The legal forms and state rules every landlord and property manager needs

To keep up with the law and make money as a residential landlord, you need a guide you can trust: Every Landlord’s Legal Guide.

From move-in to move-out, here’s help with legal, financial, and day-to-day issues. You’ll avoid hassles and headaches—not to mention legal fees and lawsuits. Use this top-selling book to:

screen and choose tenants

prepare leases and rental agreements

avoid discrimination, invasion of privacy, personal injury, and other lawsuits

hire a property manager

keep up with repairs and maintenance

make security deposit deductions

respond to broken leases

learn how to terminate a tenancy for nonpayment of rent or other lease violations

restrict tenants from renting their place on Airbnb, and

deal with bed bugs, mold, and lead hazards.

The 17th edition is completely updated to provide your state’s current laws on security deposits, rent, entry, termination, late rent notices, and more. It also provides tips and guidance to help landlords navigate new state and local laws on screening tenants.

Attorneys Ann O’Connell, a Nolo editor and real estate broker, and Janet Portman, Nolo’s Executive Editor, specialize in landlord-tenant law. Together, they are also co-authors of Leases and Rental Agreements and Every Tenant’s Legal Guide.

Author Biography

Marcia Stewart is the coauthor of Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home, Every Landlord’s Legal Guide, Every Landlord’s Guide to Finding Great Tenants, First-Time Landlord, Every Tenant’s Legal Guide, Leases and Rental Agreements, Renters’ Rights, and The Legal Answer Book for Families. Janet Portman, Nolo’s Executive Editor, oversees editorial work on all Nolo books, articles, and websites. She specializes in residential and commercial landlord/tenant law, legal issues related to courts, and criminal law. She is the author or a coauthor of Every Landlord’s Legal Guide, Every Landlord’s Guide to Finding Great Tenants, First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting Out a Single-Family Home, Every Tenant’s Legal Guide, Renters’ Rights, Leases & Rental Agreements, The California Landlord’s Law Book: Rights and Responsibilities, and California Tenants’ Rights. Portman received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University and a law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law. Before joining Nolo in 1994, she practiced law as a public defender. Ann O’Connell is a legal editor at Nolo specializing in landlord-tenant and real estate law. Before joining Nolo as an editor, Ann was a freelance writer for Nolo and other publications and law firms. She has passed the bar exams in California, Nevada, and Colorado, where she is both an active attorney and a real estate broker. Ann practiced civil litigation in California and Colorado, and had her own firm in Colorado. At her firm, she focused on real estate, landlord-tenant, and small business cases. Ann earned her B.A. from Boston College and her J.D. from UC Berkeley Law.