"Unintentional Landlord"

Due to the state of the economy, there are many, what I call "unintentional landlords" these days. It is not necessarily a bad thing, I am one myself. My father and I purchased a house in Columbus, Ohio several years ago when I started law school. Our plan was for me to live in the house during law school, do some repairs and light remodeling, and sell it after I graduated. We were banking on the economy improving and it seemed like we had enough time. The economy did improve a little, but not enough. Now I am a property manager and my father is a landlord. There are a lot of people out there just like us. Many people have bought a new home before selling the old one and now are stuck with two mortgages. The only way to stay afloat is to acquire a tenant.

If you find yourself in this situation, you should speak to an attorney early on to make sure you understand the process and your rights and obligations as a landlord. You should have an attorney review your lease and make sure it is sufficient under the circumstances. You should also speak to the attorney about evictions and you should do this before you need to evict a tenant. No one likes evicting but the odds are very great that you will have to evict a tenant at some point.

Many attorneys will do evictions for a flat fee and this usually includes preparing the 3-day notice. Sometimes attorneys will offer a discount if a landlord owns multiple properties (doing more than one eviction at a time is more efficient). The attorney will likely require the flat fee be paid up front along with all filing fees.

The 3-day notice is a very important document and it has to be completed exactly according to the statute or the landlord may have to start the process all over and lose precious time (and time is money). When I am retained for an eviction, I like to prepare the three day notice for my clients so that I can be sure that it is done correctly. If you find yourself delaying hiring an attorney due to cost considerations, this is understandable; however, keep in mind that every day a non-paying tenant stays in your house, you are losing money. It is much more cost efficient to have the eviction done correctly so you can obtain a paying tenant.

If you found this article helpful, please subscribe to my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/tibbslawoffice. You can also find additional information on the firm website: http://www.tibbslawoffice.com.

Inventory List

Inventory List

My mom is a barber.  She hears all of the town gossip of Franklin, Ohio.  There isn't usually much going on in Franklin, but recently, a client told her the following story:  This couple came home from work one day and their grill was gone off their deck.  They assumed that their grill had been stolen, so they accepted it and moved on with their life.  Approximately one week later, they went out to their deck to find their grill back in its original position on their deck.  They found a card on top of their deck that said something to the effect of: "Please accept our sincerest apologies, our neighbor told us that we could borrow their grill, and we thought this was theirs.  We found out later that this was not their grill, and we had borrowed the wrong grill.  Please accept these Bengals tickets as our gift to you.  We appologize for the mix-up"  This couple was excited about receiving the Bengals tickets and went to the game the following Sunday.  When they returned home from the game, their entire house was empty.  The contents of their home had all been stolen. 

Recently, I came into contact with the owner of Contents Management, a company that will come out to your home and create a complete inventory of all assets in your home.  Until recently, I was not aware that this type of business existed but apparently there are many companies that provide this service.  A home inventory would be really important for a person facing a scenario such as the one above, but it would also be helpful for anyone that needs to make a claim on their homeowners insurance policy as a result of fire, flood, or other natural disaster.  Other people that could benefit from this service are: estate planning clients, landlords, divorce clients, and small business owners.

If you are interested in having an inventory of your home or business completed, you can contact your homeowner's insurance agent.  It may be possible for your insurance agent to add the cost of the inventory to your monthly premiums.  If your insurance agent is unwilling to provide this service, you should look up local listings for home inventory services.  If you are in the Tri-state area, you may schedule an appointment with Contents Management.  They are a professional, affordable, and confidential inventory business serving clients in the (Cincinnati) Tri-state area (http://www.ahomeinventoryservice.com/ / (513) 505-8929).

If you found this information helpful and would like more information from Tibbs Law Office, LLC, please check out: http://www.tibbslawoffice.com/.  You may also subscribe to the firm Youtube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/tibbslawoffice. 

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Creativity within the Legal Profession

Creativity within the Legal Profession:

A seasoned attorney once told me that there is no place for creativity within the legal profession.  This view may explain why many attorneys, even younger ones, embrace the traditional approach to the profession.  You can see traces of the traditional mindset in the attorney's office furniture, marketing, and the way they approach legal representation of their clients.   Their office furniture looks like it is from the 19th century, they are still advertising in the yellow pages, and they talk to their clients in such legal-ease that their clients cannot possibly understand what the attorney is saying.

On the one hand, it is easy to understand the importance of tradition within the profession; our entire legal system is based on tradition and precedence.  On the other hand, attorneys are so concerned about preserving tradition that attorneys now believe that creativity has no place within the profession.  This is a scary thought, especially considering that some of the best representation starts with the most creative ideas.  

I for one, do not believe creativity is dead in the legal profession.  There is room for both tradition and creativity in the court room, in fact, this is how the legal profession has evolved with our changing attitude about morality and justice.  Creativity is why our clients hire us.  It is our job to come up with creative solutions to legal problems.  Sometimes these ideas are "rule-bending" and sometimes these solutions are complicated triangle deals that will solve our client's business and personal problems.

I consider myself a progressive attorney.  I maintain a balance of tradition and modern that I consider to be ideal.  Although it is has become acceptable for female attorneys to wear non-traditional clothing to court, I will only wear a traditional suit to court; however, my office furniture is minimal and modern, I do not advertise in the yellow pages, and I try to explain legal concepts in everyday English.  I am also not willing to give up my creativity in my personal life.  If you find me on Facebook, you will see that my profile picture has been altered by my creativity.  This may be off-putting to some, but I urge clients to accept and expect creativity in the legal profession.

For more examples of how Tibbs Law Office, LLC is leading the march to modern, check out http://www.TibbsLawOffice.com, in addition, you can subscribe to my youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/TibbsLawOffice.