Renters' Rights: The Basics [Paperback]

Janet Portman (Author), Marcia Stewart (Author)

Book Description

Series: Renters' Rights | Publication Date: June 2002

Is it next to impossible to get the rent out of your roommate each month? Or is your landlord forgetting about the clogged drain he said he'd repair weeks ago? Then it's time to assert your renters' rights!

Aimed at everyone from the new renter on the block to more seasoned tenants who just want to know the basics, this new Legal Basics book is packed with the critical legal and practical information that every renter needs.

Written in plain English, the book covers important concerns like:

*leases and rental agreements

*discrimination

*rent

*security deposits

*privacy

*roommates

*repairs and maintenance

*and much more

Co-authored by two experts in tenants' rights, this book is as indispensable as a friend with a pickup truck and a free weekend. This edition provides extensive information on toxic mold and a landlord's responsibility to inform ex-tenants about property they've left behind.

Editorial Reviews

Review

... is another in the Nolo Press series that makes learning about legal topics interesting and almost fun. -- San Jose Mercury News

If landlords nationwide were to recommend [this] book to renters, I'd bet only half today's landlord/tenant problems would exist . -- Orlando Sentinel

This new book is another in [Nolo's] series that makes learning about legal topics interesting and almost fun. -- Robert J. BrussLos Angeles Times

About the Author

Janet Portman, an attorney and Nolo editor, received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford and a law degree from the University of Santa Clara. She is an expert on landlord-tenant law and co-author of Every Landlord's Legal Guide, Every Tenant's Legal Guide and Renters' Rights. As an attorney, she specialized in criminal defense, conducting trials and preparing and arguing appeals before the Court of Appeal and the California Supreme Court. Janet is the editor of several Nolo books, including Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law and How to Seal Your Juvenile and Criminal Records.

Marcia Stewart brings her background in writing and editing on consumer issues to her job as a legal editor at Nolo Press. She is an expert on landlord-tenant law, buying and selling houses, and other issues of interest to consumers. She is the co-author of Every Landlord's Legal Guide, Leases and Rental Agreements and Renters' Rights, and the editor of Nolo's LeaseWriter software for landords. Marcia received a Master's degree in Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley and has written and edited a wide variety of consumer publications for government agencies and private businesses.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Nolo; 3 Sub edition (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873377842
• ISBN-13: 978-0873377843
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,135,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Screw Your Landlord Before He Screws you!, December 27, 1999

By 

Drake E. Locke (Honolulu, Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Renters' Rights (Quick & legal) (Paperback)

This is the best damn book that I have ever bought! Reprisal is bittersweet.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sorely lacking, October 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Renter's Rights : The Basics (Paperback)

This book was written to be a quick read and it shows. Its chapters for different topics are about 7 or 8 pages long, in double-spaced lines and a big font, meaning there's a lack of useful information. Other than some commonsense tips about picking a place ("make sure it's livable"), living with roommates ("make sure they're people you can live with"), dealing with a landlord ("make sure he's not a creep"), there just wasn't much to justify buying this book. Probably shouldn't have been called "The Complete Moron Tenants' Book."

2.0 out of 5 stars A waste, December 26, 2007

By 

J. Bushee - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Renters' Rights (Quick & legal) (Paperback)

I found this book to pretty much be a waste. Everything was very general. You pretty much need to get a state specific book to get what you want to know.