By Becky Bower | ApplyConnect

As the majority of the country takes a break proposing and passing new rental housing laws and regulations, let’s take a moment to review the rental housing bills that are currently up to bat. From regulations on service animals in Illinois, rental property registration in the city of Portland, and additional homeless grants and assistance in California, the rental housing legislation at this point is a mixed bag. Take a look below at the passed and proposed rental housing laws in your state.

by Kyle Gelsthorpe

Airline tickets? Check. Credit cards? Check. Wireless charger? Check. Renters preparing for vacation have a checklist of items they don’t want to forget.

Unfortunately, many renters fail to consider a key question that should be at the top of the list: While they’re away, who is responsible in the event of burglary/theft or property damage from a fire, weather or negligence?

Turns out a lot of renters are in the dark about who bears ultimate responsibility.

According to a new survey by global risk solutions provider Assurant of 1,000 U.S. renters, nearly one-third (32 percent) believe either the landlord or property management company should be responsible for damage or liability protection, while an additional 25 percent said they were “not sure” who’s responsible.

by John Wilhoit

This article presents five areas to assist in rental revenue growth. But it goes beyond just rents and ancillary income. We know that most revenue from a rental property comes from rents but that’s not the whole story.

How many rental revenue growth strategies are you deploying presently on your property? How many are in process: working, operational, functional and bringing in dollars? For some folks that’s an easy question. They can rattle off those that are implemented and bringing in money and for other people you’ve got to stop and think about it.

by Daniel Bonstein, esq.

Immigration law has become a combustible subject lately and while all politics are local, some are more local than others. The Bay Area has become a microcosm of weighty immigration issues that have recently stirred up a lot of soul searching and widespread national debate.

Our role at Bornstein Law is not to legislate or get mired into policy, but to educate the rental housing industry on legal issues that impact their business and to prepare for any anticipated changes in the law.

With California seemingly hunkering down as the capital of democratic resistance in the Trump era, the state was prophetic in enacting AB 291, or the Immigrant Tenant Protection Act. This law clamps down on unscrupulous rental housing providers who use an individual’s immigration status against tenants. Assemblymember David Chiu spoke to his colleagues on the Assembly floor and made his case for the bill.

by Steven Greenhut

In the seven years since Gov. Jerry Brown shut down California’s redevelopment agencies, their defenders have managed to resuscitate their image. Never mind that these controversial agencies ladled out corporate welfare, wantonly abused eminent domain on behalf of developers and diverted $5 billion annually from public services. A new bill would bring them back to life, and its supporters would have us believe they’re the means to resolve California’s housing crisis.

That argument is bizarre given that “redevelopment” actually helped cause the current housing shortage because it overvalued the construction of sales-tax-generating big-box stores at the expense of home construction. Sure, redevelopment law required agencies to set aside 20 percent of their proceeds to build subsidized apartments, but the relatively small number of redevelopment-created units pales in comparison to the havoc wreaked by the land-use distortions caused by these agencies.

By Rob Stephens

Interested in renting out your yurt, tiny house or couch? Now there are several options homeowners have to make extra income. For those looking to purchase a second home, often called a vacation rental home, renting out to vacationers is a great way to afford purchasing an additional property. Not to mention, for a growing number of travelers, renting a private home is the only way to go and typically offers more choices, comfort and privacy than hotels, and often cost less as well.

by John Wilhoit

Prior to analyzing financials for a potential multifamily acquisition, there are two things we must know about a property; what and where.   What type of property, in terms of quality, and where it is located?  Without first distinguishing some characteristics about what and where there is no reason to devote time to a review of income and expenses.   In this article we will look at the where.

By Chay Lapin, Senior Vice President, Kay Properties & Investments

Recently a client in a 1031 Exchange with $4,000,000 of equity was working with another registered representative and talking to a sponsor directly. In talking with Kay Properties and Investments, they learned that we specialize in DST 1031 Exchanges and that we have access to a variety of DST properties from many DST sponsor companies throughout the industry.

After we hosted the family at our Los Angeles Headquarters and they had a chance to visit with our team, we learned more about their situation.

The building they were selling was debt free. In this scenario, the client could go into DSTs that are debt free with no mortgage. This means that these DST properties could never be foreclosed on by a lender and do not carry the risk of mortgage maturity and refinancing.

by Daniel Bornstein, Esq.

An Inglewood family sued their landlords, Amusement Six Apartments, for breach of warranty of habitability, emotional distress, negligence, and breach of contract after they didn’t sleep tight.

Nothing can tug at the heart of a jury more than a three-year-old that is covered in bed bug bites and scratches himself to permanent scarring. As if Little Jorge Jr.’s bleeding and disfigurement were not enough to incur the ire of the jury, the child’s family was instructed by apartment management to discard their furniture and sleep on the floor in the aftermath of a bed bug infestation.

By Craig P. Alexander

Among the many burdens we place on military families, there’s frequent re-location from one military duty station to another – one year you’re in North Carolina, the next in Southern California or Norfolk, Virginia or even Germany or Japan. These are not combat zones but some of the places the military send both the military member and his or her spouse and family. Part of that is requiring children of a military family to pack up and move their lives, including their ongoing education, to another state or even nation.