Episode 36: Landlord Standard Forms 101
Summary
As a landlord, there is a LOT of paperwork - like, a whole bunch. Standard forms keep you aligned with your local residential/tenancy code, and makes it easy for you as a landlord to have ready when you need them. But where do I find them and which ones do I actually need? All this and much more as we continue your landlording education on My Life As A Landlord!
Enjoy today's conversation? Please leave us a review below – even one sentence helps! Post a screenshot of you listening and tag us on Facebook or LinkedIn at @mylifeasalandlord so we can thank you personally!
Listen to full episode :
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 Hello
there. Welcome to my life as a landlord. I'm Dr. Jen. I'm so happy you have joined me today. Today's
topic is Landlord perspective. And this is episode number 36 entitled Landlord Standard Forms 101.
You're going to learn very quickly from me that systems in your rental business is very important. Just a
reminder for those of you who are new to the channel that we do have five predictable rotating topics that
are applicable both in the US. And Canada. We start with Landlord topics, which is today. Then we
move into tenancy perspective topics, which is next week real estate development, which is all about
making property improvements. Then real estate investment, which is about money and credit. And then
other Salisbury adventures. Last week was another Salisbury adventure all about my time on the
Discovery Channel TV show called Canada's Greatest know it all. So the last week episode was not
Canada's Greatest Know It All, because for those of you who saw the show, I did not win the show.
But back to this week, you never know what you're going to get. But this is why, as a landlord, you have
got to set up some stand forms. So this week's episode is called Standard Forms 101.
All right, so let's talk about the three points of today's lesson.
Why on earth would you need standard forms? Well, we're
going to talk about it. Where would you find them? What kind of standard forms would you need? Those
are your three topics. Why do we need them? Where would I find them? And which ones? Which ones
do I need as a landlord? Okay, let's jump into it. Okay, for those of you who've been listening for a while,
you know that your landlord.org business is just that. It is a business. It is a system of intaking money,
paying out money. And there's got to be a set way that you collect your rents, that you receive rents, that
you pay your bills, all of that. And your forms are an integral part of your business. And in all
businesses, you've got to develop a system that are standard if then statements. So let me make an
example. If you are fighting to get a tenant to pay rent, let's just say if a tenant doesn't pay rent, then what
do you as a landlord do? Well, I have a system. I know exactly what happens, exactly what happens. And
I have my forms and everything. If a tenant is misbehaving, then what do you do? These are the if then
statements that you as a landlord need to have everything set up as much as you possibly can. And I'll be
the first one to admit, and especially if you're watching on the YouTube channel, I will be the first one to
admit, 1s even with these standard forms, crazy stuff happens. So you're not going to catch everything,
but are you going to catch 90% with these standard forms? Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Which is good.
Now, I must tell you, even though my podcast is North America based, I'm in US. And Canada because I
have rentals on both sides of the border. Not all geographic locations are the same. I'll say that again.
Every state. 1s Province territory has a different setup for their residential housing law. Everyone is
different. As a result, not all of these locations have standard forms. Sometimes have standard forms,
some of them don't. Some of them that just say, for example, if you're going to send a warning letter to a
tenant that is misbehaving, if your province or state has standard forms, they will say, use this form to tell
your tenant to correct their behavior in so many days or they'll be in violation. 1s Some places say just
send them a written letter, written notice and use these words. There's not actually a form which can be
very confusing, quite frankly, right. So you've got to know in your specific location. Now, let me also
talk about locations here because as the boomers are passing on and the greatest transfer of wealth in the
history of our planet is in motion, what's happening is you've got these properties, these rental properties
are getting inherited to the younger generations. These younger generations are receiving these rentals
and some of the time they are not in the same geographic location as where that person lives. 1s So let's
say that someone in Calgary has a rental. They pass away, but their next of kin is in Vancouver. Well,
Vancouver is in British Columbia, so that next of kin may be familiar with the British Columbia housing
laws, but the rental that they've just inherited is not in British Columbia, it's in Alberta, which has a
different set of, of requirements. So you can't just say location based on one particular spot, because it
may be a different location, it may be a different set of rules. So you've got to know when if this is
happening to you, if you're a newbie landlord or you're about to be a newbie landlord, make sure you
know where the rental is located, not where you are, where the rental is now in that in your Hawaii
landlord tenant code, for example. State of Hawaii, they do not have any standard forms. It's really
frustrating. There's no standard forms. All it says is, it says you must have the verbiage of this, this, and
this. If the tenant is late on rent, you must tell them this, this, and this in written form. But in British
Columbia, they have tons of standard forms. In Ontario, tons of standard forms. And so my suggestion is,
where do you find these forms? My suggestion is start with your local housing code, housing act,
whatever it is. And there may be standard forms that are there. You really need to scrub the website or
wherever the location is. If you're looking at hard cop happy locations, your local nonprofit, sometimes
there's a legal aid society or housing society that will help you. There are very likely standard forms there
if your province, state, or territory has them. But what if they don't? What if they don't have them?
Well, you can create one or you can use a generic one, but you also may consider having a lawyer draft
one up now, especially if you're a newbie landlord. That may be very intimidating. I completely
understand. But the biggest thing you need to know is that these standard forms, they need to be
compliant with your local housing rules. Okay, here's a classic example. Hawaii, as I mentioned, does not
have standard forms at all. Nothing. But they detail. They say when you do a move in, walkthrough with
the tenant when you're going to give them the keys, and you note whatever damage is present or
whatever repairs need to be performed at time of movement, you've got to have it written down. And
both the landlord and the tenant have to sign, well, guess what? Hawaii doesn't have a standard form for
a condition inspection, but British Columbia does. Ha. So I have several times taken the British
Columbia condition inspection form and use that, because it doesn't matter where it's from, as long as it's
written down. And that's exactly what I do. And there's lots of places that have standard forms. You can
go to good old Google and take a look at it. But when you are talking about the legal documents, such
as a lease. 1s Such as a lease, you might consider contacting your local nonprofit or legal aid center when
you're talking about something like a lease. And there is not a standard form provided in your location.
Okay, so there's a couple of different options there. If your location does have standard forms, like
British Columbia has an RTB one form, use that, right? Obviously use that. If your location does not
have standard forms, then make sure you are at least having someone review it or that you are given one
from a legal aid society. But you've got to have it written down. If it says in your local tenancy act or
your landlord tenant code, you've got to make sure that it is written down. Otherwise it didn't happen.
Okay, so I just talked about why you need standard forms. Where would you find some standard forms?
Let's talk about which standard forms that you would need in your landlord business, regardless of where
you're located in US or Canada or beyond. Let's talk about what you'd need. Okay. Lease for sure with
an Addendum. And how would that addendum look? Okay, there's lots of Facebook forums right now
that I'm in, and you're talking about, how do I do a lease in this location? I'm in this state or province.
What would your Addendum look like? Personally? My Addendum is seven pages long, and it is full of
nothing but lessons learned and saying, okay, if you want to add debt, if you want to add a roommate, if
you want to take a roommate off, how do you pay your rent? Because remember, I don't collect rents. I
don't chase people for money. And so it says all in there. It spells it all out. When does the tenant have to
notify me as the landlord? Well, if you have a wildlife encounter, if there's emergency vehicles on the
property, I need a phone call, right? So that's an example is a lease with Addendum. I already told you
the condition inspection. That's got to be written down somewhere. A warning letter for late rent or
utilities, a warning letter for bad behavior. Eviction notice. Now, again, you've got to make sure that
the wording is in alignment with the rental, where the rental is, if you're going to non renew the lease.
And again, this is location specific. This is not always valid. Like in British Columbia, there is no non
renew. It automatically goes month to month. But there are locations where if you rent someone a unit for
a fixed term, like say one year, and you get to the end of that term and they have to leave and you have to
give them a proper notice that you're not renewing that lease, then there is a way to do it. But again, you
must know the rules of the game in your local area. So if you're going to non renew, if that is applicable
in your area, that would be a standard form that you would need another one, a notice of entry, that's a
standard form that you would need. And it can be something simple. Don't overthink some of these. A
notice of entry can be just that. It's got to be written, it's got to be in accordance with your local act. But a
notice of entry could be just be a letter on the door within whatever the requirement is. 24 hours, 48
hours, whatever. Same with notice for annual maintenance. Now that's my list. I know there's some
very experienced landlords out there that have other standard forms that they use and that are in their
library. If that is you, please jump on the Facebook Group My Life as a Landlord and tell me all about
your standard forms. This is important because this is setting up the systems in your business and this is
vital so that you can be success. You can provide great housing, you can create communities, but you can
also succeed in your business. Okay, this is a shorter episode this week, but that's okay because we're
talking about something incredibly important. We're talking about standard forms. Why do you need
them, where you can find them, and which ones you need? Here is your call to action. You probably can
already guess it. Read your local Residential Housing Act, read your local one and specifically look at
standard forms. Do they even have standard forms? You need to educate yourself on the standard forms
or standard wording in your local area, where your rentals are. Where your rentals are. You need to read
it. Does it have standard forms? Is it just the word? Okay, let me know your comments and questions on
our Facebook Group My Life as a Landlord or in the comments of the YouTube channel My Life as a
Landlord, where you can watch this recording right now and remember your questions and comments.
Create the next podcasts and if needs be, I can always do a podcast extra which gets aired pretty much
right away. Join me for next week's podcast topic where we will talk about tenancy items. And this is
upcoming episode number 37 entitled hey they Kept My Deposit and we talk about all what a tenant can
do when a landlord keeps the money and doesn't justify it. We'll talk about it more then. Thanks for
joining me. We'll see you there.
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 at 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 have suggestions for that too. You can throw your situation on My Facebook Group My Life
as 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 to
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.