By Lane V. Erickson, attorney The relationship between landlord and tenant is unique in the legal field and, as a result, is somewhat complicated. Both parties have certain statutory obligations to each other, defined by state law, and the written lease agreement which aims to reduce the complexity and confusion…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney When a person believes their fair housing rights have been violated they can contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) who is the administrative agency responsible for investigating and enforcing the FHA. Such a tenant can contact the HUD by letter, fax, e-mail,…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney The issue of guarantees and/or co-signers on a lease agreement is related to the issue of who the parties to the lease agreement are. The person who owns the property and is renting the property is the landlord. The person who is renting the property…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney The federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) provides protections to those with disabilities. A person qualifies under the FHA disability protections when: (1) they have a physical or mental disability that substantially limits one or more major life activities; (2) have a record of such a…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney An area of lease drafting that should be considered when preparing a residential rental agreement involves the default and remedy clauses. These are simply the paragraphs in a rental agreement that identify when a default occurs by either the landlord or the tenant and what…
By Joseph Ballstaedt Joint owners of real estate can run into serious challenges if they have different goals for the property. For example, suppose a son and daughter inherit their parents’ home, and one wants to live in it while the other wants to sell it. Or suppose two friends…
By Joseph G. Ballstaedt The answer to this question may seem to be a no-brainer. You can’t flood another person’s land, right? Well, it depends. Under Idaho law, it is generally considered trespass to enter another’s land without permission, whether the entry is walking on the land, throwing objects on…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney By and large, most tenants are pretty good, but one bad tenant can give a landlord nightmares and cause him to question whether he should ever rent again. Sooner or later a landlord will be faced with the task of evicting such a tenant. However,…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney There are really only two types of evictions that exist in Idaho. The first type of eviction is called a “for cause” eviction and the second is called “without cause.” An eviction “for cause” simply means a landlord is evicting a tenant because the tenant…
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney The first step in the judicial process of an eviction is to serve the required written notices as prescribed by the applicable law. Idaho’s landlord and tenant laws contain several notice requirements for various situations. The law is designed to allow the defaulting party to…