Posted by: Heidi Hendrick
on Jan 25, 2011
Previously, I wrote about the process for a landlord to evict a residential tenant. (See: Real Estate Primer for Landlords: Your Tenant Stops Paying) While the process for evicting a commercial tenant is the same as in a residential setting, the requirements for the lease itself differ greatly. The parties to a residential lease are governed by strict statutory and common law requirements, while parties to a commercial lease are accorded broad latitude in defining their rights and obligations. For instance, the Truth in Renting Act and the Landlord and Tenant Relationship Act, which govern the particular duties, rights, and obligations arising between residential landlords and tenants, do not apply to an office lease. In this article, I highlight two notable distinctions between residential and commercial leases, in addition to outlining three of many common law rules that apply if the lease is not negotiated and drafted otherwise.
Posted by: Robert Miller
on Jan 07, 2011
All of the major news providers (USA Today, CNN.com, Huffingtonpost.com, etc.) reported that Elizabeth’s will has been made public and she has cut her estranged husband, former vice presidential candidate John Edwards, out of her will.
Posted by: Adam Bellile
on Nov 11, 2010
Never in the history of the State have we experienced such dramatic reductions in real estate property values; the year-to-year declines in property values since 2007 are unprecedented. Residents of Saginaw, Bay City, Midland, and surrounding communities have experienced significant declines in property values.
As a result of the recession, municipalities and assessors are placed in a unique and unfamiliar position. Rather than raising assessments and property taxes to correspond with historical increases in property values, assessors must now find a way to fairly and accurately decrease assessments. These changes in the real estate market require a change in the way municipal assessors conduct business.
Posted by: Heidi Hendrick
on Sep 09, 2010
The most common issue that arises for a landlord is when a tenant, for whatever reason, stops paying rent. The reasons for non-payment may range from simply forgetting to pay rent a particular month, to unexpected financial difficulty, to not being able to afford the dwelling in the first place. But, in the end, when rent goes unpaid paid, the reasons why may be unimportant.
The first step in the process is to attempt contacting the tenant as soon as the rent is late. Do not let weeks or months go by before taking action. If the tenant simply forgot to pay, you, the landlord, may be able to resolve the issue with a phone call as opposed to instituting a Summary Proceeding, otherwise known as the formal eviction process.
Posted by: Robert Miller
on Aug 24, 2010
This past February, I did a blog discussing the fact that Congress has eight years to fix a problem, but suggested that it would be fixed sometime during 2010. Well, it is now late August, and Congress has still not been able to deal with this problem leaving many taxpayers and families unsure of how to proceed, not to mention their estate planning attorneys. The August 16, 2010, entry in The Wisconsin Law Journal may have summed this up the best: “It’s an old adage that the wheels of government spin slowly, but few attorneys would have predicted the glacial pace of estate tax reform in Congress, which has led to the repeal for the tax of 2010 and the potential reset of the tax next year to its highest level in a decade.”
