rental housing journal utah august 2015

WWW.RENTALHOUSINGJOURNAL.COM

Advertise in Rental Housing Journal UtahCirculated to over 6,000 apartment owners, on-site and

maintenance personnel monthly.

Call 503-221-1260 for more information.

Mandatory Section 8 Laws Overturned in Two States

to be voluntary,” says Kirk Cullimore Jr., UAA Government Aff airs Com-mittee chair. “But tenants groups in 13 states and many cities convinced gov-ernment leaders that they should re-quire landlords to take these voluntary federal funds and all the accompanying regulations and restrictions.” Th ey do this, says Kirk, by making section 8 re-cipients a protected class called source of income, and making it illegal under

state fair housing law to discriminate against them.

“Mandatory section 8 laws are grossly mislabeled by tenant’s advocates,” says Texas Apartment Association Gov-ernment Aff airs director David Mintz. “Th ey call them source of income as a protected class, but in reality they re-quire landlords to take section 8 vouch-ers and work with a voluntary federal program many landlords would not

Austin, Texas – Responding to complaints from the rental housing industry about man-

datory section 8 laws passed by the city of Austin, the Texas State Legislature recently passed a state pre-emption law prohibiting mandatory section 8, mak-ing it the second state to enact such leg-islation in 2015.

“Government subsidy programs like Section 8 and Medicare were designed

4. Board Chair’s Message

7. Ask the Attorney

O� cial Publication of The Utah Apartment Association Utah’s Leading Advocate for the Rental Housing Industry – 888-244-0401 – WWW.UAAHQ.ORG

www.rentalhousingjournal.com • Professional Publishing, Inc

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Background Checks

Essential for Your Success

By L. Paul Smith, CAEExecutive Director, Utah Apartment Association

Conducting background ChecksTh e UAA recommends every land-

lord do what we call a “Five Finger” background check on all applicants.

Th e Five Fingers are:• Credit• Criminal• Financial (Income, employment

and overall stability)• Current Landlord• Previous Landlord

Verifying all fi ve areas reduces risk signifi cantly. It is easy for an applicant to lie or misrepresent in one or two ar-eas but checking fi ve aspects of their history makes it much less likely they will succeed in hiding bad history or serious concerns from you.

Goals of Tenant ScreeningTh e purpose of tenant screening is

to determine if a tenant is a reasonable risk. Th e four things landlords should look for are tenants who will:

• Pay on time• Not commit crime• Not bother the neighbors• Won’t damage the property

A good screening process can save thousands of dollars in damage, legal costs, lost rent, etc. Don’t use your gut instinct or cross your fi ngers that ev-erything will be ok. Mistakes are too costly. Use the “First Qualifi ed Appli-

...continued on page 2



Director’s Message

UPCOMING EVENTSGeneral Membership MeetingsAll meetings 7PM - for addresses go towww.uaageneralmembershipmeetings.com

Ogden .................................................Sept. 22nd

Orem ....................................................Sept. 23rd

Salt Lake City ...................................Sept. 24th

Upcoming EventsEconomic Forecast ......................... Sept. 15th

UAA Legal Cruise ............................ Nov. 28th

Tribute Awards .................................Sept. 24th

Salt Lake City – On Tuesday August 18th the UAA held a record break-ing reverse trade show that raised

$12,411 for the UAA PAC. “Th is was a record breaking year,”

said Kirk Cullimore Jr. “Our goal for the PAC this year is $100,000 by year end so this money goes a long way to-wards our 2015 goal.

Reverse Tradeshow A Success

Th e reverse trade show is a forum where company owners and executives volunteer two hours and sit behind a table. Suppliers and service providers, buy tickets to the event and get undi-vided attention of decision makers for 5 minute increments.

“It’s a little like speed dating,” said RileeJo Stone. “People sit down across

from each other and every fi ve minutes we ring a bell and they move. It’s a high energy blast. Everyone, even the prop-erty managers that get hounded for two hours by vendors, love it.”

“Th e Reverse Trade Show is a great opportunity for property managers to meet prospective vendors. And it’s a great way for vendors to get in front of

www.uaahq.org Office: 801-487-5619 Toll Free: 888-244-0401 448 E. Winchester (6400 S.), Suite 460 Salt Lake City, Utah 84107

UAA Landlord Guide Provides essential information for understanding basic landlord/tenant law and best practices all in one place. Free with association membership. UPDATED 2015

General Membership Meetings www.uaaGeneralMembershipMeetings.com Topics: Crime Recognition and Prevention Liability Protection

Ogden @ Northern Wasatch Board of Realtors September 22, 7:00 PM Orem @ Century 21/Harmon Building September 23, 7:00 PM Salt Lake City @ UAA Office September 24, 7:00 PM Events Economic Forecast Sep. 15 UAA Legal Cruise Nov. 28 Tribute Awards Feb. 12

Good Landlord Class This class qualifies you for a discount on your business license State wide.*

Salt Lake @ UAA Office September 26, 8:30 AM South Ogden @ City Hall September 9, 6:00 PM

Providing Advocacy and Education to Landlords and the

Multi-Housing Industry

Since 1934

NOT A MEMBER? JOIN TODAY!!!

Online: www.uaahq.org Toll Free: 888-244-0401

*The discount applies to municipal business licenses that require landlord education for a lower annual fee.

For more classes go to: www.GoodLandlordTraining.com

August 2015

Did you know that as a member of the Utah Apartment Association, you are also a member of the National Apartment Association?

~ UAA PREMIER SPONSORS ~

www.uaahq.org/upro/ The Utah Professional Rental Operator course was created to provide training for rental property manager professionals. 32 hours of Core CE credit is available for licensed Utah Real Estate professionals.

Accredited by the National Apartment Association advance your career and become a Certified Apartment Manager.

2nd Annual UAA Cruise!

Learn more at: www.uaahq.org/cruise If you have any questions feel free to email [email protected]

UAAPAC

Protect your business and make your voice heard. The UAAPAC is scaling back overzealous regulations, limiting fees and taxes, and protecting your property rights. Be proactive, donate today!!!

www.uaahq.org/uaa-pac “I donate to the PAC because it’s critical we have a strong voice on capitol hill and our PAC helps us build relationships with and help keep in office those supportive of our industry.” Gloria Froerer Century 21 Property Management

“I donate to UAAPAC because the only way to protect our industry from over reaching govern-ment regulation is to be proactive in building relationships with all levels of government.” Kirk Cullimore Landlord Attorney

Utah Apartment Association Political Action Committee

2

Rental Housing Journal Utah

Rental Housing Journal Utah · August 2015

Background Checks... continued from page 1

cant Rule” - take one applicant at a time, compare them to pre-created “rental criteria”. Never look for a “best match” or compare applicants to each other.

Rental CriteriaTh e UAA recommends every land-

lord or property manager create a list of rental criteria, (samples are available from the UAA), that clarifi es what your standards for occupancy will be. Each prospect is then measured up individ-ually against the criteria in order of ap-plication. If they qualify, the apartment is rented and a lease should be signed within 24 hours.

Credit ChecksWhen checking someone’s credit,

you must have their consent. Th ey give this by signing the rental application. You never want to accept a credit or criminal report from an applicant. Al-ways use a third party like the UAA or another company.

Th e credit report contains many important pieces of information about a tenant’s consistency in paying ob-ligations, how much they owe and to whom, if they have judgments against them that could be garnished from their wages (making it impossible to pay rent) their previous addresses, and more. Be sure to not just look at their credit score but at the types, amounts, and payment history of their individual credit accounts.

To a landlord, the riskiest things on a credit report are generally:

• Bankruptcies

• Judgments and collection accounts

• Evictions, foreclosures, and repos-

sessions (shows using things with-out paying)

• Utility collection accounts (shows they can’t get the utilities in their name)

Many landlords have a policy that someone who doesn’t have great credit can still qualify by putting down more deposit or having a co-signer. Be sure you implement it consistently to every-one in order to avoid discrimination complaints.

Criminal Background ChecksModern society contains many pro-

spective renters who have serious crim-inal history that may make them a sig-nifi cant risk as a tenant. Landlords are encouraged to carefully evaluate a rent-er’s criminal background.

Four of the riskiest types of criminal behavior are crimes of violence, drug possession or distribution, property crimes and sex crimes. Individuals who have committed one of those crimes in the last few years are highly likely to do them again. So it is not uncommon for landlords to require some time to have passed since conviction before they will rent to an individual with certain crim-inal history.

In the state of Utah, ⅔rd’s of people who are on Parole or Probation are sta-tistically more likely to be sent back to jail. When they are, it is highly unlikely they can continue to pay rent or honor their contract. Landlords are encour-aged to consider the risk they are will-ing to take when renting to individuals who are on parole and probation and make an informed decision. NOTE: Landlords who participate in Good

Landlord programs in 10 Utah cities agree to be selective by not renting to people with some types of recent crim-inal history.

Income and Employment ChecksA fundamental principle of contracts

and obligations is that it is prudent to make sure people have the wherewithal and consistency to meet their contrac-tual obligations. Doing fi nancial checks that include verifying income, assessing whether someone has enough income, and assuring the income is regular and consistent is a key part of doing a suc-cessful background check. Common methods of conducting employment and fi nancial checks are:

• Calling employers

• Reviewing pay stubs, tax returns or CPA prepared fi nancial statements

Rental History Veri� cationOne of the best indicators of future

performance is past performance, so landlords are encouraged to verify an applicants rental history. Call two pre-vious landlords if possible. Ask “objec-tive” questions that involve a yes or no answer like:

• Did they pay their rent on time?

• Did they have any pets?

• Did they violate any of your lease provisions or house rules?

• How many occupants did they have?

• Did they give proper notice?

• Did they leave on time?

• Did they owe you any money when they left ?

• Were there any complaints or police incidents?

Don’t ask questions like “would you rent to them again” or “were they a good tenant”. Th ese allow bias and opinion to creep in. It is better to obtain facts from previous landlords you can use to de-termine if they meet your unique rental criteria than it is to obtain an opinion.

Denying ApplicantsIf you deny applicants for credit rea-

sons, federal law requires that you give them a letter stating they were denied because of credit. If denial is for any other reason, you may give them writ-ten or verbal notice. Be sure to imme-diately refund their deposit and wish them well in fi nding another place.

What to do When You Approve � em

Get them to sign a rental agreement immediately! Within 24 hours is the policy of most professionals. Th is pre-vents them from canceling on you aft er you start turning others away. Even if they don’t move in for several weeks, having a rental agreement in place will protect you from them canceling, and protects them from you changing your mind. It’s a win/win document.

Getting a rental agreement before they move in also allows you to go over the rules, expectations and obligations under the contract. Most landlords give renters a list of the things they will need on move-in day including:

• First month’s rent

• Account numbers for all utilities

• Proof of renter’s insurance (like mortgage companies require own-er’s insurance)

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Or mail a check to: Rental Housing Journal PO Box 30327Portland, OR 97294-3327

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w w w . r e n t a l h o u s i n g j o u r n a l . c o m

The statements and representations made in advertising and news articles contained in this publication are those of the advertiser and authors and as such do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Professional Publishing, Inc. The inclusion of advertising in this publications does not, in any way, comport an endorsement of or support for the products or services offered. To request a reprint or reprint rights contact Professional Publishing Inc. PO Box 6244 Beaverton, OR 97007. (503) 221-1260 - (800) 398-6751 © 2015 All rights reserved.

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Advertise in Rental Housing Journal UtahCirculated to over 6,000 apartment owners, on-site and

maintenance personnel monthly.

Call 503-221-1260 for more information.

3



Reverse Trade Show... continued from page 1

decision makers they would normally not have a chance to meet. It’s really a great event,” said Rob-ert Watson with WSI services and 2015 Associate Members chair.

Apartment Guide Rent.com $526

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For Rent $407

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Law Offi ce of Kirk Cullimore $400

Property Pond $400

Rent Dynamics $400

Rentler $400

Western Reporting $400

WSI $400

Aldous & Associates LLC $288

Alpine Cleaning $288

Blue Rim Networks $288

CertaPro painters $288

Clarke Wholesale $288

Hardy MFG $288

Light Energy Development $288

Mohawk Industries $288

Shield Safety $288

Smart Housing $288

Surface Restoration $288

Apartments.com $169

Big T Recreation $169

CORT $169

Delta Disaster Services $169

Evans Commercial Laundry $169

Ferguson $169

FitLogistix $169

Hainsworth Laundry $169

Hightech Signs $169

Indatus- Real Page $169

Instant Rental $169

Interwest Concrete Lift ing $169

Kandace Brewster Insurance Agency $169

Mac-Gray $169

National Credit Systems $169

Nive Lives Media $169

Precision Concrete Cutting $169

Precor Commercial Fitness $169

Real Page $169

Reliable Parts $169

Realtor.com Rentals $169

Renters Legal Liability LLC $169

Satisfacts Research and Apartment Ratings

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Utah Apartment Association


Board Chair’s MessagePAC Money Is Needed To Accomplish Our Work

a speaker of the house who all own rental properties and care about how laws aff ect property rights and our abil-ity to conduct professional operations. We need to keep the good leaders we have and assure there are others who support entail housing issues.

E� ective LobbyistsNow I understand some people cringe

at the word lobbyist, but every industry needs people who can articulate their positions on issues and eff ectively ex-plain how laws aff ect property rights and our business. Our lobbyists are the very best in Utah and help protect our industry. Th ey know how to navigate our political system and educate lead-ers who make decisions that aff ect us.

Please help us out this year

NAA and Federal IssuesTh is year UAA members will con-

tribute about $10,000 to the National Apartment Association’s federal PAC. Th is money is donated directly to fed-eral elected offi cials who have a direct infl uence on our issues. Th e NAA PAC cuts checks to our Utah senators and representatives which UAA members then deliver personally. Th is helps us build personal relationships with elect-ed offi cials from both parties, and help them understand how federal laws af-fect rental housing.

State and Local ElectionsMost of the funds we raise for the

UAA PAC are contributed to state and local elected leaders and candidates who care about property rights and rental housing. We are privileged to have a governor, a senate president and

In the next four months we will have many opportunities and you will be asked several times to support our PAC. We ask everyone to support individual-ly according to your ability. Giving just $10 or $20 goes a long way. Th ose who have the means we ask for even more. Each year many individuals who have done exceptionally well in rental prop-erty give $1,000. Since property man-agement companies and apartment properties benefi t enormously from the lobbying eff orts that the PAC supports, we ask them to give as well. For apart-ment communities we ask $500 a prop-erty. For property management compa-nies, we ask $500.

I can assure you that the UAA is a good steward of this money and lever-ages it eff ectively for the benefi t of our industry. Th anks in advance for your contribution.

Th is year the UAA has set a goal to raise $100,000 for our PAC.

As the 2015 President, I want you to know that I am proud to say that I am a personal supporter of the PAC and have personally contributed to the PAC. Th e money we raise is leveraged very eff ectively to accomplish our goals and protect our industry. Let me share a lit-tle with you about how we spend PAC funds.

448 E Winchester St Ste. 460Salt Lake City, UT 84107

Ph: (801) 487-5619Fax: (801) 484-8649

www.uaahq.org

Cheri Goss,Board Chair, UtahApartment Association

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choose to on their own.” While Mintz says the section 8 pro-

grams work just fine for some land-lords, he and others point to many components of the section 8 program that are either burdensome or require landlords to give up their rights. Ex-amples include having to agree to ac-cept reduced rents/rent increases, be-ing subject to onerous inspections, and having to give up their own lease and sign a government contract (called the HAP, or Housing Assistance Program contract) that takes away a lot of their rights.

“What few people understand is that when you are forced to sign the HAP, you give up the right to evict tenants for problems caused by their guests, you can’t evict tenants if the government for some reasons doesn’t pay on time, you lose the right to ask them to leave without a reason when the contract is up, and are forced to accept many other restrictions, says Cullimore. According to Cullimore, housing authorities, the entities that administer section 8 funds, sometimes can be as late as 90 days pay-ing rent.

“In my mind a “voluntary” federal program should really be voluntary,” says Mintz, and laws that require land-lords to participate in “voluntary” pro-grams should be changed. That’s why after unsuccessfully attempting to work with the city of Austin, the Texas Apart-ment Association felt their only option was to have the legislature step in.

Texas wasn’t the only state this year to deal with mandatory section 8 laws. Indiana also passed a similar statewide law in response to a similar push for mandatory section 8 in the city of In-dianapolis. “Tenant groups say that re-quiring landlords to accept section 8 is the only way there will ever be enough rental units for families that receive vouchers, but we showed that simply wasn’t true,” say Lynne Petersen, Execu-tive Director of the Indiana Apartment Association. Petersen says that many landlords are not only willing to accept vouchers and the restrictions that come along with them, but many properties were built specifically to cater to these programs. She says the Apartment As-

sociation showed that in Indiana there has never been a case where someone had to turn a voucher back in because not enough landlords were willing to accept vouchers.

Cullimore says while many doctors are willing to jump through hoops and deal with red tape and caps on fees to take Medicare, others don’t want to and are allowed not to.

“Doctors can opt out of Medi-care - we think landlords should also be able to opt out of section 8.”

Utah is one of the 13 states that re-quire landlords to take section 8 vouch-ers even if they don’t want to. After seeing what just happened in Texas and Indiana, Cullimore is planning on ask-ing the Utah Legislature this coming session to allow landlords in our state to opt out of section 8 programs, and also to be able to choose which housing authorities to work with.

“Some of our housing authorities in Utah, like Salt Lake County and Provo City, are great to work with and respect-ful to landlords,” says Cullimore. He encourages clients to continue to work with the good agencies, but thinks a law that allowed choice would go a long way towards forcing housing authorities who are abusive to landlords to change.

According to Cullimore, housing au-thorities are supposed to administer the section 8 program for the benefit of both landlords and tenants and be a neutral party. But, he says, staff often see them-selves as tenant’s advocates and behave as such. He also complains the housing authority’s policies and systems cause many problems on their own. “I can’t tell you how many problems our land-lords have had with housing authorities messing up payments, making unfair deductions, writing threatening letters to landlords, and not providing good customer service,” he says. But the two things that upset Cullimore and his cli-ents most are the restrictions on doing evictions and that housing authorities, who are supposed to not work with ten-ants who’ve been a problem for a previ-ous landlord pass them along, continue

Section 8 Laws Overturned... continued from page 1

to use taxpayer dollars to support ten-ants who have been evicted or were a serious problem the last place.

Cullimore points to a case where a family member of a section 8 tenant had killed and tortured a cat on the apart-ment property.

Neighbors were very upset. “Nor-mally you could evict a tenant for the behavior of a guest they should have been supervising, but the HAP con-tract prevented this and they had to let the tenant stay. “It’s one thing to give up that right (to evict) voluntarily, but Utah law forced us to take section 8 and effectively tie our own hands.”

Steve Erickson, a tenant advocate who was instrumental in getting man-datory section 8 passed in Utah in the 90s, thinks the law should stay. He says he worries that if landlords could opt out of section 8, some low-income ten-ants would have a harder time finding a place to rent.

Cullimore says the argument that there won’t be enough places for section 8 if the law changes is based on emo-tion not facts. “Of the approximately 300,000 rental households in Utah, only about 1% receive section 8 vouchers,” he says. He points out there are over 1% of the rental units that were built us-ing section 42 low income housing tax credits and that all of those take section 8. He also estimates a high percentage of landlords will continue to take sec-tion 8 on some properties. “If even 10% of the units do,” he says, “that will be ten times what’s needed.”

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7Rental Housing Journal Utah · August 2015

Ask � e AttorneyA Notice of Defi cient Conditions

My tenant just served me with a Notice of De� cient Conditions. What should I do?

First, it would be a good idea to con-tact an attorney to make sure you han-dle the notice properly. If the notice of defi cient conditions was served on you properly, you should ask: is the tenant in compliance with the lease agree-ment? If the answer is no, the tenant cannot take advantage of the remedies allowed for under the fi t premises act. If the answer is yes, the next question you should ask is: do I want to continue

the landlord/tenant relationship? When a landlord is served with a notice of de-fi cient conditions, the landlord can ei-ther fi x the problem listed in the notice within the time period described in the notice, or, the landlord can chose to not fi x the problem and terminate the lease. If the landlord chooses to terminate the lease, the landlord needs to provide the tenant with written notice of the termi-nation and notify the tenant that they

need to vacate the property in ten days. Make sure that you are very careful when dealing with a notice of defi cient conditions and contact our offi ce for a free consultation regarding the issue.

Law Offi ces of Jeremy M. Shorts, LLC

Director’s Message2016 Draft UAA Government A� airs Agenda

Each year, the UAA government af-fairs team begins early planning what issues to take before the Utah state leg-islature. Th is year is no exception. We expect to have a busy year at the 2016 legislature. Below are some of the issues we are planning on dealing with.

Good Landlord LegislationRepresentative Gage Froerer is spear-

heading legislation that was delayed last year to adjust good landlord/dispropor-tionate business licensing programs at the city level. Many groups have been involved in the process, including the cities, tenants groups and the real estate industry. Th e legislation, which is near-ly draft ed. Does the following:

• Prohibits cities from requiring land-lords turnover copies of credit re-ports or leases

• Prohibits cities from requiring any documents to be notarized

• Requires cities to send correspon-

dence to property managers (in ad-dition to the owner)

• Allows landlords to opt out of the program on some properties with-out losing their good landlord status on all properties

• Caps fees for GL participants and non-participants

• Tweaks education requirements so that cities may only require 4 hours training initially and only 2 hours thereaft er

• Requires training be approved by the division of real estate

• Allows disproportionate fees to be passed on to the tenant

No Mandatory Section 8 Bill In light of recent victories in Texas

and Indiana rolling back source of in-come protections (which really mean mandatory section 8), we plan to do the same thing here by adding the follow-ing to our state fair housing act:

57-21-3 adding a (10)(10) Th is chapter does not require that

any person be required to participate in any governmental program nor require that any person is required to modify or change its contracts or sign any other contract. It shall not be deemed a dis-criminatory housing practice under source of income to refuse to partici-

pate in any federal or state program.

Constable Reorganization Bill Senator Osmond is running legisla-

tion we are supporting that would allow more constables to be appointed. Th ere are currently not enough constables to serve notices and process evictions.

Meth Rules BillTh e state and local health depart-

ments over the past few years have, in our opinion, tilted contamination laws in favor of the cleanup industry, and are doing things to create and ensure busi-ness for meth decontamination special-ists at the expense of the real estate in-dustry. We plan on dealing with this by running legislation that would:

• Prohibit composite sampling (a un-scientifi c “short cut” meth test that fails many units that would not fail if the proper testing were done)

• Instruct the health department to reconvene a committee on the meth regulations and involve all parties (currently the health departments favor the remediation industry and won’t include the real estate indus-try)

• Fix that dueling language that testers have to give results to health depart-ments versus owners can do testing/remediation themselves and clean it

up without involving the health de-partment

• Raise Utah’s meth contamination standard to at least California’s level or higher

• Prohibit companies that do testing from also doing remediation due to confl ict of interest.

Fit Premises Revisions including:• Pre-emption on mandatory recy-

cling programs for rental housing

• Banning Inclusionary zoning (a practice where cities require apart-ments to have a certain number of “aff ordable units” and

• Prohibiting Mandatory benchmark-ing (a practice where building get an energy score and can be shamed for high energy usage, most of which landlords don’t control – tenants do)

A� ordable Housing FundingUtah spends much less on aff ordable

housing than almost any state in the country. Before it becomes a crisis, we are committed to fi nding more money in our state budget for aff ordable hous-ing and creating eff ective programs for delivering aff ordable housing units for Utah families.

Utah Apartment Association

448 E Winchester St Ste. 460Salt Lake City, UT 84107Ph: (801) 487-5619Fax: (801) 484-8649www.uaahq.org

L. Paul Smith, CAEExecutive Director,Utah ApartmentAssociation

By Jeremy ShortsEsq.

LOWER MAINTENANCE COSTS AND LESS TENANT TURNOVER. GO SMOKE-FREE.

www.tobaccofreeutah.org/muh-intro.html

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rental housing journal utah august 2015

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