Try Nolo Press (nolo.com) — famous self-help legal publisher that sells books and forms written by lawyers for laymen.

As a general reference I’d recommend the book “Landlording” by Leigh Robinson.

(Yeah, I’m a lifelong renter who still hasn’t closed on his first home. But my parents were reluctant landlords for years, and as the kid with the best grades in English I helped type up all the legal paperwork.)

Try Nolo Press (nolo.com) — famous self-help legal publisher that sells books and forms written by lawyers for laymen.

As a general reference I’d recommend the book “Landlording” by Leigh Robinson.

(Yeah, I’m a lifelong renter who still hasn’t closed on his first home. But my parents were reluctant landlords for years, and as the kid with the best grades in English I helped type up all the legal paperwork.)

Try Nolo Press (nolo.com) — famous self-help legal publisher that sells books and forms written by lawyers for laymen.

As a general reference I’d recommend the book “Landlording” by Leigh Robinson.

(Yeah, I’m a lifelong renter who still hasn’t closed on his first home. But my parents were reluctant landlords for years, and as the kid with the best grades in English I helped type up all the legal paperwork.)

I use LegalZoom for my legal docs: http://www.legalzoom.com/

As for dogs and cats, pets can be very destructive. Carpets, wood floors, doors, drapes, landscaping etc. I’ve been a landlord many times. All other criteria being equal, I’d take a tenant with no pets anyday.

I use LegalZoom for my legal docs: http://www.legalzoom.com/

As for dogs and cats, pets can be very destructive. Carpets, wood floors, doors, drapes, landscaping etc. I’ve been a landlord many times. All other criteria being equal, I’d take a tenant with no pets anyday.

when I had numerous rentals I belonged to San Diego Apartment Assoc (http://www.sdcaa.com/) – they have all the forms you need and can do the background / credit checks needed – not sure it makes sense to join them if you have a single rental

landlord-tenant law in CA favors the tenant – as a landlord you need to be careful

for example, I believe that technically you have already committed to rent to this person by accepting their check – you might be on shaky ground if you turned them down at this point and they decided to force the issue

one of the things I learned about tenants and potential tenants: they will lie through their teeth to the landlord – it seemed to me that most people thought this was an OK thing to do, almost like it was an unwritten rule that the landlord should be lied to at every opportunity – I think part of this is driven by the idea that the landlord is ‘getting rich’ at the tenant’s expense – it didn’t matter much whether it was a $600 apartment or a $2100 house

be careful and best of luck

when I had numerous rentals I belonged to San Diego Apartment Assoc (http://www.sdcaa.com/) – they have all the forms you need and can do the background / credit checks needed – not sure it makes sense to join them if you have a single rental

landlord-tenant law in CA favors the tenant – as a landlord you need to be careful

for example, I believe that technically you have already committed to rent to this person by accepting their check – you might be on shaky ground if you turned them down at this point and they decided to force the issue

one of the things I learned about tenants and potential tenants: they will lie through their teeth to the landlord – it seemed to me that most people thought this was an OK thing to do, almost like it was an unwritten rule that the landlord should be lied to at every opportunity – I think part of this is driven by the idea that the landlord is ‘getting rich’ at the tenant’s expense – it didn’t matter much whether it was a $600 apartment or a $2100 house

be careful and best of luck