This story is and excerpt from The Salt Lake Tribune Inno Lab Notes newsletter where we explore housing, transportation and energy solutions.
Finding an apartment in Salt Lake City can feel like a miracle. But then its time to sign the lease and the rapture fades as renters train their eyes on a 15 page binding document with concerning clauses about mold.
Denise J. George, a licensed paralegal practitioner focusing on landlord tenant law, has some advice.
“My main focus that I really feel passionate about is helping Utah tenants in cases with their landlord,” George told me.
She has spent years helping renters navigate Utah tenant law and recently started the podcast Two-Minute Tenant to help renters understand Utah laws. While George recommends reaching out to legal professionals for complex cases like eviction or even disagreements over a lease addendum, she shared some of her basic advice and tips.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What should renters think and look for before they sign a lease?
George: I think an important thing to do before you sign a lease is to read it. A surprising number of people do not read or understand the lease before they sign it. There can be all kinds of provisions in there that you didn’t realize you agreed to. And they aren’t always intuitive.
Some of them are small things, like, you can’t do anything that might impact the landlord’s good standing on a renting site. So you can’t give them a bad review somewhere, for instance.
Often the lease has language in it that says you have already been able to inspect the residence. Before you sign that lease, make sure that you’ve seen the residence, you’ve read the lease, and that anything in the lease is actually what you’re agreeing to.
What should renters do after they sign a lease and are getting ready to move in?
George: After you sign the lease make sure you keep a copy. The landlord is required to give the tenant a copy of any signed lease, but if the landlord doesn’t, there’s nothing you can do to enforce it.
The second thing that you need to do before you take possession of the residence or move items in is go around everywhere, inside and out, and take plenty of pictures. I recommend very clear videos.
Anything that you don’t get a picture of is something that the landlord could potentially charge you to replace.
Sometimes heat is turned off in the winter or other crucial utilities stop working. On the internet, you will sometimes see people advising renters to withhold rent until the repairs are made. What should tenants know before they consider withholding rent?
George: While some states permit a tenant to withhold rent until repairs are made, Utah is not one of them. So you really need to be familiar with the Utah Fit Premises Act. That is the remedy that you should use if your landlord is not making repairs. It’s a little bit complicated. I do recommend getting a little bit of legal advice before using it.
(Note: Utah Legal Services, the Tuesday Night Legal Bar and the Pro Bono Initiative offer free or reduced legal services)
I offer a free 20-minute consultation, and I’m always willing to answer questions just to make sure that it’s the correct steps for your situation.
The Utah Fit Premises Act offers you two remedies: you can deduct from the rent and make the repairs yourself, but you can only do that with up to two months rent, and there’s lots of additional provisions that go along with it that you need to be aware of.
The second option is that you can terminate the lease and move out. If you don’t want to risk having your lease terminated, then that might not be an option that you choose, but you could try negotiating with your landlord.
What advice do you have for tenants trying to negotiate with their landlords?
George: The first tip that I have is always be polite, professional and kind. Your landlord has the power, and a tenant just does not have very many rights under Utah law, unfortunately.
The second thing that I recommend for a negotiation is to be very specific about what you’ve agreed to, dates, amounts and what action will be taken by each person. Then you must write down what you’ve agreed to date it and both sign it. You and your landlord might really intend to honor the verbal agreement that you made, but the law will not enforce it.
Is there any other advice you have for renters?
George: Make sure that any advice you get on landlord tenant law comes from an individual who’s qualified to practice landlord tenant law in Utah.
You want to be wise and make sure that you’re getting advice that applies to our state. Be familiar with all the provisions in your lease, don’t break your lease, pay your rent and reach out to legal counsel quickly if there’s an issue. There are places where you can get some quick, free advice, and I recommend acting on that quickly in order to try to keep you from a worse situation.
Is there anything that the Legislature could do to make it easier to rent in the state?
George: I think one big thing that would be a huge help is removing treble damages. Treble damages is where the landlord can charge you three times the daily rent or other damages for every day you remain in the residence after the eviction notice that you received expired.
It is the largest part of what’s owed in almost any eviction case, and it can get large very fast.
That adds so much to a case and makes it so profitable for a landlord to evict a tenant, and I think that it is contributing a lot to our homeless situation.
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