an overarching document for your state or your province. But the second rule,

as a tenant is way more personal. When in doubt, read your lease. Read your lease. Have you ever

actually sat down and read your lease? Now, I can hear your eyes rolling in the back of your head.

You're probably going, oh, my gosh, Jen, it's pages and pages of fine print. It's legal speak. Yeah, I get it.

But there's a lot of answers that you might have questions to in that lease that you're bound by, that you

don't even know you're bound by. So, like, for example, some of my tenants will ask me, well, how does

a rent increase work? Or what happens if I need to leave early? I might be getting transferred out of town

because of my job. It is all in your lease. So I have no problem talking to them, to my attendants, about

these questions. And truthfully, I tell them all the same thing. It's in your lease. Do you need me to send it

to you again by email? Usually I tell them the page and item number because I know my lease is quite

well, 1s but that's if you have a lease, many of you listening right now may not have a lease at all. Now,

that is a problem. And I encourage you that if you do not have a lease, if you're just renting on a

handshake, I have a feeling that somebody's not happy, whether it's you or potentially the landlord, or

maybe both. So if you don't have a lease as a tenant, I would say that's a big problem. Now, if

everything's going fine, smooth sailing, you're paying your rent on time, the landlord's being reasonable,

fixing things on time, but when things aren't going nicely, things aren't going to plan, that is when there is

a problem. So having a lease is pretty critical. Having something in writing for your housing is critical.

Now, there is sometimes locations that have tenant leases that have template leases. For example, in

British Columbia, they have a standard lease document that you literally just put your name, you put the

rent amount, you put in, what utilities are included, and then you sign the lease. And so in that lease is

very structured because it is a template. Now, there are other places that it is not structured. It's not a

template. It is simply a guideline. And in your Residential Tenancy Act, it will say Residential Tenancy

Code. It will just guide you and say in your lease you have to have the name of the tenant, the name of

the landlord, the address that's getting rented, what the rent amount. It'll explain exactly what has to be in

the lease. But regardless, the lease must be in writing, even if it's written on a bar napkin. You got to have

something in writing between you and your landlord. So if you're looking for a lease template, if you're

not somewhere that has template leases, usually if you want something, you can always go to Google and

say lease templates. But then you've got to check and make sure that it's got all the pieces that are

required in your area for a lease. Another thing I've seen some places like Staples or Office Depot, they

will have template documents and it can be anything. I mean, they have how to Sue Somebody, all these

different ready templates that are paper copy at these stores and you might find that there is a lease, one

that you can use and that you just fill out with your landlord together and you both get a copy. It can be

that simple. But if you don't have a lease as a tenant, I highly encourage you to get one. If there's only

two things you do after this podcast is that you find and read your local tenancy act and you read your

lease. And if you don't have a lease, you have one, then I've won with this podcast. 1s But let me tell you

the lesson learned, and I've learned this in many ways. 1s If it's not in writing, it didn't happen. If you're

not recording it, it didn't happen. And I have a separate clipboard that anytime I have a trouble call from

a tenant or we rent a unit or I get notice of someone's going to depart, it all goes on the clipboard. It's

very simple. And it's been that way for years and years and years. And this is why you need a lease, is

because that records this transaction between the two of you. But writing is not the only way to

communicate with your landlord. There should be in your lease a way that you're supposed to

communicate, whether it's by email. Maybe they have a maintenance program that you put in a trouble

call through the maintenance program. Maybe it's something you send them a text, right? Maybe you're

just a small tenant that's living in a house below your landlord, who lives above just a one unit home or

two unit home, however you want to do it. Rule number three communicate appropriately. And I must

tell you this, be reasonable. You've got to be reasonable with your landlords. If you're asking your

landlord to create more natural light in your unit, that's not reasonable. I've had this request come in, and

I have to laugh because I'm not sure what the tenant wants me to do to create more natural light in their

unit. I don't know. What do you want me to do? I can't put a window where there is no window, can't do

that. But if it's a safety item, if your deadbolt isn't working, or if the smoke detector is chirping and needs

a battery, I mean, that's something very likely that you can handle. But if you can't handle that is a safety

item, you need to call your landlord. You need to make sure that you are aware. And again, these items

should be in your lease. But if you're not sure. Don't be afraid to talk to your landlord. I know you're

not talking to your landlord for fun, but the landlord is there to provide a service that you are paying for.

And at the end of the day, you want to make sure that it is a nice, safe, quiet, comfortable unit that you

are living in and that is your home. Now, what happens if your landlord won't repair items that are pretty

important to you? Like your refrigerator is dying or it's already died and you can't get a hold of your

landlord? This is the kind of thing where it's urgent and this is where the lease has got to come in. If

you've got this situation or your landlord isn't acting in your tenancy rules, there will be a method of what

do you do? When do you take actions in your own hands and just repair the refrigerator? Or if you've got

a leaky sink, when do you say, you know what, I've told my landlord too many times and you just do it,

and then you deduct it off the rent? There is a way to do this. You don't just do it. You have to do it

properly. But again, you have to know the rules. So in any situation, revolving money, which rent counts,

you've got to follow your rules as a tenant. So read your residential Tenancy Code or act. Make sure you

have a lease, that you know what it says. Read it. Communicate with your landlord. Make sure you're

talking. Make sure you've got reasonable requests. Your landlord does want to protect you and the asset

of their home. I guarantee it. But make sure that at the end of the day, I would like you to answer the

question, if only my landlord would. And then fill in the blank, whatever that is. I wish they would fill in

the blank. Whatever they're doing, the landlord is doing not well enough or doing too much, or

something is changing. I challenge you to communicate with them. And if you're sitting there going, no, I

can't do that, that's unreasonable. Okay, well, you know what? Talk to your landlord. See what you

need to do. See what you're interacting is. But again, know the rules. Know the rules as a tenant, and if

you're real savvy even as a tenant, you'll know the rules. As a landlord, you will find they are very

similar to what the podcast I just went over. Welcome to it. Excited to have you. Thank you for joining

us this week. To view the complete show notes and all the links mentioned in today's episode, visit our

website www.mylifeasalandlord.com. If you're looking for educational resources for getting into real

estate, investing, becoming a landlord, or even a better tenant, then I have a page on my website to get

you started looking for a solution to the pickle that you're in. I've suggestions for that too. You can throw

your situation on my Facebook group. My life is a landlord. And let our community help you with

solutions. Also, before you go, make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you can receive new episodes

right when they're released. You can either subscribe right now in the app you're listening to this podcast

on, or you can sign up at www.mylifeasalandlord.com. Thank you again for joining me, Dr. Jennifer

Salisbury, in this episode of My Life as A Landlord. I'll see you next time.