My wife and I aquired a 2 family home and will become landlords probably by month's end.  We have a tennant lined up already (an older lady we have known for some time).  Is there any first hand, practical advice that experienced landlords can give to us newbies?  Things we should do?  Resources about laws, etc?

Much appreciation in advance.

Contract do it !
Even if it's someone you know it's business not friendship.

Yes, there are some simple contracts you should be able to find. Spell out who's responsible for what, ie: electricity, heat, water, etc. Spell out the date rent is considered late (ie 10 days after the 1st). Be aware that CT's laws are very friendly to tenants, especially people who use section 8 housing. My barber told me stories about how long it took to get rid of a tenant who knew how to play the system.

Make sure the tenant signs a lease or some form of contract. Make sure to get a security deposit from the renter to help pay for any damage that is bound to occur to the rental unit. I've heard of landlords running financial and background checks on prospective tenants to try and weed out the bad ones. Avoid if possible Section 8 as some have posted horror stories about being unable to evict Section 8 tenants and their trashing of the rental unit.

Make sure to have a lawyer on hand to review the lease/contract prior to having the tenant sign the lease/contract. There are a variety of CT laws a landlord has to follow so its good to go through them with your lawyer ahead to time so you know what you can and cannot do. Make sure to get a good tax preparer or CPA who's familiar with rental properties to avoid any screw-ups with taxes. Supposedly you can also get a form of insurance that helps cover any issues or damage to the rental unit as well. The following link has a bunch of information from the state (laws and the like) on the rights and responsibilities of both the tenant and landlord.

Connecticut Law About Landlord/Tenant Law

Edit to add: Also keep in mind that as the landlord you are responsible for certain upkeep of the property. In some towns, like New Haven, there is a pile of local laws the landlord has to follow including having the town inspect each rental unit every two years and pay a fee to the town for each rental unit. These local rules and laws often specify that each rental unit has to have a certain number of working smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, working/unobstructed fire escapes, be repainted after five years or when the tenant leaves, having certain types of locks on doors, etc. Certain towns will assess fines if sidewalks are not cleaned of snow during the winter.

If you do allow the tenant to have pets, expect to have to do major cleanup and removal of carpet's if they ever leave. Same goes for having tenants who smoke.

Are you living in one of the units, or  is this purely a rental property?

Get a CT rental lease.  Plenty of sites out there that can provide one.  You can add your own addendum page, such as tenant is responsible for their snow removal, or their heating oil, stuff like that.  Make you spell EVERYTHING out.  Don't assume they should know.   If it's somebody you know and trust that's half the battle.  If not you need to do a criminal background check and credit check.  A rental application will provide all that info and there are sites you can get that done on.  Some people just use a place like Century 21 or one of the other real estate places and just pay them a fee because they don't want to be bothered.  If you live in the property it's also easier getting them out if need be.  

My advice is to be picky about tenants.  It is also probably worth it to pay someone to run a credit check.  You don't want to get stuck with someone that will end up being a nightmare.

Take incredibly detailed, dated, photos and/or video of the units condition, prior to renting it.


I'm not certain it is a law, but I think it is; that you have to replace carpet and repaint before each new tenant. So when you do that, be sure to document what it cost you. Then charge that as your security deposit, plus 10% or something.

I was a landlord for 2 years. Best feeling about it was selling it.

Looking back wish I kept it.

There is no law requiring that you paint and install new carpeting after each tenant

Good to know, thanks.


I'm off to tell my landlord to fuck off now.

If your landlord installed a brand new carpet and or freshly painted before you moved in- and you move out after a year and caused damages beyond "normal" wear and tear, then you may be liable for damages up to and including new paint and or carpet.

Typical carpet should last at least 2-3yrs if maintained. Same for paint. I will only charge if a tenant moves out after 1 year and there is more than normal "wear and tear"

If tenant stays more than a year, then when they move out I will paint and re- carpet . I will charge a fee if there are stains beyond normal w&t

Just for clarity, I was kidding, I wouldnt do that. And the place is in as good shape as when we moved in.

I really do hope my landlord chokes on a dick, though.

haters gonna hate

A buddy of mine has a 2 family he rents in Manchester. He used to live in one 1/2. Now he rents both. He has had very good luck. In the 20 years he has owned it he has not had to deal with a dead beat.

I know he belongs to a real estate investors group. They provide him with legal advice, contracts etc. He does a full credit and background check on the prospective tenant. This weeds out the dead beats pretty quick. I believe it takes like 2 weeks for the checks. He requires a face to face meet with all people who are going to live in the unit. I can tell you have does not allow smoking or pets. Also tries to find young couples starting out or older people. The downside to young couples is they don't live there forever, usually 2-3 years at most.

Make sure you have a good lease. Not some thing you made yourself or downloaded. Be very picky about your tenants. Do not settle for a tenant because you are anxious to get it rented. Better it sit vacant a month or two while you find the right tenant than to waste months trying to evict them. If you are planning on section 8 housing then do the bare minimum, collect your state money and hope it burns down after 4-5 years.

Someone else mentioned a contract even with a friend. Absolutely no exceptions to the lease or checks. Business is business.

Lastly I can tell you my buddy says Craigslist used to work great now he gets only dead beats and section 8 people. Not too mention the typical scam artists that scour Craigslist. He went with an agent the last time but insisted on his credit and background checks. The agent got him more money per month for both units. More than paid for his fee.

Make sure you stick to the traditional school-year lease schedule if at all possible. We had a great tenant for 5 years, but when her lease ended last June, she asked to stay on until mid-July when she expected to have the contract for her next job finalized. We loved her and since she was such a great tenant, we agreed to leave it open-ended. She ended up staying until the end of august at which point everyone with a plan/brain/job/good reason for moving had already settled on a place for the year. It took us until December to find another tenant we were happy with.

ETA: I should qualify that by saying we are extremely picky when it comes to tenants.

Thanks for all of the replies so far.  We will be living in it as well.

As a landlord who lives on premises in a house with three or fewer total units, the law is on your side unless you decide to reject someone based on race, ethnicity or nation of origin. Everything else is fair game.  Which can be very convenient. You don't have to beat around the bush quite as much.