MONOGRAPH

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Assistance

A POLICE GUIDE FOR

ESTABLISHING LANDLORD

TRAINING PROGRAMS

KEEPING ILLEGAL ACTIVITY

OUT OF RENTAL

PROPERTY:
This document was prepared by Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc., under cooperative agreement number 94–DD–CX–K014, awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of

Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The document text is copyrighted 1993–1999,

by Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc. (www.cdri.com). Portions of this document were originally written and distributed by Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc., under the titles Program/Instructor’s Guidebook, 1993, and Landlord Training Program, National Program

Manual, 1993, both of which were also made possible by funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in

this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

810 Seventh Street NW.

Washington, DC 20531

Janet Reno

Attorney General

Daniel Marcus

Acting Associate Attorney General

Mary Lou Leary

Acting Assistant Attorney General

Nancy E. Gist

Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance

Office of Justice Programs

World Wide Web Home Page

www.ojp.usdoj.gov

Bureau of Justice Assistance

World Wide Web Home Page

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA

For grant and funding information contact

U.S. Department of Justice Response Center

1–800–421–6770

The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also

includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.
Bureau of Justice Assistance

Keeping Illegal Activity Out

of Rental Property:

A Police Guide for Establishing

Landlord Training Programs

March 2000 Monograph NCJ 148656
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) would like to acknowledge and

thank the author of this monograph, John H. Campbell, Campbell DeLong

Resources, Inc., Portland, Oregon, who designed and developed the first

Landlord Training Program.

Four other individuals were critical to the success of the Portland Landlord Training Program: Tom Potter, previously of the Portland Police

Bureau; Sharon McCormack of Portland’s Neighborhood Crime Prevention Program; Margaret Shelko of BJA; and Ron Trethric, formerly of BJA.

Many landlords, property management companies, owners associations,

tenant attorneys, landlord attorneys, and citizen activists also contributed

their opinions and recommendations to the Portland program. While development of the training was supported by many persons, three Oregonians in particular provided hours of expert advice on applied landlord/

tenant law: Sharon Fleming-Barrett of Executive Property Management

and the Oregon Apartment Association, Emily Cedarleaf of the MultiFamily Housing Council of Oregon, and Multnomah County Judge

Michael Marcus, formerly of Multnomah County Legal Aid Services.

In addition to the work done in Portland, adaptation, refinements, and

new ideas have been developed in many other jurisdictions as well. BJA

would like to thank the many people who worked with these new programs and particularly wishes to acknowledge the work of Martin Collins

and Karin A. Long of the Department of Building Inspection, Milwaukee,

Wisconsin; James Hobbs, Carla Johnson, Paul Hallums, and Don Loebbaka

of the Tucson, Arizona, Police Department; Daphne Markham of the Oakland, California, Police Department; and Sam Wade of the Beaverton,

Oregon, Police Department. The innovative adaptation of the Landlord

Training Program by these people and many others has provided critical

testing of the program and introduced many new and effective ideas for

both improving and tailoring the impact of the original program.

Acknowledgments
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

Executive Summary .................................................................................... vii

Section I Program Description .............................................................. 1

Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................... 3

The Community Policing Connection .................................... 3

The Genesis of the Landlord Training Program ................... 3

Core Program Overview .......................................................... 5

Results Summary ....................................................................... 7

Chapter 2 Getting Started ........................................................................ 11

Elements of Success ................................................................. 11

First Decisions .......................................................................... 13

Key Personnel........................................................................... 13

Building and Maintaining Trainer Expertise ...................... 16

Developing a Local Manual ................................................... 17

Designing the Training ........................................................... 22

Marketing .................................................................................. 28

Chapter 3 Related Problem-Solving Tools .......................................... 33

“Landlord Compacts” ............................................................. 33

Milwaukee’s Partnership With Lenders .............................. 34

“Three-Phase” Certification Programs ................................. 34

Coordination With Civil Enforcement Strategies ............... 36

Training Officers ...................................................................... 37

Notes ............................................................................................................... 41

Section II National Landlord Training Program

Participant’s Manual ............................................................... 1

Acknowledgments ........................................................................................ 5

Contents .......................................................................................................... 7

Foreword.........................................................................................................11

Points To Consider ....................................................................................... 13

Preparing the Property.................................................................................17

Applicant Screening.....................................................................................23

Contents
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Rental Agreements.......................................................................................45

Good Ongoing Management ..................................................................... 51

Apartment Watch/Promoting Community .............................................. 59

Warning Signs of Drug Activity................................................................ 65

What To Do If You Discover a Clandestine Lab .................................... 73

Crisis Resolution ..........................................................................................77

The Role of the Police .................................................................................. 89

The Section 8 Program................................................................................. 93

Resources .......................................................................................................97

Appendixes

Appendix A Sources for Further Information..................................A–1

Appendix B Sample Letter for Manual Draft Review ................... B–1

Appendix C Sample Police Chief’s Letter ........................................ C–1

Appendix D Sample Information Page..............................................D–1

Appendix E Sample Schedule Page ................................................... E–1

Appendix F Sample Registration Form ............................................ F–1

Appendix G Sample Confirmation Letter......................................... G–1

Appendix H Sample Certificate of Completion.............................. H–1

Appendix I Sample Landlord Training Program Posttraining

 Questionnaire.................................................................... I–1

Appendix J Sample 6-Month Followup Evaluation ....................... J–1

Contents (continued)
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

The Landlord Training Program emphasizes cooperation among property

owners, tenants, and law enforcement agencies to help neighborhoods

fight drug-related crime. Supported and praised by often opposing

groups, the program delivers two important messages: that effective property management can significantly benefit the health of a community and

that accessible, legitimate techniques can stop the spread of drug activity

on rental property.

Establishment of Landlord Training Programs will require a commitment

to substantive problem solving and to building and sustaining effective

community partnerships. Relying as it does on these concepts of community policing—especially the encouragement of community-based problem

solving as a goal—the Landlord Training Program can be part of a strong,

proactive community policing effort.

This monograph, Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: A Police

Guide for Establishing Landlord Training Programs, was developed to help

police agencies implement Landlord Training Programs in their communities. The monograph contains two distinct sections:

Section I provides a program overview for law enforcement personnel.

Section I is written for law enforcement personnel who wish to understand

the history of the Landlord Training Program and gain perspective on

what it takes to implement a program for an individual jurisdiction.

Section II reproduces the national version of the Landlord Training Program Manual. This is the manual that landlords receive at the training. It

is provided in this monograph for law enforcement because it is the best

way to show directly the content, scope, and paradigm of the Landlord

Training Program.

Executive Summary
Section I

Program Description
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

Introduction

The Community Policing Connection

The Landlord Training Program emphasizes cooperation among property owners, tenants, and law enforcement agencies to help neighborhoods fight drug-related crime. Enthusiastically supported and praised

by often opposing groups, the program delivers two important messages: that effective property management can significantly benefit the

health of a community and that accessible, legitimate techniques can

stop the spread of drug activity on rental property.

Establishment of Landlord Training Programs will require a commitment to substantive problem solving and to building and sustaining

effective community partnerships. Relying as it does on these concepts

of community policing—especially the encouragement of communitybased problem solving as a goal—the Landlord Training Program can

be part of a strong, proactive community policing effort.

This monograph, Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: A Police

Guide for Establishing Landlord Training Programs, was developed to

help police agencies implement Landlord Training Programs in their

communities.

The Genesis of the Landlord Training

Program

The Landlord Training Program began, originally, with a group of frustrated citizens who were organizing to move drug dealers out of their

neighborhood. These neighbors—many of whom were renters themselves—began to focus on two important facts:

❑ The traditional policing approach of waiting for enough evidence

to serve a search warrant often results in a solution that comes too

late to preserve community livability. Most communities can handle

some short-term drug activity without suffering substantial harm to

the neighborhood’s livability. But when drug operations are allowed

to continue unabated for months, or even years, the harm to the

community becomes extreme. In many instances, by the time the

drug dealers are removed, many good citizens have already left the

neighborhood, property values have declined, other good citizens

have chosen not to move into the area, and those left behind face life

in a neighborhood that is now much more vulnerable to crime. In a

community-oriented context, search warrants must be seen as just

one of many tools available to address drug problems, not as the only

available tool. If a warrant cannot be served quickly enough to

Chapter 1
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prevent major harm to a community, other (often civil) solutions

should be pursued.

❑ Most landlords are not skilled in the prevention of illegal activity

on rental property but are willing to learn. Community organizers

noticed that, despite the commonly held image that all landlords

with problem tenants are irresponsible citizens, most landlords when

contacted wanted to help but needed better information about how

to approach the problem.✝

 Clearly, there was an untapped resource

in rental property owners. From the civil side of the law, landlords

are the first line of defense when a tenant’s lease-violating behavior

threatens neighborhood livability. As such, landlords who understand the scope of their ability to prevent illegal activity can be a

valuable resource. Because most drug activity (growing, manufacturing,

and distributing drugs) takes place on rental property, the concept of

the Landlord Training Program was born.

The content of the program was developed through a process of intensive research involving hundreds of organizations and individuals, including landlords, management associations, tenant advocates, private

attorneys, public defenders, personnel from public housing agencies,

tenant screening companies, and narcotics detectives.

Funding for the program was provided through several Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) grants, as well as in-kind support from the city of

Portland, Oregon. The program was designed and developed by John

Campbell—now of Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc.—the citizen organizer who first recognized the potential of such an approach. The first

training program was conducted in Portland in November 1989, with

94 landlords participating. By the fall of 1995, over 7,000 landlords and

property managers had attended Portland’s program, representing well

over 100,000 rental units. The Portland program was the first of its kind

in the nation and has received recognition as an “innovation in state and

local government” from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard

University.

Although the story begins in Portland, it does not end there. Since the

success of the first training session in 1989, jurisdictions in many states

have adapted the program to their own communities, often adding valuable innovations. States where versions of the program have been developed include Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas,

Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New

Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia,

Washington, and Wisconsin.

✝ To be sure, irresponsible landlords do exist and often take up a disproportionate

amount of police resources as a result of behavior that runs the gamut from the merely

irresponsible to the criminal. However, most landlords who have problems with illegal

activity on their property don’t fit this category—that is, they would prefer to act more

responsibly and will change their approach if trained.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

Among other notable locations, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has received national recognition for its adaptation of the program. In addition, many

Arizona cities are now offering a three-phase version of the program.

Targeted primarily to multifamily properties, the Arizona model combines a landlord training program with a separate onsite Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) property review and an

apartment watch orientation for tenants.

The program and its national variations have evolved over the past 10

years to reflect the experiences and comments of those who have participated in the program. However, although the program has evolved substantially since it began, in most jurisdictions it remains true to its

community-oriented roots; although the targeted audience is owners

and managers of rental property, the purpose of the program is to serve

the communities in which their properties are located.

The purpose of this monograph is to review the elements of the core

Landlord Training Program as well as some of the more effective innovations that have been developed by other jurisdictions. The intent of

this review is to give police an overview of potential approaches and an

understanding of the scope of work involved.

Core Program Overview

The Landlord Training Program teaches rental owners and managers

how to keep drug activity off their property. The program was developed with input from people on all sides of the issue—not only landlords and property management associations, but legal aid attorneys,

tenant advocates, public housing agency personnel, police officers, and

many others.

The Landlord Training Program delivers two important messages: (1)

effective property management can have a major impact on the health

of a community and (2) there are simple, legal, and fair techniques that

can be used to stop the spread of drug activity on rental property. The

program does not teach landlords how to be “junior narcotics agents” or

to do police work. It emphasizes their responsibility as landlords to

work with police and neighbors to keep drug and other illegal activity

out of their rental properties. The course content includes:

❑ Orientation. The role of the landlord in keeping neighborhoods

healthy and what it takes to build and maintain healthy communities.

❑ Preparing the Property. How the concept of CPTED can best be used

to prevent illegal activity on rental property.

❑ Applicant Screening. How to screen out dishonest applicants, while

ensuring that honest applicants are encouraged to apply for housing.

Identifying warning signs of dishonest applicants.
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Bureau of Justice Assistance

❑ Rental Agreements. Approaches that will strengthen the landlord’s

ability to evict drug dealing tenants.

❑ Ongoing Management. How to manage property in a way that

discourages illegal behavior and ensures early warning should such

behavior occur.

❑ Community Building. How to strengthen the sense of community in

multifamily housing and the benefits for managers and residents in

doing so. Discussion of apartment watch and how to work with

neighbors.

❑ Warning Signs of Drug Activity. The drugs involved and the

behavior associated with growing, dealing, and distributing drugs.

The indicators of clandestine labs.

❑ Crisis Resolution. The options, the process, and the practical

application in various situations where illegal activity is apparent.

❑ Working With the Police. What to expect, what not to expect, and

how to get maximum cooperation.

❑ Section 8 (Subsidized Housing). The Section 8 housing subsidy

program, including the rights and responsibilities of both landlords

and tenants. Differences in rights and responsibilities between the

typical private rental situation and the Section 8 program.

The training’s impact is a function of the quality of information presented and the number of landlords and property managers who attend

training sessions. To bring about a fundamental shift in approaches to

property management, a significant number of the landlords in a community must take the course. That is why an integral part of the program is the “marketing” of it—the techniques used to make sure that

landlords attend the program. The core program, therefore, has three

basic elements, described below.

1. The training manual.

The manual follows the course information and is designed to be a

“plain English” reference source. In addition to covering course content,

manuals adapted to local jurisdictions typically include copies of applicable laws and references to support organizations. Evaluations of the

original manual, developed for Portland, validate its effectiveness: trainees have consistently rated the manual a highly readable source of valuable information. A complete copy of the manual, adapted for national

distribution and called the National Program Manual, is presented in the

second part of this monograph.

2. Marketing/outreach.

Marketing is critical to the success of the program, because the benefit to

the community increases as more landlords are trained. Although media
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

exposure, word-of-mouth, and contact with property management companies are all important, it is also important to make direct contact with

owners of impacted rental property.

Agencies that have used a letter of invitation sent directly by the chief of

police have had considerable success in encouraging landlords to attend

the training program. Using such an approach, more than 8,000 landlords representing more than 110,000 rental units attended the Portland

training between 1989 and 1999. Results in other jurisdictions have varied and appear to depend on both the level of commitment to comprehensive marketing and the quality of the training product delivered. In

communities where strong training is conducted and the commitment to

marketing is high, attendance results are comparable to those experienced in Portland. Additional discussion of marketing approaches can

be found beginning on page 28 of this monograph.

3. The training itself.

This is a 6- to 8-hour course offering detailed information in a lively,

interactive format.

Results Summary

Results from posttraining surveys and 6-month followup surveys confirm that trainees both learn important information from the course and

take substantial action as a result of the course. Findings include the

following:

❑ Trainees needed the course information. In surveys taken at the

Portland trainings, one in four landlords reported problems with

drug activity in a rental unit in the past 2 years.1

❑ Six months later, perception of training value remained strong.2

While at-the-training evaluations showed positive ratings, more

significant is the fact that trainees continued to appreciate the

training well after they had completed the course. In 6-month

followup surveys, over 90 percent of trainees agreed that they felt

more secure in their ability to screen applicants, were more likely

to recognize drug activity should it occur, and were more confident

of their ability to evict tenants involved in such activity should the

need arise.

❑ Six months later, 91 percent of trainees reported having made

changes in the way they manage their properties. Most landlords

reported taking multiple steps to improve conditions in their

properties. Some of the steps included developing written applicant

screening criteria, conducting more thorough maintenance inspections,

cutting back shrubs, adding lighting or otherwise improving visibility
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Bureau of Justice Assistance

in rental units, updating rental forms to match current laws, trading

phone numbers with neighbors, and starting apartment watches.

❑ Landlords who had problems with drug activity used the training

to help solve such problems. Fifteen percent of respondents in

followup surveys (221 out of 1,512) had to deal with drug activity on

their properties within 6 months after taking the training.3

 Of those

respondents, 94 percent (208 out of 221) used information from the

training to address the situation (see appendix J for text of survey).

❑ The experience of police officers on the streets also validates the

impact of this training on drug activity. In multifamily property,

where statistics on the impact of management changes are easiest to

track, trainees who applied the program concepts have seen dramatic

reductions in illegal activity. Police agencies that conduct calls-forservice research have reported reductions in calls of 70 percent or

more in some properties. Also, officers involved in solving drug

house problems report that when illegal activity does occur on

property owned or managed by a graduate of the program, less

police time is typically required to address the problem—trained

landlords are generally more aware of their responsibility to act and

of their options in doing so.

The combined power of the manual, marketing, and training can result

in a growing base of landlords who are better able to help reduce crime,

fear, and disorder in a community. As a result, the Landlord Training

Program can be a powerful tool to generate more effective partnerships

with landlords and their tenants. Police officers who have worked

closely with the program report a transformation in the attitudes of

landlords with whom they deal. A police captain who oversees the Portland Police Bureau’s specified crime/warning letter program described

the difference this way:

[Before landlord training and related efforts began] I spoke with

many landlords who often were reluctant, if not even hostile,

about assuming any responsibility for criminal activity on their

properties. The concept that they were expected to be part of the

solution to crime problems was foreign and unsettling to say the

least. . . . I have sensed a remarkable change in the attitudes of

landlords over the past 5 years. First, very few calls even get

through to me questioning the warning letters, and the ones who

do never question the appropriateness or authority of our actions. The only question now seems to be “What do you want me

to do?”. . . I am sure this is due [in part] to the cumulative effect

of the many landlord training classes which have been conducted.4

Such attitudinal changes are difficult to measure statistically and even

harder to link with specific causes. However, it is clear that in those

communities where the Landlord Training Program is being used
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

properly, the attitudes of landlords and property managers have begun

to change. The following are a few examples of the way that program

participants describe the value of the training:

Participant One: We screen much more closely. . . . We verify

everything on a tenant’s application—I can’t tell you how much

we needed the course. We are more confident now and we refer

to our handbook regularly.

Participant Two: I appreciate this program and feel, if the majority of rental owners are given this training, our city will improve

and crime will decrease. As a landlord and homeowner in the

city, I hope this will be the case. Very effective use of community

policing funds. Thanks.

Participant Three: Basically the training gave me more faith in

myself to go ahead and act.

Participant Four: This proactive approach is just what we need—

not only as landlords, but as committed citizens.

Overall, it is clear the training reaches a broad cross-section of landlords

and managers, provides information and perspectives not found elsewhere, and motivates real change in the way rental owners and managers take care of their property.

❑

❑

❑

❑
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

Getting Started

Elements of Success

For a Landlord Training Program to be successful, it must meet the following basic design criteria:

1. Have the right trainer/program manager.

Research from around the country consistently shows that the factors that

correlate most strongly with program success are the commitment, understanding, and enthusiasm of the program coordinator/trainer. Jurisdictions where the commitment is low, or where rotational policies prevent

personnel from developing the expertise to understand the program, will

have difficulty succeeding.

2. Be tailored to the jurisdiction.

It is very important that jurisdictions answer a basic question before implementing the program: “What problem(s) are we trying to solve?” Every

community has its own particular crime problems, landlord/tenant laws,

rental practices, housing characteristics, ethnic/cultural issues, and political climate. The causes for community problems are equally diverse. In one

community, training alone may be all that is needed to help turn a problem around. In another, solving the problem may require a coordinated

effort of training, enforcement, and much more.

3. Be designed around an understanding of the concerns of both

landlords and tenants.

The course was developed to be communicated in terminology familiar

to the average landlord and to speak directly to a landlord’s needs and

concerns. Landlords must believe their problems are understood before

they will consider new attitudes or approaches. Developing an understanding of these problems takes time and study. Trainers must research

local landlord/tenant law and develop an expertise in its application—the

trainer should understand applied landlord/tenant law the way a dedicated police officer understands applied criminal law.

The course was also designed to give landlords legal and fair methods of

preventing drug activity—approaches that will benefit not just landlords,

but also honest tenants and neighbors. For this reason, the trainer must

understand not just the concerns of landlords, but also the concerns

of tenants.

In many jurisdictions, the program has received enthusiastic support

from groups that often sit on opposing sides of landlord/tenant issues:

Chapter 2
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landlords, property management associations, legal aid attorneys,

neighborhood activists, and local public housing agency personnel.

However, it is also important to note that in a few jurisdictions where

the viewpoints of tenant advocacy groups were not fully considered

when the program was developed, substantial tension has grown between program implementors and tenant rights advocates.

4. Be built on a coalition of support from both landlord and tenant

advocates.

Unless the program’s goals and methods are fully understood, some of

the people who will be called on to support the program may be reluctant to do so. Across the country, important work has been done to help

prevent abuse by unresponsive or uncaring landlords. Some of those

who have been fighting for improvements in tenant rights may initially

view training landlords as a threat to that cause. Indeed, a poorly implemented program could be harmful to tenants. That is why it is important for the trainer to study the issues thoroughly and why partnerships

with both tenant and landlord advocates should be developed before

implementing a program.

A well-implemented program can be a unifying force for positive relationships between tenants and landlords, something an entire community will welcome. However, if done poorly or without developing the

necessary partnerships, the program could reinforce the presumption

that police favor citizens who own property over those who do not. In

fact, it was just this type of perception that forced one city to close its

Landlord Training Program until it could successfully negotiate an

agreement on training content with local tenant rights advocates who

had not been included in the initial program development.

5. Be solution oriented.

The training should focus only on practical ways to address the problem

of illegal activity on rental property. The program is not a forum for discussing how landlord/tenant laws or the criminal justice system should

change. It does not teach how “the system” is supposed to work; it

teaches how it actually does work. This practical focus is a key strength

of the training program.

6. Be marketed for a broad impact.

As mentioned earlier, the impact of the training is a function of two factors: the quality of the material presented and the number of landlords

who take the course. Therefore, both training content and marketing are

important. Unless many landlords are reached by the program, the

training is of little value to the broader community.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

First Decisions

Three basic questions must be answered in the affirmative before beginning the program:

1. Do we have a rental-based crime problem?

If your community is plagued by drug houses, gang activity, or other

chronic criminal problems that are frequently based in rental housing,

the training program can be valuable for gaining more help from the

property management community to solve the problems.

2. Is the problem large enough to require a formal program?

While the tools in the training can be applied wherever there is a problem with illegal activity in rental property, a full program—as described

in this monograph—may not be necessary. In a community with a small

rental base and the resources to contact every landlord when necessary,

there may be no need to establish an entire program; it may be sufficient

to ensure that a member of the police department is well versed in the

issues covered here. Conversely, if the number of complaints received

about illegal drug or gang activity outstrips law enforcement officials’

capacity to respond, then the Landlord Training Program can generate

valuable and willing assistance from landlords and property managers.

3. Do we have the funding, commitment, and political support to

do it right?

The Landlord Training Program is not a simple program to implement,

and it does not lend itself to partial implementation. To have a significant impact, substantial work is involved. Although the workload may

be on the shoulders of one person or spread among two or three, the

program requires a minimum of one full-time employee, or the equivalent, for the first 6 months of program development and a minimum of

one-third that time commitment after 6 months. However, some jurisdictions use more than one full-time staff person to maintain an ongoing

program. Implementing the program also requires developing expertise

and consistency. Volunteers, part-time trainers, officers who rotate in

and out of training duties, or “panels” of local experts recruited to present

each seminar will not accomplish the program’s goals.

Key Personnel

The program requires an individual who can conduct trainings and

handle program management and another person who can manage the

marketing and logistics tasks involved. Brief descriptions of these positions follow.
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1. Trainer/Project Coordinator.

The most important personnel decision is selecting the person who will

fill the roles that require the highest skill levels: those of trainer and

project coordinator. There is more continuity in having these tasks

handled by the same person. However, some division of labor among

two or more people also is possible.

This role includes responsibility for the entire program. This person

must make the time commitment to get the program off the ground and

become its first trainer. Other responsibilities include guiding the marketing strategy, organizing scheduling and logistics, and making continual updates and improvements to the training overall. This individual

also will research and write all supplemental training materials needed

to adapt the national manual to local laws and ordinances, as well as

provide basic program management skills.

More specifically, the role of trainer will require the following skills and

qualifications:

❑ A background that includes working directly to solve problems in

neighborhoods affected by illegal activity. The training must not be

presented from the tenant’s or the landlord’s point of view, but from

the neighborhood’s point of view. Such a perspective comes most

naturally to crime prevention-oriented officers and staff or to

neighborhood organizers who have worked directly with the

problem on their own street.

Selecting a sworn officer to become the first trainer has both benefits

and drawbacks. The key benefit: once an officer can provide the

training, it becomes easier to “institutionalize” the program as a

department problem-solving tool. The most common drawback:

because the program requires a long-term commitment to succeed,

an officer who is rotated to new duties too quickly may not be in the

trainer position long enough to get the program under way or to

maintain continuity.

❑ Comfortable making energetic professional presentations in

public. The person should have experience in providing training.

Audience-trainer interaction and the ability of the trainer to respond

to landlords’ questions are crucial to training success. This requires

strong training skills and solid confidence in the training material.

❑ The ability to sort through the nuances of the legal process and

explain them in lay terms. Landlord/tenant laws are typically

designed with the idea that landlords and tenants should be able to

understand them without substantial legal assistance. In practice,

there are twists and turns that many find confusing. A large part of

the trainer’s task is to sift through the legal language and present
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

each step in terms that the average landlord or property manager can

understand.

❑ Strong writing skills. A critical early stage of the trainer’s job will be

to research and write the materials needed to adapt the National

Program Manual to local laws and ordinances. This will apply

especially to state statutes regarding eviction. Again, the goal is to

make the materials clear and readable for landlords who may have

little knowledge of the legal process.

❑ A sense of empathy and diplomacy. A balanced approach that takes

into account the perspectives of a variety of advocate groups is

critical to the success of the program, both in terms of generating

support for the program and in terms of the program’s ability to

reduce drug activity in residential neighborhoods. A successful

trainer/coordinator should understand and embrace the concerns

of the full spectrum of involved parties: tenants, landlords, judges,

public housing agencies, legal aid attorneys, and aggrieved

neighbors.

For this reason, it is generally desirable to select a trainer who is

neither an advocate for landlords nor an advocate for tenants. The

training should not be used to advance the agenda of either landlord

or tenant rights but to promote the welfare of the whole community,

landlords and tenants included. The program’s success hinges on the

trainer’s understanding that a community-oriented property management

approach serves honest tenants better and is also a better long-term

business approach for the landlord.

Similarly, if an attorney is selected to teach the course, that person

must be able to do more than just teach law. The trainer must be able

to understand and teach perspectives that are not defined by law—

that is, the trainer should go beyond explaining what a landlord must

do or must not do and also explain what a landlord may do. The

focus of the course must remain on empowering landlords and managers to manage their property effectively. Courses that focus only on

explaining the law will not motivate trainees to adopt a communityoriented property management approach.

❑ Experience managing at least one rental property. While this is not

considered a mandatory prerequisite, it is certainly a significant

advantage. Credibility with trainees is much easier to establish if the

trainer has direct experience managing rental property.

❑ Time. Assuming one person handles both the trainer and project

coordinator roles, this position would require a full-time employee

for up to 6 months. After this period, the time commitment will be

less: one-third to one-half the time, depending on the configuration

of program responsibilities and the number of trainings offered per

year.
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2. Marketing Assistant.

The marketing assistant makes sure the marketing and registration

logistics work smoothly. Tasks include reserving training facilities,

developing databases, coordinating mailings, managing the training

registration/confirmation process, organizing sales and distribution of

manuals, and handling all logistics associated with setting up and running the training programs. This person also handles all day-to-day

logistics associated with evaluating the program.

The marketing assistant will need to:

❑ Be comfortable working with the public. The job requires extensive

public interaction, both over the phone and in person.

❑ Have clerical-level computer skills. These include word processing

skills to generate marketing materials and database management

skills for mailings and registration.

❑ Be efficient in handling logistical details and meeting deadlines.

With many different tasks to coordinate, strong organizational skills

are a must.

❑ Have time to commit. The job calls for three-quarters to full-time

employment for 2 months, followed by approximately one-half time.

The actual time involved may be less—it will depend on the distribution of responsibilities and the number of trainings offered per

year.

Building and Maintaining Trainer

Expertise

Establishing trainer expertise begins with selecting personnel with

the type of background described in the Key Personnel section, beginning

on page 13. However, the ability to provide effective training also requires developing and maintaining a knowledge base about current and

evolving landlord/tenant issues. Trainers who are committed to providing a high-quality program will make sure that they:

❑ Participate heavily in the research described in the Developing a

Local Manual section. This will help provide the trainer the

necessary base of expertise to provide an effective program.

❑ Take the opportunity to attend any locally offered property

management trainings as well as any trainings offered to teach

tenants about their rights under the law. By attending such events,

trainers will develop a greater understanding of the issues that fuel

landlord/tenant law debates and a deeper understanding of the

importance of a police-sponsored training program that maintains a

fair and balanced approach toward landlord/tenant issues.
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❑ Develop working relationships with local experts. These should

include, at a minimum, individuals in the community who are

recognized advocates for the rights of landlords, as well as individuals

who are recognized advocates for the rights of tenants. By consulting

experts on both sides before making substantive changes in training

content, the trainer can help ensure a balanced program approach.

❑ Seek out educational opportunities for developing and maintaining

trainer skills. Professional trainer skills are beyond the scope of this

monograph, but it is certainly worth emphasizing that developing

and maintaining effective skills in adult learning training techniques

will benefit the program.

Developing a Local Manual

It is essential to have program materials that are accurate, fair, effective,

and readable. In addition, during the process of developing the program

materials, the trainer/coordinator also will develop the necessary expertise to present the training.

The National Program Manual included in this monograph provides a

strong training foundation and can be used effectively by a knowledgeable trainer. However, laws governing landlord/tenant relationships

vary significantly, not only by state, but also by city and county. Because

the National Program Manual, which has been adapted for national distribution, does not articulate these laws, the value of the program and the

training will be enhanced substantially if additional information, tailored to local laws, also is presented. The degree to which tailoring to

local law and customs will be necessary depends on two factors:

1. The uniqueness of the laws and practices.

Research into the local law and typical rental practices will give the

trainer an understanding of the level of tailoring required.

2. The sophistication of the likely audience.

If problem rental properties are typically owned by “mom and pop”

landlords—people who generally own fewer than 20 units and for

whom management of rental property is not a full-time occupation—

then it is very important to tailor the information and develop a detailed

understanding of the nuances of local laws. This audience has the least

knowledge of landlord/tenant law and operates most often on “folk

law” or on law that is long out of date. The “mom and pop” audience

will respond very well to specific information that focuses on how to

manage various parts of the rental process more appropriately.
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In contrast, if rental property problems are typically seen at large, multiunit properties with onsite resident managers who work for property

management companies, the focus of the training should be different.

The details of eviction, for example, are not as important to this group—

they typically already have company policies and corporate attorneys

who keep them up to date.

The types of issues that are most important to tailor for a jurisdiction

include:

❑ Specifics of local civil rights laws. Nationally, fair housing law

prohibits a landlord from making rental decisions on the basis of

race, color, religion, sex, handicap, national origin, and familial status

(the presence of children). Most states add other protected criteria, as

do some local communities. The case law of a state also can add

protected criteria that are not specifically described in the law. For

example, California’s “Unruh Act” has been interpreted by courts to

include something called “arbitrary discrimination,” which effectively prohibits making screening decisions based on criteria that are not

related to the business purpose at hand.

❑ Other unique laws that regulate screening practices. For example,

some states regulate the way a landlord is allowed to collect application deposits and screening fees. (As described in the training

manual, requiring a small fee or deposit with an application has

prevention value, but it should be done in a manner that does not

create a barrier for low-income tenants.)

❑ Appropriate process for circumstances under which a landlord may

enter/inspect an occupied rental unit. The types of notices and

conditions under which a landlord may enter occupied rental

property vary by state.

❑ Specifics of local police practices. Landlords will want to know

whom to call, what type of response to expect, and what steps can be

taken to get the most effective assistance. Clearly, this is an important

element of a tailored presentation.

❑ Specifics of eviction, particularly in extreme situations. To be sure,

there is value in informing landlords about the full range of eviction

options. After all, as the training teaches, it is a rare drug dealer

whose only lease violation is dealing drugs. Landlords who are

willing to enforce the basic requirements of landlord/tenant laws are

less likely to have drug problems on their property. However, the

most important information to communicate is the option for eviction

in a crisis—the type of situation to which police are frequently called.

Thus, trainers should know the type of notice to serve if police have

served a warrant and found criminal evidence of drug distribution or

the appropriate notice to serve when one tenant inflicts serious

physical harm on another.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

❑ Policies and practices of the local housing authority. Coordination

of information with the local public housing agency is a must. Make

sure that landlords are presented with accurate information about

renting to tenants who receive public rent assistance.

❑ Local references. Provide landlords a list of local references such as

property management associations, tenant screening services, crime

prevention offices, narcotics units, legal services available for tenants,

mediation programs, the local public housing agency, and others.

❑ Local law. At a minimum, all trainees who receive a manual should

receive a copy of local landlord/tenant law as well.

The most expedient approach to providing local information is to create

a supplement to the National Landlord Training Program Manual and then

bind the supplement and the national manual as separate sections of one

document for the training. Many jurisdictions also have opted to create a

more tailored manual that integrates information from the national

manual with local materials.

Four examples of locally adapted manuals that have been approved by

the original developer of the National Landlord Training Program Manual

are the manuals developed for Portland, Oregon; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Syracuse, New York; and the city of San Bernardino, California. Persons contemplating development of an integrated manual should review

one or more of these documents. The names of contact personnel for

these documents are provided in appendix A.

Whether preparing a supplement or a completely integrated manual,

take the following steps to develop the local material:

1. Request and receive permission to reproduce and adapt the

national manual.

To reduce the possibility of replicating outdated or inaccurate materials,

local manuals must be adapted from a current version of the National

Landlord Training Program Manual, or from a version of a locally adapted

manual that has been approved in writing by the original program developers for in-state adaptations. Unfortunately, outdated and inaccurate information has been reproduced in manuals when this basic

quality control procedure was not followed.

The process for gaining permission to reproduce and adapt the manual

is simple. Mail or fax a request on your agency’s letterhead to Campbell

DeLong Resources, Inc., 319 SW. Washington, No. 802, Portland, OR

97204; fax: 503–221–4541. A letter specifying the requirements for copyright permission compliance will typically be mailed to you within 21

days of your request.5 Disk copies of the latest version of the National

Landlord Training Program Manual (Section II of this monograph) and

an electronic version of the overheads used in the training will be
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provided as well. For a complete review of all license requirements associated with the program, as well as PDF versions of the program

manual, visit the Campbell DeLong Web site at www.cdri.com.

2. Read local landlord/tenant laws and related statutes and

ordinances.

Before seeking the opinions and input of others, become familiar with

the local laws. Without a thorough understanding of the nuances of

landlord/tenant law as it applies locally, the trainer will not be in a position to ask the right questions or to develop the balanced approach necessary to make the training successful.

3. Conduct the initial research.

Develop a list of “experts” who can provide information on local issues.

A wide range of opinions is important. Consider interviewing landlords,

management associations, tenant advocates, neighborhood activists, private attorneys, public defenders, judges, public housing agency personnel, tenant screening companies, narcotics detectives, and patrol officers,

among others.

Although building consensus with all of these groups helps generate

balanced training information, it is not an easy task. In each state where

such interviews have been conducted, there was substantial tension between landlord and tenant advocates, considerable misinformation

stated as fact by experts, and considerable disagreement about a variety

of rental practices. Typically, the complete picture does not emerge in

any jurisdiction until the same questions are asked of many people with

a variety of perspectives. Do not talk to just one or two experts and consider the research complete. With each expert interviewed, important

areas to explore include:

❑ Their opinions regarding what landlords of local property most need

to know to stop illegal activity on their property.

❑ Their opinions about messages that should not be communicated in a

program of this type.

❑ Detailed descriptions of practices or procedures about which each

person is a recognized expert. For example, ask a judge or attorney to

describe the court-ordered eviction process and the types of mistakes

commonly made by both sides. Or ask fair housing enforcement

personnel to explain the most common mistakes made by local

landlords. To ensure a balanced understanding, ask people from

opposing sides of an issue to describe the same procedures.

❑ Their willingness to review materials developed for the program.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

4. Develop a first draft and have it reviewed.

Once the initial research is complete, write a first draft of the supplement and submit it for review to the people with whom the initial research was conducted. While some of the reviews will serve only to

generate valuable goodwill between the sponsoring department and the

individual, other reviews will produce important feedback that will correct and refine the manual in critical ways.

This step is commonly shortchanged by police departments doing their own adaptation of the manual. A review of a number of manuals developed by

police departments in various jurisdictions reveals that this step often is

not completed. The most common results are:

❑ Descriptions of laws from other states inaccurately described as true

for their jurisdiction.

❑ Procedures that are unique to one police agency cited as policy in

another.

Providing trainees inaccurate information about the law in their state—

or the department’s procedures—is generally much worse than telling

trainees nothing at all. Yet a common pitfall for agencies that adapt the

manual is to provide inaccurate information. One of the origins of such

mistakes may spring from a misperception of the role of reviewing attorneys—in effect confusing a liability review with an accuracy review.

To be sure, a liability review by the appropriate department attorney is

important. However, do not confuse a department attorney’s endorsement of a document’s legal disclaimers with a landlord/tenant expert’s

careful review of the content.

The findings from developing manuals for Landlord Training Programs

are consistent: review of the manual by any single person, regardless of

his or her expertise, will not uncover all of the issues that need to be addressed. The manual should be carefully reviewed by many people with

different perspectives on landlord/tenant issues. The most important

feedback is often received from knowledgeable landlords, attorneys

who specialize in representing landlords, and attorneys who typically

represent tenants. Examining the perspectives of many knowledgeable

people in a community is important for ensuring the accuracy and appropriateness of the information in the manual.

5. Revise the draft for final review.

Following extensive review of the first draft, a revised draft should be

completed. This draft will be close to the finished product. The revised

draft should be reviewed by a few of the key people who reviewed the

first draft—generally those who were willing to take the time to give extensive feedback at the first draft stage.
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6. Make final changes and go to print.

Once the second draft review is complete, development of the final

document should be relatively smooth. With final changes completed,

the document should be given a final check by the jurisdiction’s attorney

and then sent to print.

Designing the Training

Once revisions of the manual are complete, the training program can be

developed relatively quickly. In addition to tailoring the program to local law, qualified trainers will likely wish to refine and/or develop their

own presentation materials for the program as a whole.

Initially, the coordinator should conduct a limited number of pilot

trainings with local landlords and assess program results through review of posttraining questionnaires and informal analysis by the trainer

and observers. Adjustments should be made in training style and content emphasis to account for local concerns and property management

practices over the course of these trainings, and more indepth changes

can be made following completion of the pilot programs if necessary. At

the conclusion of those trainings, the trainer should have acquired the

necessary confidence in his or her ability to present the program effectively. Once adjustments are made following the initial series, the program will be ready for full presentation to landlords and property

managers throughout the jurisdiction.

Much of the information about how the training can be presented is discussed in more detail in the national train-the-trainer seminar developed

with this monograph. The following is intended only as a general guideline to some of the most critical aspects of presenting an effective training.

1. The introduction is very important.

Study the introduction of the training with care, and practice the introduction more than any other part of the program. The introduction allows the trainer to gain “permission” to manage the audience and sets

the tone for the entire seminar. In particular, it is important to:

❑ Clarify responsibilities. Dispel possible resentment resulting from

some trainees’ expectations that the training will somehow blame

landlords for the problem of drugs in our society. Define the role of

landlords by clarifying that in dealing with drug and other illegal

activities, landlords are an important part of the whole solution but

they are not alone—police and neighbors must play their parts as

well. Get “permission” to focus the rest of the training on the

landlord’s role.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

❑ Emphasize the civil nature of the course. Dispel confusion about the

purpose of the training. It is a course in effective property management, with an emphasis on effective use of civil law. It is not a course

in undercover narcotics work or how to confront a drug dealer.

❑ Establish permission to regulate questions. Although it is important

to answer questions as honestly and fully as possible, it is also

important to avoid extended question-answer periods with just a

small percentage of trainees actually participating.

❑ Control expectations. Clarify that the course will focus on what a

landlord needs to do to prevent illegal activity on rental property.

For those who need more information about managing rental

property, the course can serve as a good introduction—but only

as an introduction. Encourage participants to contact local property

management associations or other resources for ongoing support. Get

permission to downplay questions that do not relate closely to issues

of illegal activity; otherwise the training can quickly lose focus.

❑ Get the audience involved. Include an audience participation

process in the early part of the training to promote involvement and

questions throughout the seminar. In Portland this is done with a

show of hands in response to various questions and by quickly

building a list of questions that trainees hope to have answered by

the end of the session.

❑ Clarify the difference between the trainer and a personal attorney.

Establish that the trainer is not playing the role of legal adviser.

Clarify that the trainer is a teacher and can help address landlord/

tenant issues but cannot make individual decisions for trainees. The

responsibility for property management decisions remains the landlord’s. Trainees who wish another person to share in that decisionmaking responsibility should hire an attorney.

❑ Agree on the schedule. Establish agreement about the length of the

training and the number of breaks.

2. Stories help.

Real-life stories help trainers communicate effectively. Examples of applied problem solving give the training a practical cast, and, when the

stories are drawn from the trainer’s own experience, they help build

trainer credibility.

3. Keep civil rights issues in mind.

There is much confusion among landlords about civil rights laws. In

addition, some trainees have even asked openly how they can “get

around” the law. Making sure landlords understand what they can and
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cannot do will promote the critical goals of civil rights laws and give

landlords more ability to screen appropriately, confidently, and without

illegal discrimination.

4. Tell them what they can do.

Trainers who are not confident of their material will quickly fall into the

trap of spending too much time equivocating, repeating legal disclaimers, or overemphasizing warnings about what a landlord should not do.

Although it is important that trainees understand the importance of following the law and the penalties for breaking it, the purpose of the

course is to give trainees new tools. Make sure that the majority of the

training is focused on explaining what can be done to decrease illegal activity in rental properties. Trainees will not learn how to help if the only

information they receive is about what not to do.

5. Stay focused on a community-oriented approach.

Many of the landlords who attend the training will be watching to see if

the training is “pro landlord” or “pro tenant.” While the training should

be both, most of it should be “pro neighborhood.” Discuss new training

material with advocates on both sides of the issue before using it. Important perspectives that were not initially apparent often emerge from

such discussions.

6. Answer questions, but do not let questions take over the training.

Question and answer periods are a critical part of this type of training,

but they should not be allowed to overwhelm the course. Questions that

are overly specific and that do not offer a learning opportunity for the

whole class should be referred to a break and not dealt with during class

time. Learning to encourage questions, but not so many that important

parts of the seminar must be sacrificed, is an important balancing act for

trainers.

7. Make sure that all speakers know their topic and the intent of the

course.

While there is no requirement that a single person provide the entire

training, beware of the temptation to use a “panel of experts” to teach

the course. Each person who presents information in the training must

have a full understanding of the scope and purpose of the seminar.

8. It is more important to convey appropriate motivation and attitude

than it is to communicate the program’s entire content.

This can be a tough adjustment for trainers who are accustomed to

teaching standardized curricula for which the same content must be covered in each seminar. A landlord training that covers 100 percent of the

content, but leaves 75 percent of the trainees skeptical of the value, pales
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

in impact to a training that covers 75 percent of the content but leaves

100 percent of the trainees with a renewed sense that (1) they can make a

difference, (2) doing so isn’t as complicated as they feared, and (3) they

can be financially successful doing so. The successful trainer will quickly

discover that the most effective training is driven not by a mission to

cover every point in detail, but by the mission to reveal and address the

participants’ fears, assumptions, and misunderstandings that collectively constitute the trainees’ barriers to more responsible citizenship.

The ideal trainer will know the content of the course cold, but never lose

sight of the motivational mission.

9. Address the displacement myth.

Underlying many citizens’ reluctance to get involved in pushing crime

out of a neighborhood is the belief that any action short of arrest and incarceration is pointless—that pushing drug dealers out of one location

will only “move the problem around” by causing the dealers to move

down the street and begin again. This assumption—that displacement is

virtually one-for-one unless arrest occurs—is what prevents many landlords and residents from understanding the impact an involved community can have on drug-related problems. The following discussion is

intended to provide some examples of ways to address the displacement

myth.

❑ A qualitative argument for the benefits of “displacement.” Drug

activity, gang activity, and other types of chronic criminal behavior

flourish in those places where at least some elements of the community act to “enable” that behavior. To use the landlord example, when

a rental owner leaves drug-dealing tenants in place, that landlord is

not merely allowing the amount of illegal activity to hold steady, but

is likely contributing to its growth. As the drug dealing continues,

neighbors with the resources to move out begin to do so, and friends

of the drug dealer, seeing the dealer getting away with the behavior,

think more seriously of becoming dealers themselves. In short, when

drug dealing is left alone, it doesn’t stay the same. It often gets worse.

The reverse is true as well—if the landlord refuses to allow illegal

and lease-violating activities to continue, the dealer’s friends are less

motivated to follow the dealer into the business (which reduces the

growth in the number of drug dealers), and concerned neighbors are

more likely to stay put (which helps stabilize the neighborhood,

rendering it more resistant to chronic crime problems). The net result

is an environment where the number of “enabling” factors has been

reduced and fewer drug dealers can operate.

Still more significant is what happens to drug dealers who have been

“displaced,” which is often accomplished by evicting the leasesigning tenants who let the dealer move in. While displaced drug
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dealers may seek another location from which to deal, they may run

into more resistance than they did in the past—specifically, friends

may be less inclined to allow criminal activity in their apartment after

having been evicted for allowing such behavior previously. Instead

of thinking more about becoming drug dealers themselves, some

friends will think twice before allowing it to happen out of their

homes. These factors hardly stop all displacement from occurring,

but certainly help reduce the amount that does occur.

In this way, a landlord’s willingness to screen effectively and evict

when behavior is harmful to the surrounding community is one of

many crucial components that can modify the behavior of those with

criminal intent. The greatest myth of displacement is that lack of

appropriate action by the “enablers”—landlords included—will

simply leave the situation unchanged, when such inaction will often

cause the situation to grow worse.

Therefore, although a landlord’s willingness to screen well and evict

when necessary will not solve the whole problem, it is certainly an

important part of the solution. If nothing else, it can help check the

growth of illegal activity and increase communitywide resistance to

illegal activity—a major goal of the Landlord Training Program.

❑ Supporting data from the Milwaukee Police Department. Support

for the importance of simple “displacement” is provided by the

Milwaukee Police Department’s Drug Abatement Program, which

conducted a tracking study from June 1993 to March 1994 of persons

involved in drug activity who had been displaced. The study was

conducted by Milwaukee narcotics detectives6

 and provides

compelling data to contradict the traditional concern that civil

enforcement does nothing but displace drug problems in a one-forone fashion. The study concluded that in Milwaukee, even though

most displaced suspects remained in the city, surprisingly few

continued to engage in the same type of high-community-impact

drug activity.

The detectives identified 201 individuals who had been involved

in place-based drug dealing (drug houses, principally) for which

abatement at the location had occurred—that is, the drug dealers

were moved out of the property whether through a voluntary

process, eviction, code enforcement, or other available options.

Of those 201, detectives determined that 53 individuals were

incarcerated, 7 were on parole or probation, and 3 had died. The

remaining 138 individuals were free and unsupervised by the

criminal justice system—they had been displaced only.7

Investigating detectives used all means at their disposal to locate the

138 people to determine if these people were still involved in dealing

or manufacturing illegal drugs. For the purposes of the study, the
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

detectives did not require a criminal level of proof to classify a

person likely to be involved in drug activity. The detectives looked

at all available behavioral indicators, including complaints citing

behaviors commonly associated with drug activity at the person’s

address. Here is what they found:

■ Only a few of the former dealers had left town or could not be

found. Fourteen percent of the 138 persons had either left Milwaukee (13 people) or could not be located (6 people, 4 of whom

were wanted on felony arrest warrants). The remainder of the

group was confirmed to be still living in the city. Detectives made

no attempt to examine the activities of the former dealers who

had left Milwaukee.

■ Fewer than one in five of the former dealers still living in

Milwaukee was identified as still involved in drug dealing or

manufacturing. Only 17 percent of the free and unsupervised

people were found to still be involved in drug dealing in Milwaukee (a total of 24 people, some of whom were arrested as a result

of the study). While a confirmed displacement rate of 17 percent

is terrible news for the neighbors who must live in adversely

affected areas, it is nevertheless a small portion of the total number of potentially displaced dealers. Indeed, one of the purposes

of the study was to determine if skip tracing of displaced dealers

could be used as an efficient method of locating drug activity in

the community. The conclusion was that given the time required

to conduct the skip traces and the low percentage of drug activity

found, skip tracing of displaced drug suspects is not an efficient

means of fighting drug activity.

■ More than two-thirds of the displaced dealers were considered

by detectives to be no longer involved in dealing or manufacturing illegal drugs. In all, 69 percent (95 people) of the 138 free

and unsupervised people were considered to be no longer dealing

or manufacturing illegal controlled substances. Detectives caution

that they cannot with certainty “prove the negative”—that all 95

persons were definitely not involved in drug activity. However,

they believe they established with confidence that all 95 were no

longer involved in the types of overt drug-related behavior that

so substantially harms the livability of neighborhoods and draws

the ire of the community.
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Results of the Milwaukee study are shown in the following chart:

Can’t find

4.3%

Out of town

9.4%

Drug activity confirmed

17.4%

No apparent drug

dealing/manufacturing

68.8%

Milwaukee Skip Tracing Study

n=138 individuals “displaced” in past year

Even allowing for a substantial margin of error, this is strong evidence

that improved civil enforcement against drug criminals—potentially

causing “displacement”—is a valuable tool in reducing drug activity in

a community.

Marketing

The impact of the Landlord Training Program depends on two factors:

the quality of the information presented and the number of landlords

who receive and act upon that information. To bring about a fundamental shift in property management attitudes throughout a community, it is essential that a large number of landlords take the

course. Providing quality training is only half of a trainer’s job; the

other half is effective marketing to landlords with property in impacted communities.

The basics of training marketing include:

1. Finding and inviting landlords.

A three-tiered marketing approach is recommended: a letter campaign,

exposure in the media, and exposure through other available sources.

These methods are described in more detail below.

❑ A letter campaign. A letter sent to rental property owners, signed

by the community’s chief law enforcement official, is the primary

program marketing tool. The letter is mailed to owners of residential

rental property in targeted areas. The letter discusses the problems

involved with having a drug house on rental property, describes the
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

content of the course, and invites landlords to register for a training

date.

While the content of the letter is important, so is the signature. A

letter from the chief law enforcement officer—or another local official

of similar stature—is likely to receive higher readership than the

average “direct mail” letter in a landlord’s mailbox. Results show

that such a letter can produce a signup rate as high as one in five.

Most communities do not have comprehensive databases of owners

of rental property, so the database for mailing the police chief’s letter

will need to be created. In Portland, this was achieved by using the

property tax database to select owners of residential properties

(within the targeted area) for which the property address and the taxbilling address are different. Once duplicate names and names of

past trainees are removed from the list, letters are sent to each listed

property owner. Similar letters, as appropriate, should also be sent to

all local real estate and property management companies and to

resident managers of apartment complexes in all targeted areas.

Appendix C includes an example of Portland’s letter to rental

property owners. While this letter uses a local ordinance as a means

of motivating the landlord to attend the training, the presence of such

an ordinance is not required to create a powerful marketing effect.

Local ordinances, state laws, or federal seizure laws could be used as

examples of the liabilities associated with permitting drug or other

illegal activity on rental property.

❑ Exposure in the media. This is especially important when the

program is new. Media exposure for the initial trainings should

result in a large number of signups. As the program continues, media

coverage will tend to draw fewer landlords to the course, though the

media will continue to spread the word to landlords with properties

outside the specific areas targeted for notification through the police

chief’s letter.

❑ Exposure through other available sources. Information on upcoming

trainings should also be distributed through a variety of other

sources, such as property management associations, communitybased organizations, letters sent to landlords by the narcotics units

of the local police, and general word of mouth. Results show that

significant numbers of trainees are also identified through these

channels.

One of the more innovative examples of other ways to market the

training was developed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In addition to

using the letter campaign, the Milwaukee Landlord Training

Program leveraged resources by encouraging community-based

organizations to sponsor training in their neighborhoods. Sponsoring

organizations are typically asked to conduct some local outreach for
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the training event, provide training space, supply refreshments for

trainees, and assist with training logistics.

Although these other sources are important and can be used in

addition to the letter campaign, as in Milwaukee, they cannot

substitute for a comprehensive marketing effort such as the letter

campaign. For example, enforcement agencies may be tempted to

save money by relying solely on community associations or local

property management associations to spread the word about the

training program. However, without the letter campaign, it will not

be possible to produce the high volume and broad cross-section of

landlords needed to make a lasting impact on the community. This is

because property management associations typically represent only a

small percentage of the landlords in the community, and communitybased organizations are often less likely than a law enforcement

agency to have the resources or volunteer time available to systematically contact every rental property owner in their area.

Law enforcement managers should also beware of the temptation to

rely only on word of mouth to generate interest in the program, even

if this produces substantial numbers of trainees. Advertising by word

of mouth can move a program away from a focus on serving the

whole community and toward an emphasis on serving professional

property managers as a constituency separate from residents. The

potential problem is that landlords who most need the training are

often the least likely to hear about it from others and to attend. This is

because these landlords are often poorly networked with other

landlords, do not generally participate in continuing education, or

are not affiliated with a local property management association (all

common avenues for word of mouth). Therefore, it is important to

ask not just how many landlords attend the training, but also which

landlords. That is why a marketing process should be designed to

ensure the highest possible impact in the neighborhoods that are

most harmed by illegal drug activity. Word-of-mouth marketing in

low-impact neighborhoods may be sufficient, but in high-impact

neighborhoods, more aggressive marketing is often needed.

2. Make it easy to sign up and important to attend.

Landlords will be more likely to attend if they see the program as professional training rather than a loosely run public forum. In addition,

some landlords will be skeptical of the value of a government-sponsored

seminar. Therefore, the registration process should limit barriers to signing up, while also creating a sense of professionalism, a sense of the

value of the course, and a sense of obligation to attend. Recommended

steps include the following:
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

❑ Charge little or nothing for the course. Beware of assuming that,

because they are property owners, trainees will be willing and able to

pay for the seminar. Charging trainees the full cost you incur for the

course could defeat the purpose of holding the program. Property

management seminars that cost from $50 to $200 are well-attended

events, but they are attended by the more sophisticated professionals

who are least in need of the Landlord Training Program rather than a

broad cross-section of the property management community. Important targets for the training are “mom and pop” landlords with just a

few units and resident property managers who are new to the rental

business. Career professionals will attend—and benefit from—the

training, but it is important to attract the landlords who know very

little about dealing with illegal activity and are therefore more likely

to attract drug activity.

In Portland, the original program was offered free, with a $5 fee for

each manual—still a low price. The purpose of charging the $5 fee is

as much to increase the perceived value of the manual as it is to

recover the cost of publication. Some jurisdictions have been successful charging a fee of $10 to $15 for the course and manual combined—

hardly enough to pay for all program costs, but enough to offset

various direct costs of the training. One jurisdiction that tried a

fee of $25 reduced it after it appeared that the fee was a barrier to

attendance for some landlords. Again, the goal of the program is not

to serve landlords; it is to serve the community. The community is

best served when a high percentage of landlords attends the course.

This can be achieved by keeping the costs of the training as low as

possible.

❑ Make it easy to sign up. Everything about the marketing and signup

procedures should make it as easy as possible to sign up for the

course. For example, although mail-in registration forms are easier to

process, it is not a good idea to eliminate phone registrations. Allowing landlords to register in the manner most convenient for them will

ensure the greatest number of signups.

❑ Use confirmation letters and phone calls to encourage attendance.

All landlords who sign up for the course should receive a confirmation letter upon registration and a confirming phone call during the

48 hours prior to the training itself. This confirmation process has

been found to make a substantial difference to the attendance rate of

registrants. The confirmation process is critical because the landlords

who are least motivated to attend are the ones who most need to hear

the message of the training.

❑ Use onsite registration to motivate commitment. A formal sign-in

procedure is valuable on several levels. Having participants sign in

and receive a name tag increases the professionalism of the training,

instills a sense of commitment, and prompts attendees to return the
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second night (or after lunch if the program runs a full day). Onsite

registration also helps provide an accurate tally of how many

landlords attend each training session and a means to check the

spelling of names before printing certificates of completion. A

check-in process also can serve as an informal security measure.

3. Use certificates to encourage course completion and promote course

awareness.

Certificates of completion have proved popular with trainees and have

added another inducement to finishing the course. A certificate program

also can help participants acquire continuing education credits for real

estate and property management licenses. Certificates should be given

only to participants who attend the full training; do not hand them out

early. A sample certificate is provided in appendix H.

Some jurisdictions have started to promote an additional benefit of the

certificate. The trainer will suggest that the certificate can be used as

an additional screening tool. Trainees are instructed to post the certificate in their rental offices and point it out to every applicant, explaining

that the management has been trained by the local police to help prevent

illegal activity and will be doing a complete verification of the application information. Such an approach can encourage housing applicants

contemplating illegal activity to choose not to apply. It may, however,

put the jurisdiction in the position of appearing to endorse the management’s specific tenant screening approach, something which not all

jurisdictions will want to do.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

Related Problem-Solving Tools

Many problem-solving innovations have proved to work well with, and

in addition to, the Landlord Training Program. One program coordinator described the relationship between the Landlord Training Program

and other problem-solving tools this way:

The success of the Landlord Training Program is in bringing

people together who have not worked well with each other in

the past. The program improves community livability by inspiring landlords to a greater understanding of the value of their role

in keeping neighborhoods healthy, and it saves police officers

time because they can work with landlords who have a better

understanding of what to expect from police. Also, by promoting

a common understanding of what it takes to keep a community

healthy, the opportunities for effective problem solving increase.

Since beginning this program, we have seen many new solutions

take root and grow, where previously fewer options were

available.8

The following examples of problem-solving tools have worked well in

concert with, and in some cases separate from, the Landlord Training

Program. Each is presented as an example of an innovation that is possible with the program or as an additional solution that can further

strengthen the ability of communities to keep illegal activity out of

rental property.

“Landlord Compacts”

The term “landlord compact” comes from the name for the approach

used in Milwaukee, but the concept is used in similar forms in Los Angeles; Tucson; Beaverton and Portland, Oregon; and other jurisdictions

as well.

Milwaukee’s landlord compacts are groups of landlords who own

houses and apartments in a specific neighborhood and work with each

other—and police—to stop illegal activity in their area. They meet on a

regular basis and work jointly to prevent problem tenants from staying

in a neighborhood. They develop shared standards for the prevention of

illegal activity and develop partnership agreements with police to accomplish such actions as improving the ability of police to enforce no

trespassing/no loitering rules on nonresidents in the common areas of

rental property. In Milwaukee, some landlord compacts also have

worked to take legal action against other landlords who chronically

permit dangerous and illegal activity on their property.

Chapter 3
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In Beaverton, Oregon, the emphasis is on monthly meetings and information sharing. Regular meeting topics include conducting more

indepth review of Landlord Training Program topics, sharing information about tenants involved in illegal activity, and improving the historically strained relationship between resident managers and police

officers. Frequently, meetings include diagnosing a “case study”—taking a particular crime problem at a participant’s property and examining both how it can be resolved and what could have been done to

prevent it.

Milwaukee’s Partnership With Lenders

The Milwaukee Department of Building Inspection, in partnership with

the Milwaukee Police Department, replicated the Portland Landlord

Training Program. In Milwaukee, problem rental properties are most

likely to be in duplexes, single-family dwellings, and small multifamily

properties. To address one element of the problem, Milwaukee built a

partnership with several mortgage providers to require potential landlords to complete Milwaukee’s Landlord Training Program prior to being approved for a loan to purchase rental property. Furthermore, two

city-sponsored loan programs now require training completion prior to

loan approval: “The Duplex as a Starter Home” and “Buy in Your

Neighborhood.” The first program is designed to encourage owner occupancy of duplex housing; the other is designed to encourage ownership of rental units by people who live in the immediate neighborhood.

The city requires completion of the training before providing homeowner loans under these programs. The benefit to all parties is clear:

owners are better skilled to manage property appropriately, responsible

tenants have more responsive landlords, and the community is better

protected from the threat of illegal activity.

“Three-Phase” Certification Programs

Some police departments have begun using a variation of the Landlord

Training Program with an added twist: in addition to rewarding landlords with a certificate for attending the training, landlords are also

given two more certificates for completing certain steps suggested in

the training. Such “three-phase” programs are much more resource

intensive but can be valuable for jurisdictions willing to make the

commitment.

In contrast to the core program, three-phase programs are designed to

optimize impact in apartment complexes that are large enough to have

resident managers and deemphasize approaches targeted to smaller unit

housing, such as 12-plexes, 8-plexes, and single-family units.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

The three-phase certification process includes the following:

1. The first certificate is received for completion of an adaptation of

the Landlord Training Program. The training’s focus is adjusted to reflect the fact that it is the first phase of a three-phase process. The trainer

spends time explaining the value of the three phases and encouraging

participation in all three phases.

2. The second certificate is received when a property meets minimum

crime prevention through environmental design requirements.

Examples of such minimum requirements include:

❑ Eye viewers on the front doors of all rental units.

❑ Deadbolts and striker plates on the exterior (hinged) doors of all

rental units.

❑ Installation of specified locks for windows and sliding glass doors.

❑ Lighting modifications in the common areas.

❑ Trimming of trees and shrubs to ensure no branches are less than 6

feet above the ground and no shrubs block views from windows.

3. The third and final certificate is received when a manager holds a

crime prevention meeting with tenants. The manager calls the meeting,

and the police department conducts a crime prevention orientation for

tenants who attend.

Once all three certificates are earned, a 1-year “membership” certificate

is issued to the property that grants the manager the right to display the

program sign on the property and use the program logo in “for rent” advertising. The signs are owned by the police department and are leased

for a small one-time fee, which allows the police department to remove

the signs when a property is no longer in compliance with the program.

Apartment communities must be recertified every year (by holding another tenant meeting) in order to continue using the program signs.

The first three-phase program developed from the Landlord Training

Program was designed by the Mesa, Arizona, Police Department, which

began by repackaging the original Landlord Training Program materials

under a different name: the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program. Other

jurisdictions in Arizona have copied the Mesa name and logo, with

some out-of-state jurisdictions using it as well. Other jurisdictions have

opted to develop still other names and customized looks. Other programs that use a three-phase concept based on the Landlord Training

Program include the Police-Community Housing Program of Aurora,

Illinois; the Crime Free Rental Housing Program of the city of San Bernardino, California; the Safe At Home Initiative of the city of Eugene,

Oregon; and Enhanced Safety Properties, the name used by a group of

Oregon law enforcement agencies.
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While a three-phase program can be labor intensive, the payoff in reduced calls for service can be worth the effort in specific situations. Such

a program may be of particular value where the majority of rental-based

criminal activity is in multifamily property large enough to have onsite

resident managers.

However, site visit findings also indicate the need for this word of caution: While some innovations introduced in three-phase programs can

be beneficial, there are elements used in the Crime Free Multi-Housing

Program “phase one” training model that are in opposition to the intended community-oriented approach of the Landlord Training Program. While the original program developers do endorse a three-phase

program concept for some situations, they do not recommend the landlord training approach used in the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program

model.

Coordination With Civil Enforcement

Strategies

Training landlords can never be considered a complete solution to

rental-based crime problems in a neighborhood. Although such programs can effectively teach and motivate the majority of landlords who

want to learn how they can deter crime on their properties, it is not

effective for landlords who are unwilling to change. That is where improved enforcement strategies against reluctant landlords play a crucial

role.

Many communities have created laws that allow the jurisdiction to take

civil action against a property owner if the owner does not reduce problems associated with drugs, prostitution, and other types of illegal activity on the property. Such laws typically allow for substantial fines,

property closure for a defined period of time, or complete forfeiture of

property. Other communities combine the force of local housing maintenance codes with other civil and criminal enforcement strategies to force

a reluctant owner to act. Just a few examples of these approaches include the work of the Oakland Police Department’s Beat Health Unit,9

Los Angeles’ FALCON10 Narcotics Abatement Unit, and the Milwaukee

Police Department’s Drug Abatement Program.

Lessons can be learned from each of these cities and from many other

cities as well. The lesson we wish to emphasize here is one gained from

the experience in Portland, Oregon, with an ordinance first created in

1987. Commonly known as the “Specified Crime Ordinance,” it allows

for closure of property for up to 1 year and substantial daily fines

against property owners who do not reduce problems associated with

drugs, prostitution, or gambling (the “specified” crimes).11 However,

what makes the Portland ordinance unique is not so much what the ordinance says, but how it is applied.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

While the city of Portland brings suits against property owners who are

in violation of the ordinance, it also sends warning letters to owners

whose property has been reported to be in violation. The letters do not

allege the presence of illegal activity on the property; they report to the

owner, with a copy to the occupant, the fact that complaints have been received and that, if police confirm the complaints, such a finding could

potentially lead to legal action.

The Portland Police Bureau’s Drug and Vice Division sends the warning

letters when sufficient credible complaints have been logged or when

patrol officers report suspicions of drug activity and request that a letter

be sent.12 Considerable care is taken to ensure that warning letters are

sent only when a sufficient number of credible complaints have been received. In an average year, the city begins full legal action against 15 to

20 property owners but sends warning letters to as many as 500.13 Because of the willingness of the city to report having received complaints

to both owners and occupants, many neighborhoods in Portland have

gained relief from the impact of a local drug house before the cost in

neighborhood deterioration became extreme. By using the warning letter process, the city of Portland has implemented a system that intervenes earlier in the destructive cycle of neighborhood decay, thus

avoiding one of the biggest problems associated with overreliance on

traditional enforcement strategies: having the solution arrive too late to

benefit a community.

Many of the landlords who receive warning letters are referred to the

Landlord Training Program. As part of the effort to market the training,

all rental owners who are invited to the training are reminded of the

Specified Crime Ordinance and their obligation to stop illegal activity

on their property. In the initial years of training implementation, when

landlords were particularly skeptical of government-sponsored training,

the presence of the Specified Crime Ordinance provided a strong additional motivator for participants to attend the program. In effect, the

combination of improved civil enforcement strategies and the offer of

landlord training provides both “stick” and “carrot” for encouraging

landlords to become part of the solution to neighborhood crime

problems.

Training Officers

Traditionally, police officers are trained to treat any matter that includes

the application of civil law as a hands-off issue. The essential legal concern is that police will inappropriately take sides—for example, supporting the rights of property owners over the rights of tenants. However, a

community-oriented approach requires that police address problems

that foster the growth of crime, fear, and disorder in a community.

Whether the solution to a community problem lies in criminal law, civil
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law, or a simple expectation of human decency, the officer’s choices

must be guided by the need to reduce crime and maintain order, and not

simply by the strength of the opportunity to make an arrest.

Training police officers to work differently with landlords and tenants is

one of many ways that police across the country are asking those who

“enforce” civil laws to become stronger partners in efforts to reduce

crime. For example, many cities, such as Oakland, Milwaukee, and Albuquerque, have strengthened the partnership between building code

enforcement and police. In effect, these building code enforcement

efforts are based on the recognition of the relationship between poor

property management and environments that promote drug and gang

activity in residential neighborhoods. To put it in civil law terminology,

these efforts help enforce the right of tenants to have decent and safe

living conditions.

The Landlord Training Program is another part of the same approach,

based on the recognition that dishonest tenants also contribute to an environment of drug and gang activity. Training landlords to be better

managers for their good tenants and stricter managers against livabilityharming behavior should be something that all law-abiding citizens can

agree on. To put it in civil law terminology, the Landlord Training Program helps enforce the right of landlords, neighbors, and other tenants

to live free of the threat of tenants who engage in, or permit, illegal activity on or near their residence.

When officers are trained in Landlord Training Program techniques,

they are first shown that many tenant/drug activity situations are preventable with effective property management. Then they are trained in

approaches for dealing with problems at rental properties that assume

the involvement of both owners and occupants. In one training, operated by the Gresham, Oregon, Police Department, officers are shown the

relationship between common criminal problems and the comparable

civil violations as defined in the state’s landlord/tenant law. One example of this relationship is a situation in which officers are called to the

same property night after night because tenants are chronically engaging in fights, shouting matches, loud parties, or other disruptive behavior. In addition to any criminal laws they are violating, tenants are

required by many state landlord/tenant laws to refrain from disturbing

their neighbors’ peace. It is appropriate for police to inform the landlord

about going to an address on this type of disturbance call. Any good

neighbor would notify the landlord, and there is no reason why an officer should not be expected to do the same. Showing officers the relationship between disturbance calls and landlord/tenant law violations

can help promote stronger communication between law enforcement

and landlords, and it potentially offers another avenue for quickly restoring order to a neighborhood.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

It could be said that police have not helped their communities by disregarding most landlord/tenant disputes with the classic expression, “It’s

a civil matter. We don’t deal with that.” Likewise, civilians (landlords,

tenants, or owner-occupants) have not helped their communities by assuming the reverse—that crime is purely a police matter. As confused

landlords have said many times, “The neighbors said my tenants are

dealing drugs, so I called the police and they will take it from there.”

Often, police have chosen not to work on a problem because they inaccurately see the issue as strictly civil in nature, while civilians avoid

working on a problem because they inaccurately see the issue as strictly

criminal. The message of the training program to both police officers

and civilians is entirely different; it is, “If a problem is harming the community, it is incumbent on both groups to find ways to fix it.”

In this regard, the program resonates strongly with a famous quotation

from Sir Robert Peel,14 who in 1829 described the role of police this way:

The police are the public; the public are the police. The police are

only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties that are incumbent on every citizen in the interest

of community welfare and existence.

That is the point of the Landlord Training Program as well. The program was not designed to determine whether police or civilians are

more to blame for a problem that harms the community welfare but to

remind both groups that they should be doing more to solve the problem. The program provides both groups the tools to do so.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Program Description

Notes

1. Based on posttraining questionnaire data collected in Portland

through the spring of 1993. Questionnaires were distributed to all participants at the end of each training session. Sample size was 3,335.

2. Six-month followup questionnaires were collected from 1989, 1990,

and 1991 trainees. Questionnaires were mailed to each of the 2,641

“groups” of landlords who attended the trainings in those years (a

“group” is one or more people responsible for the same property—in

many cases a husband and wife). In all, 1,512 questionnaires (56 percent)

were returned. The theoretic reliability of a sample of 1,512 out of a

population of 2,641 is ±1.7 percent, assuming a two-part variable with

results evenly split, 95-percent confidence level.

3. Ibid.

4. Letter from Capt. Robert G. Brooks, Portland Police Bureau, Drugs

and Vice Division, July 19, 1994. Capt. Brooks commanded the Drugs

and Vice Division prior to the implementation of landlord trainings in

Portland, moved on to other commands, and then resumed command of

the Drugs and Vice Division 5 years after the program began. For more

about the warning letter process, see Coordination With Civil Enforcement

Strategies, page 36.

5. Should procedures related to copyright permission change at a future

date, you will be advised of the new procedure at the time you submit

your request. There is no charge to public agencies for receiving copyright permission and, as of the date of this publication, no plans to

implement one.

6. Contact Det. Lt. David Bruess, Milwaukee Police Department, 749 W.

State Street, Room 427, Milwaukee, WI 53233. Phone: 414–935–7131.

7. This result is an outcome of the different levels of proof required—the

level of evidence required to evict, “preponderance,” is lower than that

required to convict, “beyond a reasonable doubt.” See the section on The

Role of the Police in the participant’s manual, Section II of this monograph, for more on this topic.

8. Karin A. Long, Landlord Training Program coordinator, Department

of Building Inspection, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

9. Contact Oakland Police Department, Beat Health Unit, 455 Seventh

Street, Oakland, CA 94607. Phone: 510–615–5808.
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Bureau of Justice Assistance

10. Focused Attack Linking Community Organizations and Neighborhoods (FALCON). The FALCON Narcotics Abatement Unit, organized

in 1990, comprises personnel from the Los Angeles Police Department,

City Attorney’s Office, and Department of Building and Safety. The

program’s four major objectives are: (1) eliminating narcotics nuisance

locations by encouraging cooperation of property owners, filing narcotics abatement lawsuits, and seizing real property; (2) establishing an integrated network of law enforcement and governmental agencies,

community-based organizations, and concerned citizens; (3) providing

neighborhood crime prevention and education programs to residents

and businesses in targeted areas; and (4) fostering community coalitions

among property owners, tenants, residents, and business owners.

11. Since the description regarding the Specified Crime Ordinance was

written, the city of Portland has created a more comprehensive “Chronic

Nuisance Ordinance” that covers a broader array of crimes. Enforcement is similar to that described for the Specified Crime Ordinance.

12. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Police Department also has a warning

letter program.

13. For comparison purposes, note that Portland has a city population of

approximately 500,000.

14. Sir Robert Peel, 1788–1850, English statesman considered the

“Founder of Modern Policing,” organized the London Metropolitan

Police Department in 1829 around nine core principles commonly

referred to today as “Peel’s Principles.”
Section II

National Landlord Training

Program Participant’s Manual

The following section reproduces the National Landlord Training Program Participant’s Manual

that landlords receive at training. It is provided in this monograph for law enforcement agencies because it is one of the simplest ways to show directly the content, scope, and paradigm

of the Landlord Training Program. This manual can be used directly to train landlords or can

be adapted to reflect local and state law to provide a more tailored document for a local

jurisdiction.
Landlord Training Program

KEEPING ILLEGAL ACTIVITY OUT OF RENTAL PROPERTY

National Program Manual

A Practical Guide for Landlords and Property Managers

Third National Edition

Originally funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance

Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Developed by

John H. Campbell, Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc.

Based on the Landlord Training Program Manual

originally developed for the City of Portland, Oregon

by Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc.

Various parts of this document provide broad descriptions of legal procedure. However, no

part of this manual should be regarded as legal advice or considered a replacement of a

landlord’s responsibility to be familiar with federal, state, and local laws governing a

particular jurisdiction. If you need legal advice, seek the services of a competent attorney.

Also, laws change. Information that is accurate at the time of printing may be rendered

obsolete by the passage of new laws or revised judicial interpretations of existing law.
Copyright 1993–1999 by Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc. Portions copyright 1992 by

the city of Portland, reprinted with permission. All rights reserved with the exception

that permission is granted for making complete, unedited, verbatim paper photocopies of

this document (Section II of this monograph in its entirety), including all attribution and

ownership notices. Public and nonprofit agencies desiring to obtain a no-cost license to

print excerpts, adapt, or make other uses of the Landlord Training Program materials may

review basic license conditions by visiting www.cdri.com/fineprn.html.

For additional information from Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc., about the Landlord

Training Program visit www.cdri.com, e-mail LTPinfo@cdri.com, or call 503–221–2005.

We request that any errors or significant omissions be noted and forwarded to the above

so that corrections in future versions may be made.

This project was made possible through cooperative agreements Nos. 87–SD–CX–K003,

89–DD–CX–0007, 91–DD–CX–0001, and 94–DD–CX–K014 awarded by the Bureau of

Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or

opinions contained within are those of Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc., and do not

necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also

includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.
5

Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant‘s Manual

The Landlord Training Program was developed originally by Campbell

DeLong Resources, Inc., for the Portland Police Bureau, with support and

assistance from the city of Portland’s Fire Bureau and Neighborhood

Crime Prevention Program, Office of Neighborhood Associations. Campbell DeLong Resources also created the national version of the Landlord

Training Program Manual and, 10 years after first creating the program,

continues to provides no-cost stewardship of the Landlord Training

Program materials.

We would like to acknowledge the considerable assistance provided by

the Drugs and Vice Division, Portland Police Bureau; Hazardous Materials

Team, Portland Fire Bureau; Housing Authority of Portland; Multi-Family

Housing Council of Oregon; Multnomah County Legal Aid; and the Oregon Apartment Association.

This national version of the manual has been greatly enhanced by suggestions collected from a range of property managers and law enforcement

agencies across the country. We should particularly mention that the Tucson, Arizona, Police Department provided indepth suggestions that improved the chapter on “Preparing the Property.” The city of Milwaukee,

Wisconsin, Department of Building Inspection, through dedicated efforts

to develop a Landlord Training Program in Milwaukee, has provided a

valuable opportunity to test and improve many of the concepts described

in this manual. The city of San Bernardino, California, has also tested and

developed new sections that appeared for the first time in the second edition of the National Edition of the Landlord Training Program Manual.

Work, support, and guidance were also provided by the city of Portland’s

Bureau of Buildings, Bureau of Community Development, City Attorney’s

Office, Energy Office, Mayor, and City Council; Health Division, Oregon

Department of Human Resources; Ater Wynne Hewitt Dodson & Skerritt;

Sandra J. Saunders, Lawyers; Background Investigations of Oregon; and

Tenant Screening Services, Inc.

We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the many landlords and

property managers who were interviewed during development of this

project. We also thank the people of the Sabin Community Association,

where it all began.

Acknowledgments
7

Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant‘s Manual

Foreword ....................................................................................................... 11

Points To Consider....................................................................................... 13

Know Your Local Landlord/Tenant Law............................ 13

Costs and Benefits.................................................................... 14

Costs of Drug Activity in Rentals.......................................... 14

Benefits of Active Management............................................. 15

Preparing the Property ............................................................................... 17

The Basics .................................................................................. 17

Keep the Property up to Habitability Standards ................ 17

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

Defined ...................................................................................... 17

Keep the Property Visible and Control Access ................... 19

Maintain the Property ............................................................. 21

Applicant Screening ................................................................................... 23

The Basics .................................................................................. 23

Overview ................................................................................... 23

Applicant Screening, Civil Rights, and Fair Housing ........ 23

Written Tenant Criteria: What To Post................................. 25

Introduction .............................................................................. 26

Screening Criteria .................................................................... 26

Rental Agreement .................................................................... 31

Other Forms and Procedures ................................................. 32

Regarding “Borderline” Applicants ..................................... 32

Application Information: What To Include ......................... 33

Fees and Application Deposits .............................................. 34

How To Verify Information ................................................... 35

A Note About Hiring .............................................................. 38

How To Turn Down an Applicant ........................................ 39

Other Screening Tips and Warning Signs ............................ 41

Contents
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Rental Agreements ...................................................................................... 45

The Basics .................................................................................. 45

Use a Current Rental Agreement .......................................... 45

Month-to-Month or Long-Term Lease? ............................... 45

Elements To Emphasize .......................................................... 46

Lease Addendum Forbidding Illegal Activity .................... 48

Inspecting the Property Prior to Moving In ........................ 48

Resident’s Handbook .............................................................. 49

Key Pickup ................................................................................ 49

Good Ongoing Management .................................................................... 51

The Basics .................................................................................. 51

Do Not Bend Your Rules ........................................................ 51

Responsibilities Defined ......................................................... 52

Landlords .................................................................................. 52

Tenants ...................................................................................... 54

Property Inspections ............................................................... 55

Utilities ...................................................................................... 56

Keep a Paper Trail ................................................................... 56

Trade Phone Numbers With Neighbors .............................. 57

Apartment Watch/Promoting Community ............................................. 59

The Basics .................................................................................. 59

Benefits ...................................................................................... 59

Key Elements ............................................................................ 60

Warning Signs of Drug Activity .............................................................. 65

The Basics .................................................................................. 65

The Drugs.................................................................................. 65

Signs of Drug Activity in Residential Property .................. 67

What To Do If You Discover a Clandestine Lab ................................... 73

The Basics .................................................................................. 73

The Danger: Toxic Chemicals in Unpredictable

Situations................................................................................... 73

Contents (continued)

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant‘s Manual

What To Do If You Find a Lab ............................................... 74

“How Do the ‘Cooks’ Survive?”............................................ 76

Crisis Resolution ......................................................................................... 77

The Basics .................................................................................. 77

Act Immediately ...................................................................... 77

The Secret to Good, Low-Cost Legal Help .......................... 78

What To Do When a Neighbor Calls With a Complaint ... 79

How To Serve Notice .............................................................. 82

What Evidence Is Required .................................................... 83

The Court Process .................................................................... 84

If You Have a Problem With Neighboring Property ......... 84

The Role of the Police ................................................................................. 89

The Basics .................................................................................. 89

Defining the Roles: Landlords and Police ........................... 89

What To Expect ........................................................................ 90

Fines, Forfeiture, and Other Penalties .................................. 91

The Section 8 Program ............................................................................... 93

The Basics .................................................................................. 93

Benefits ...................................................................................... 93

Misconceptions ........................................................................ 93

Resources .................................................................................................... 97

Property Management Associations ..................................... 97

Tenant Screening Services ...................................................... 97

Crime Prevention/Apartment Watch .................................. 97

Community-Based Organizations......................................... 98

Section 8 Rent Assistance Program ....................................... 98

Laws and Ordinances ............................................................. 98

Contents (continued)
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant‘s Manual

Foreword

Chronic drug dealing and other illegal activity can reduce a neighborhood

to a mere shell of the healthy community it once was. In our frustration we

often look only to the police or “the system” for solutions to crime and forget that neighbors and landlords have tremendous power over the basic

health of a community.

To be sure, both city government and police agencies have a critical responsibility to facilitate strong communities, but we as citizens—landlords, tenants, and homeowners—remain the foundation that makes it all

work. Citizens decide which problems in their community require action.

Typically, city agencies respond to a problem only after citizens recognize

and report illegal activity. When a problem arises, one of the first and most

important decisions is made by the affected homeowners, tenants, and

landlords—ignore the problem, run from it, or take action to solve it. Each

of us plays a different role in addressing these problems; each bears a

responsibility to keep a community strong.

The most effective way to address illegal activity occurring on rental

properties is a coordinated effort among police, landlords, and neighbors.

Efforts are under way to encourage neighbors to assume more responsibility for preventing crime on their blocks. Efforts are also under way to improve the way police address problems with drug activity in residential

neighborhoods. What you can do is learn how to keep illegal activity off

your property and make a commitment to removing or stopping it the

moment it occurs.

This manual is intended to help honest tenants rent from responsible

landlords while preventing tenants involved in illegal activity from abusing rental properties and the surrounding neighborhoods. We know that,

in the past, abuses of the property rental system have come from both

sides. We also know that most landlords want to be fair and that most

tenants are good people. Responsible property management and ownership begins with the idea that such actions will benefit the whole community. If the information provided herein is used responsibly, all of us—

tenants, landlords, and owner occupants—will enjoy safer, more stable

neighborhoods.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

Points To Consider

Know Your Local Landlord/Tenant Law

In this manual we cannot address the specifics of the landlord/tenant

law in every state; it would take 50 different manuals to do so, because

every state’s law is different. While federal fair housing law applies nationwide, most laws that regulate rental relationships are local. Even

among the many states that have adopted a version of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, differences in state laws remain. Following are a few examples of differences in state regulations:

❑ Some states allow local communities to establish rent-control laws;

other states do not.

❑ In many communities, a landlord may evict a tenant without cause,

while in some communities only for-cause or “just-cause” evictions

are allowed.

❑ In each state the options, causes, notices, and procedures for

enforcing landlord/tenant law and lease requirements vary.

❑ The length of time involved in regaining legal possession of a rental

unit varies significantly from state to state.

❑ “Case law” also varies among states—even when two states’ laws

appear similar, they may have a history of being interpreted

differently by the courts in the two jurisdictions.

❑ Some local communities have civil rights laws that go beyond the

classes defined in federal fair housing law (race, color, religion,

gender, handicap, national origin, and familial status). For example,

some localities prohibit discrimination on the basis of marital status,

sexual orientation, or source of income. Some jurisdictions limit the

degree to which one may discriminate against persons who have

been convicted of a crime.

Despite the differences, the philosophy behind the landlord/tenant law

in each state is often very similar—landlord/tenant laws define a balance between the rights of rental owners to control, protect, and benefit

from their investments and the rights of tenants to control, protect, and

enjoy their private homes. Unfortunately, the balancing act results in

some dissatisfaction on both sides. Scratch the surface in most states and

you will quickly find people who believe the local laws are “stacked

against the landlord” and others who believe with equal fervor that the

laws are unfair to tenants.

What we have also found—on both sides—is a surprising high level of

misinformation. We have repeatedly heard landlords inaccurately tell us
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Bureau of Justice Assistance

that the law “ties their hands” in ways that it does not and heard tenants

express fear about powers that landlords do not actually have. We have

also spoken with attorneys who are mistaken about the content of the

landlord/tenant law. Given this experience, our suggestion is this: Do

not necessarily believe “folk law,” and do not assume that a person who

claims to be a legal expert is one. If legal assistance is needed, find an

attorney who specializes in landlord/tenant issues and read the local

landlord/tenant statutes. Remember that the best chance for a fair application of landlord/tenant law comes with complete knowledge of the

law.

Costs and Benefits

Community-oriented property management is good business. Landlords

and property managers who apply the active property management

principles presented in this manual, and in the accompanying training,

have consistently seen improvements in the quality of their rental businesses. Applying the information presented in this training can result in

significant benefits to each of the three interest groups in a residential

neighborhood—whole communities can become safer, residents can enjoy better housing, and landlords can enjoy greater business success.

Here’s how it works.

Costs of Drug Activity in Rentals

When drug criminals operate out of rental property, neighborhoods suffer and landlords pay a high price. That price may include the following:

❑ Declines in property values, particularly when the activity begins

affecting the reputation of the neighborhood.

❑ Property damage arising from abuse, retaliation, or neglect.

❑ Toxic contamination and/or fire resulting from drug manufacturing

or growing operations.

❑ Civil penalties, including loss of property use, and property damage

resulting from police raids.

❑ Loss of rent during eviction and repair periods.

❑ Fear and frustration from dealing with dangerous tenants.

❑ Increased resentment and anger between neighbors and property

managers.

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

Benefits of Active Management

Active management can prevent much of the rental-based drug crime

occurring today. Developing an active management style requires a

commitment to establishing a new approach to property management.

Landlords and managers interviewed for this program who switched to

more active management consistently report the following benefits:

❑ A stable, more satisfied tenant base.

❑ Increased demand for rental units.

❑ Lower maintenance and repair costs.

❑ Improved property values.

❑ Improved personal safety for tenants, landlords, and managers.

❑ Peace of mind from spending more time on routine management and

less on crisis control.

❑ Appreciative neighbors.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

Preparing the Property

The Basics

Make sure the aesthetic and physical nature of the property is attractive

to honest renters and unattractive to dishonest ones.

Keep the Property up to Habitability

Standards

Maintaining housing standards is important to the public welfare and it

protects against neighborhood decay. In addition, a substandard rental

unit is more likely to attract drug criminals—it announces to potential

criminals that the landlord’s standards are low and that inappropriate

tenant behavior is likely to be overlooked.

In addition, it can be time consuming and expensive to evict a problem

tenant from a poorly maintained unit if the tenant is knowledgeable

about housing laws. Landlord/tenant laws generally protect tenants

from retaliation if the tenant complains that a landlord has not complied

with minimum housing standards. If a landlord attempts to evict a problem tenant from a substandard unit, a court may weigh the behavior of a

problem tenant against the actions of a problem landlord. In effect, landlords who fail to meet their responsibilities under the law may find that

they have compromised their rights under the law as well.

Before renting your property, make sure it meets applicable local maintenance code, the habitability requirements of your local landlord/tenant law, and—if you rent to Section 8 tenants—the U.S. Department of

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) standards for “decent, safe,

and sanitary” housing. While many of the basic elements of these requirements will overlap, they will not do so entirely, so you will need to

check all three sources to make sure you are in compliance. For a general

discussion of basic requirements of these codes, see the chapter “Good

Ongoing Management.” For the specific code that affects your area,

review applicable state and local laws.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental

Design Defined

Crime prevention through environmental design, known as CPTED

(pronounced “sep ted”), is a field of knowledge developed in response

to research demonstrating that the architecture of some buildings deters

crime while the architecture of other buildings encourages it. The

Make the environment part of the

solution.

ADVICE GIVEN:

“Drug people don’t like to

be seen. They can set up

anywhere, but the farther

they are from the manager’s

office, or the more hidden

the house is from view, the

better they like it.”

—Police officer
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CPTED concept was originally designed to help reduce crime to a property (e.g., a burglar breaking in). This theory is now used to keep crime

from a property (e.g., eliminate drug dealing, drug manufacturing, and

illegal gang activity that originates from a property), as well.

CPTED concepts stress the importance of combining lighting, landscaping, and building design to create an environment where drug dealers,

burglars, and other criminals do not feel comfortable. Basic steps include

making it difficult to break into a property, closing off likely escape

routes, and making sure public areas can be easily observed by people

living nearby as they go about their normal activity. The four basic elements of CPTED are as follows:1

1. Natural surveillance. Crime is less likely to occur if criminals believe

they will be observed. Actions you can take to increase natural surveillance include keeping shrubs trimmed so they do not block the

view from windows or porches; installing glass peepholes so children

and adults can see who is at the door before they open it; pruning tree

branches that hang below 6 feet; installing low-energy-usage outdoor

lighting along walkways; installing motion-activated lights in private

areas such as driveways; keeping drapes or blinds open during the

day; and leaving porch lights on at night.

2. Access control. Control the entries and exits. Crime is less likely to

occur if criminals believe that entry to property is difficult or that

escape routes are blocked. Examples range from something as simple

as a locked door to a more sophisticated 24-hour guard station or

remote-activated gate. The benefits of access control apply to

individual apartments too—install deadbolt locks on doors and

security pins in windows and sliding-glass doors. In high-rise

apartments, the “buzzer” for opening the front door from inside an

apartment is another access control device.

3. Territoriality. Make a psychological impression that someone cares

about the property and will engage in its defense. Conveying territoriality is accomplished by posting signs, maintaining general

cleanliness and high maintenance standards, and encouraging

residents to politely question strangers. Signs that tell visitors to

“report to the manager,” define rules of conduct, warn against

trespassing, or merely announce neighborhood boundaries are all

part of asserting territoriality. Cleaning graffiti off property quickly

(within 24 hours) or painting a mural on a blank wall sends a

territorial message as well.

1

 Although research on CPTED goes back decades, the description given here is based

on information provided by the Tucson, Arizona, Police Department’s Safe By Design

Program.

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

4. Activity support. Increase the presence of law-abiding citizens to

decrease opportunities for criminals. Neighborhood features that are

not used for legitimate activities are magnets for illegal activities.

Organizing events or improving public services in parks and school

yards, holding outdoor gatherings on hot summer nights, and

accommodating bicyclists, joggers, and fitness walkers are all

examples of activities that can increase community presence in public

areas, thereby decreasing opportunities for illegal activity in these

spaces.

How these concepts are best applied in a given property depends on

many factors, including the existing landscaping, building architecture,

availability of resident managers, management practices, presence of

security personnel, desires of law-abiding residents, and more.

Keep the Property Visible and

Control Access

The following are some recommended “first steps” for making CPTED

changes to rental property. Taken alone, few of the following elements

will have a significant impact on crime. Implemented together, these

steps will stop some drug operators from wanting to move into the

property and will make it easier for neighbors (or surveillance teams) to

observe and document illegal activity should it start. Initial CPTED

steps include:

❑ Use lighting to its best advantage. Install photosensitive lighting

over all entrances. Buyers, sellers, and manufacturers of illegal drugs

do not like to be seen. At a minimum, the front door, back door, and

other outside property entrances should be equipped with energyefficient flood lighting that is either motion or light sensitive—turns

on for a few minutes when a person approaches or turns on at sunset

and stays on till dawn. Backyards and other areas should also be

appropriately illuminated. Although lights should be used to illuminate the entrances and surrounding grounds, they should not

shine harshly into windows. Be sure applicants understand that

exterior lighting is part of the rental cost and that it must be left on.

Managers of apartment complexes should make sure that all

walkways, activity areas, and parking lots are well lit, especially

along the property perimeter. Covered parking areas should have

lighting installed under the canopy. All fixtures should be vandal

resistant. Landscape planning should take into account how future

plant growth will affect lighting patterns.

❑ Make sure fences do not obstruct views. If you install fencing, chain

link or wrought iron types are best because they limit access without

offering a place to hide. Wood fencing can also be used effectively,
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Bureau of Justice Assistance

provided wide gaps are left between the boards. In some cases you

might also consider a lower fence height—for example, 4 feet high

instead of 6. Consider replacing or modifying wood fences that have

minimal gaps between boards, and regularly trim hedges along

fences.

❑ Keep bushes around windows and doorways well trimmed. Bushes

should not impair the view through entrances and windows. Tree

branches near ground level should also be trimmed to keep people

from hiding in them.

❑ Post addresses clearly. Only a drug operator will benefit if addresses

are difficult to read from the street. When address numbers are

faded, hidden by shrubs, not illuminated at night, or simply falling

off, neighbors will have one more hurdle to cross before reporting

illegal activity, and police will have more difficulty finding the

correct unit when called.

Large apartment complexes should have a permanent map of the

complex, including a “you are here” point of reference, at each

driveway entrance. These maps should be clearly visible in all

weather and well lit. If the complex consists of multiple buildings,

make sure building numbers can be read easily from any adjacent

parking area, both day and night. Also make sure that rental units

are numbered in a logical and consistent manner so that police can

locate the appropriate unit as rapidly as possible.

❑ Control traffic flow and access. In larger complexes, control access

points to deter pedestrian passers-by from entering the property;

then do the same for automobile traffic. People involved in drug

activity prefer “drive through” parking lots—those with multiple

exits. Consider blocking some parking exits, adding fencing, and

rerouting traffic so all automobile and foot traffic, coming and going,

must pass the same point—within view of the manager’s office.

If more traffic control is needed, issue parking permits to tenants.

Post signs forbidding cars without permits to use the lot. Towing

companies that specialize in this type of business can provide signs,

usually for a nominal setup fee. Depending on the availability of

street parking for guests, either deny guest parking altogether or

limit it to specific spaces. Be consistent in having violators towed

away. Remember, it is your parking lot, not a public one.

❑ Before building, design for a strong sense of community. Each of

the other steps described in this section should be integrated into

building plans to help design a safer rental unit from the start. In

addition, for apartment complexes in particular, building plans

should include design elements that will help foster a sense of

community. Recreational areas and other community facilities can

help encourage neighbors to become acquainted. Building layouts

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

should nurture more personalized neighborhood environments

rather than reinforce feelings of isolation and separation from the

community.

Maintain the Property

Housing that looks cared for will not only attract good tenants, it will

also discourage many prospective tenants who are involved in illegal

activity. Changes that help communicate an image of “safe, quiet, and

clean” may further protect the premises from persons who want housing where chronic problem activity may be tolerated. While these approaches are useful in any type of rental property, because of the

day-to-day control that apartment owners have over the common areas

of their property, the following approaches can make a particularly

strong difference in multifamily complexes:

❑ Remove graffiti quickly. Graffiti may be the random work of a

juvenile delinquent or the work of a gang member marking territory.

Regardless of who created it, graffiti serves as an invitation for more

problems, and it can demoralize and intimidate a neighborhood. If

you believe graffiti may be gang related, call the police. Next, remove

the graffiti or paint over it. Remove it again if it reappears—do not let

it become an eyesore.

❑ Repair vandalism. As with graffiti, an important part of discouraging

vandalism is to repair damages quickly. If the vandalism appears to

be directed at you or your tenants, the police should be advised

immediately, and you should discuss with the police additional

approaches to address the situation.

❑ Keep the exterior looking clean and fresh. Freshly painted buildings, well-tended garden strips, and litter-free grounds help communicate that the property is maintained by someone who cares

about what happens there.
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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

Applicant Screening

The Basics

Attract honest tenants while discouraging dishonest applicants from applying for housing. Have a backup system to help determine if a dishonest person has applied. Use a process that is legal, simple, and fair.

Overview

There are two ways to screen out potentially troublesome tenants.

1. Encourage self-screening. Establish situations that discourage

dishonest persons from applying for housing. Every drug dealer who

chooses not to apply is one more you do not have to investigate.

2. Uncover past behavior. Often, a thorough background check will

reveal poor references, an inconsistent credit rating, or falsehoods on

the application.

The goal is to weed out, as early as possible, any applicants planning

illegal behavior. Screening applicants will save you time, money, and all

the entanglements of getting into a legal contract with people who may

damage your property and harm the neighborhood.

It is just as important that applicants read and understand the rules and

the process as it is for you to implement the process initially. Implementing elements of the following suggestions may help protect you

legally. Making sure that an applicant knows your commitment to the

process may help prevent problems.

However, we must also offer a word of caution. If you are looking for a

one-step solution, you will not find it here. There are no “magic” phone

numbers you can call to get perfect information about applicants and

their backgrounds. Effective property management requires adopting an

attitude and approach that will discourage illegal behavior while encouraging the stabilization, and eventual growth, of your honest tenant

base. What makes the following process so effective is not any individual step, but the cumulative value of the approach.

Applicant Screening, Civil Rights, and

Fair Housing

Landlords are sometimes confused about their rights in turning down

applicants. A few landlords even believe that civil rights laws require

An ounce of

prevention...

COMPLAINTS HEARD:†

“People say you should

screen your tenants. You

can’t. The applicants lie

about their previous landlord—they give you a fake

address and the phone

number of their brother.

You call up the brother, he

plays along, and you never

discover they were evicted

at the last two houses they

rented.”

“I thought I was calling the

previous landlord and it

was the applicant’s parents—and the parents

played along. It ended up

in eviction some months

later.”

“We can’t screen tenants

worth anything. If you

don’t do it right, you could

be sued for discrimination.

So you check to see if they

have income and that’s it.”

ADVICE GIVEN:

“I went to a meeting for

landlords about these issues. I was surprised—most

people in the room

couldn’t understand why

they were getting bad tenants. They just couldn’t see

that there are ways to keep

that from happening.”

†

 Unless noted, quotes are

from landlords or professional

property managers. Note that

some “complaints” contain

inaccurate or incomplete

assumptions about legal rights

or procedures.

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Bureau of Justice Assistance

them to accept virtually any applicant; this is not the case. Civil rights

laws are designed to protect the way applicants are screened and to

make sure that all qualified applicants feel equally invited to apply. Federal fair housing guidelines prohibit discrimination based on race, color,

religion, sex, handicap, national origin, or familial status (presence of

children). Many state and local governments add other categories—

marital status, sexual orientation, source of income, or participation in a

government subsidy program are common examples. The purpose of

these laws is to prevent discrimination based on protected class criteria.

Nothing in the fair housing laws forbids you from setting fair screening

guidelines and applying them equally to all applicants.

Keep in mind that every person belongs to these protected classes—each

of us can be defined in terms of our race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, for example. So any time you deny an applicant, you have,

in a sense, denied someone who belongs to a protected class. The question is whether or not you treat applicants or tenants unfairly because of

the class to which they belong. If the criteria you set are blind to class

issues and you apply them consistently, then you may turn down applicants who do not meet your criteria.

The key lies in making sure your screening process is fair—that it neither directly nor indirectly discriminates on the basis of one of the federally defined protected classes or other classes that may also be protected

in your community. To comply, you should design a fair process and apply it consistently and equally to all applicants. The following examples

are consistent with federal fair housing guidelines:

❑ You may have a rule that requires all applicants to show a photo

I.D.,2

 so you could turn down applicants who cannot produce one.

The practice becomes illegal when you apply the rule inconsistently—

requiring I.D. from people of one class but not requiring it from those

of another.

❑ You could give a document to all applicants that outlines the rules of

the property and warns against selling drugs on the property. The

practice becomes illegal when you give it to applicants of one class,

but do not give it to persons of another. Should you develop such a

document, make sure the wording does not discourage members of a

protected class from applying.

❑ You could refuse to rent to anyone who lies to you during the

application process or provides false information on the application.

This is both legal and highly appropriate.

❑ You could require all applicants who intend to park an automobile on

your property to show current car registration, proof of insurance, and a

2 In those states where “age” is specifically defined as a protected class in rental housing,

a landlord may need to exercise particular care in asking for a photo I.D.—which will

typically show date of birth—to ensure that the process is done in a manner consistent

with local law.

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

ADVICE GIVEN:

“Most landlords, even some

‘pros,’ are still practicing the

old way of doing things—

they take a social security

number, make one phone

call, and rent to the person.

Then they wonder where

the problems are coming

from. Well, the old methods don’t work anymore.”

“I’ve just quit relying on

character judgment. For

managing rental property,

it does not work. I have a

set application process,

written down. Applicants

must meet all the criteria. If

they do, I rent to them. If

they don’t, I don’t. It is

simple, legal, and fair. At

this point, every one of my

properties has good people

in it.”

“Many landlords are frightened of the fair housing

laws. Some believe they

can’t screen at all. If landlords establish a fair screening procedure and follow it

equally for each applicant,

they will have a very

strong case against discrimination lawsuits.”

“When I call previous landlords to verify an applicant’s

record, most are surprised

to get a screening call from

another landlord—apparently it happens too

rarely.”

valid driver’s license along with their completed rental application. You

could deny tenancy to those who wish to have a car on the property

without showing such documentation. Of course, if the person does not

plan to keep a car, the requirement would be waived.

There is nothing illegal about setting fair criteria and holding all applicants to the same standards. Through the consistent use of such guidelines you can retain full and appropriate control over who lives in your

rental units and who does not.

Finally, as you study the letter of the law, keep its spirit in mind as well. The

sooner we eliminate the types of discrimination that weaken our communities, the sooner we can build a stronger, more equitable society.

Written Tenant Criteria: What To Post

Many of the attorneys and legislative authorities interviewed for this

program recommend developing written rental criteria and posting a

copy of those criteria in your rental office. If you do not have a rental office that all applicants visit, they suggest attaching a copy of the criteria

to every application you give out.

If you are going to use written criteria, remember to ask applicants to

read the document. Posting information is of limited prevention value

unless applicants know it is there.

The following is intended as a generic example of information a manager might post and direct each applicant to read. The intent of posting

these criteria is to encourage every honest tenant to apply while providing dishonest applicants with an early incentive to seek housing

elsewhere.

By itself, this information will deter only a few people involved in illegal

activity; most have heard tough talk before. Many drug dealers expect

landlords to be too interested in collecting rent to care about applicant

screening. It is important to follow through in word and action—continually reinforce the point that you enjoy helping honest tenants find

good housing through your careful screening process, then follow

through and actually screen the applicants.

While we have attempted to make sure the following sections adhere to

the goals of national fair housing guidelines, there may be criteria listed

that do not meet the requirements of some state or local civil rights laws.

Further, complying with federal and local civil rights laws involves

much more than the language used in the applicant screening process.

If you are not familiar with your fair housing responsibilities, seek information from a local rental housing association or from an attorney who

specializes in the subject.

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Bureau of Justice Assistance

You should adjust the following criteria as appropriate for your own

needs. Whatever criteria you set, have them reviewed by an attorney

familiar with current landlord/tenant issues before posting.

Introduction

It is important to “set the tone” for your applicants—make sure that

law-abiding, responsible applicants want to apply and that dishonest

and irresponsible applicants begin to think twice about applying for

housing at your property. The following is one possible approach:

We are working with neighbors and other landlords in this area

to maintain the quality of the neighborhood. We want to make

sure that people do not use rental units for illegal activity. To

that end, we have a thorough screening process.

If you meet the application criteria and are accepted, you will

have the peace of mind of knowing that other renters in this area

[apartment complex] are being screened with equal care and, as a

result, there may be a reduced risk of illegal activity occurring in

the area.

Please review our list of criteria. If you feel you meet the criteria,

please apply.

Please note that we provide equal housing opportunity; we do not

discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, national

origin, or familial status [add other protected classes as required

by state and local law].

Screening Criteria

A complete application is required for each adult. One

application for each adult (18 years of age or older). If a line

is not filled in, or the omission is not explained satisfactorily,

we will return the application to you.

This criterion helps ensure that every application provides enough information for you to make an informed decision. One of the simpler

methods of hiding a person’s financial history is to “forget” to fill in the

social security number or date of birth on the application form. Without

a full name, social security number, and date of birth, credit checks cannot be run. To a person contemplating illegal activity, this requirement

will communicate a very basic message—that you will actually screen

your applicants. That message alone will turn away some applicants.

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

This rule also allows you to require an application from each adult and

not just the person with a good rental history. People involved in illegal

activity may have friends and roommates who still have good credit or a

good rental history. The obvious approach for such people is to have the

person with the good rental history apply, then follow that person into

the unit. You have a right to know who is planning to live in the unit, so

require an application and verify the information for each person.

Two pieces of I.D. must be shown. We require a photo I.D. (a

driver’s license or other government-issued photo identification card) and a second piece of I.D. as well. Present them with

your completed application.

This is a simple and effective rule. Note that the second piece of identification does not have to be very “official”—generally a credit card, a student I.D., or many other types of cards will do. The issue is that a person

who carries false identification may not have two pieces of false I.D. under the same name. Also, especially if you are in a state or local jurisdiction

where age is specifically defined as a protected class in rental housing, it will

be important to verify your procedure for reviewing photo I.D. with an

experienced landlord-tenant attorney prior to implementing this policy.

Your rental history must be verified by unbiased sources.

If you are related by blood or marriage to one of the previous

landlords listed, or your rental history does not include at least

two previous landlords, we will require a qualified cosigner on

your rental agreement (qualified cosigners must meet all applicant screening criteria) or an additional security deposit of $____.

It is your responsibility to provide us with the information

necessary to contact your past landlords. We reserve the right to

deny your application if, after making a good faith effort, we are

unable to verify your rental history.

If you owned—rather than rented—your previous home, you

will need to furnish mortgage company references and proof of

title ownership or transfer.

Variations of this rule have been used by many landlords to address the

issue of renting to persons who do not have a rental history or who say,

“I last rented from my mother (or another relative).” This makes it

harder for a dishonest applicant to avoid the consequences of past illegal

behavior—if asked to provide a reference, loyal relatives may say a

potential tenant is reliable, but they may think twice about cosigning a

rental agreement if they know that is not true.
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If requiring a cosigner seems unwieldy for your type of rentals, you

may want to offer a different option, such as requiring additional prepaid rent or a security deposit from people who do not have a verifiable

rental history. Of course, check your local law for any guidelines on the

amount of allowable fees or deposits.

You must have sufficient income/resources. If the combination of your monthly personal debt, utility costs, and rent

payments will exceed ___% of your monthly income before

taxes, we will require a qualified cosigner on your rental

agreement (or an additional deposit of $___). If the combination exceeds ___% of your monthly income, your application

will be denied.

We must be able to verify independently the amount and

stability of your income through sources such as pay stubs,

employer/source contacts, or tax records. If you are selfemployed, you will be required to submit a business license,

tax records, bank records, or a list of client references.

You can, and should, verify self-employment. Drug dealers may describe themselves as self-employed on the assumption that you will

have to take their word as verification. Some will be unprepared to supply tax returns, a copy of a business license, or other verification.

Note that it may be appropriate to remove all income requirements for

Section 8 applicants because your local public housing agency (PHA)

will have determined already the amount of the subsidy based on the

ability to pay. Also, some landlords include a condition for applicants

who do not have a regular monthly income but do have substantial savings on which to draw. Landlords who set such guidelines often define

a minimum cash net worth (described as a multiple of the monthly rent)

for people in this category.

Section 8 applicants must allow information access. Section

8 applicants must sign a consent form allowing the local

public housing agency to verify information regarding their

rental history.

New HUD guidelines permit PHAs to allow the landlord to verify certain information in the applicant’s Section 8 file. Check with your local

PHA to find out how the guidelines are applied in your area.

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False information is grounds for denial. Your application will

be denied if you misrepresent any information on the application. If misrepresentations are found after a rental agreement is

signed, your rental agreement will be terminated.

If applicants are not honest with you, you may turn them down; it’s that

simple.

Criminal convictions for certain types of crimes will result

in denial of your application. Your application will be denied

if, in the last ___ years, you have been convicted of any type of

crime [including the manufacture or distribution of controlled

substances] that would be considered a serious threat to real

property or to other residents’ peaceful enjoyment of the

premises.

This criterion is more controversial than it may seem, because even

people who have been convicted of a crime need a place to live. In

some states people who have been convicted of a crime and served their

time are granted limited protected-class status. Check local laws for

an approach that will be appropriate. Do not use this requirement as a

crutch—many drug dealers have not yet been convicted of a crime. In

addition, few people who are planning to use a rental for illegal activity,

whether or not they have a criminal record, will have a clean, verifiable

rental history. If you are performing the other recommended screening

steps conscientiously, this criterion will often be unnecessary.

In this regard, we note that very experienced property managers will

sometimes accept an applicant with specific types of recent criminal

convictions, provided additional conditions are met such as a qualified

cosigner on the lease and an interview with the applicant’s parole or

probation officer prior to moving in. However, while such an approach

may be appropriate for skilled landlords with few problems on their

properties, it is generally a very poor idea for inexperienced landlords

or those who are already struggling to remove existing illegal activity

from their rental property.
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Certain court judgments against you may result in denial

of your application. If in the past ___ years you have been

through a court-ordered eviction, or had any judgment against

you for financial delinquency, your application will be denied.

This restriction may be waived if there has not been more than

one such incident, the circumstances can be justified, and you

provide a qualified cosigner on your rental agreement.

Although in most cases you may turn down an applicant who has been

through a recent court-ordered eviction, we recommend maintaining

flexibility in some instances. After all, some evictions are not deserved.

It also seems inherently fairer to give people who have made a single

mistake the chance to improve.

A poor credit record (overdue accounts) may result in denial

of your application. Credit records showing occasional payments within ___ days past due will be acceptable, provided you

can justify the circumstances. Records showing payments after

___ days are not acceptable.

If you are renting your property, you are effectively making a loan of

your property to your tenant. Banks do not loan money to people with

poor credit; you do not have to loan the use of your property to such

persons either.

You also may want to stipulate exceptions for late payment of specific

types of bills. For example, you might wish to allow exceptions if the

only unpaid bills are for medical expenses. However, regardless of what

exceptions you define, remember that it is a very poor idea to accept

tenants who have a history of not paying previous landlords—if they

did not pay the last landlord, they may not pay you either.

Poor references from previous landlords may result in denial

of your application. You will be turned down if previous landlords report significant complaints such as repeated disturbance

of the neighbors’ peace; reports of prostitution, drug dealing, or

drug manufacturing; damage to the property beyond normal

wear; reports of violence or threats to landlords or neighbors;

allowing persons not on the lease to reside on the premises; and

failure to give proper notice when vacating the property.

Also, you will be turned down if a previous landlord would be

disinclined to rent to you again for any reason pertaining to

lease-violations by you, your pets, or others allowed on the

property during your tenancy.

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Check your local laws for the behaviors you can list in this type of requirement. The preceding example uses a combination of violations

listed in one state’s landlord/tenant law and the suggested screening

criteria for landlords and rental agreement requirements commonly

used by landlords.

There is a $___ earnest deposit, conditionally refundable. If

you are accepted as a tenant, the deposit will be applied to

your security deposit. If you withdraw your application after

we have incurred screening expenses, we will not refund

your deposit. In all other cases, the deposit will be refunded.

This is another policy that may not be legal in all states. For landlords

who can use it, the key is to ensure that every applicant who does apply

is committed to renting the unit, so the landlord does not waste time

and money screening applicants who are not planning to rent. This requirement may also discourage some people involved in illegal activity

from applying. See the discussion on page 34 for more on this topic.

We will accept the first qualified applicant.

In the interest of ensuring that you meet the requirements of fair housing law, this is the best policy to set. Take applications in order, noting

the date and time on each one. Start with the first application. If that

applicant meets your requirements, go no further—offer the unit to the

first applicant. This is the fairest policy you can set, and it helps ensure

that you do not introduce inappropriate reasons for discriminating

when choosing between two qualified applicants.

Rental Agreement

Some landlords post a copy of the rental agreement next to their screening requirements; others offer a copy of the rental agreement to anyone

who wishes to review it. The key is to make sure that each applicant is

aware of the importance you place on the rental agreement. In addition,

you may want to set a procedure to ensure that every applicant is aware

of the key elements of the agreement that limit a tenant’s ability to allow

others to move onto the property without the landlord’s permission.

One approach is the following:
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If your application is accepted, you will be required to sign a

rental agreement in which you will agree to abide by the rules of

the rental unit or complex. A complete copy of our rental agreement is available for anyone who would like to review it. In particular, in addition to other important requirements, please note

that your rental agreement will:

❑ Require that you prevent all household members, guests,

and visitors from engaging in any lease-violating behavior.

❑ Forbid you and any member of your household, or your

guests, from engaging in illegal drug use, sale, manufacture,

distribution, or other criminal activity on or near the property.

❑ Limit your ability to allow guests to stay for long periods

without the advance permission of the landlord.

❑ Provide that serious or repeated violations of the lease

requirements on these items, or any other item addressed by

the rental agreement, will result in termination of your rental

agreement.

Please read the rental agreement carefully, because we take each

part of the agreement seriously. The agreement has been written

to help us prevent illegal activity from disturbing the peace of

our rental units and to help make sure that our tenants are given

the best housing we can provide.

Other Forms and Procedures

At this point, you may want to post information, as applicable, about

waiting list policies, security deposits, prepaid rent, pet deposits, checkin/check-out forms, smoke detector compliance, and other issues relating to rental of the unit.

Regarding “Borderline” Applicants

The preceding criteria include a number of examples in which exceptions can be made in borderline cases if the applicant can provide a

cosigner. Alternately, some flexibility can be introduced by setting rules

that require borderline applicants to provide larger deposits or more

prepaid rent (check local law for limits on additional amounts that can

be charged). Introducing such flexibility in your application process can

ensure, for example, that you do not turn down good applicants who

have a single justifiable problem on their credit report. Use of such conditions can result in a fairer process for your applicants as well. As with

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all aspects of managing rental housing, apply your policies for borderline applicants consistently regardless of the protected class of the

applicant.

Application Information: What To Include

The best approach to drafting a rental application is to avoid reinventing

the wheel—contact a local legal publishing company, a rental housing

association, or your own attorney for copies of appropriate forms that

are currently in use. Whether you are using application forms or rental

agreements, make sure you have forms that are designed specifically for

the laws that govern your area and are up to date with any recent

changes in these laws.

Required information on most standard forms includes the following:

❑ Full name (first, middle, and last).

❑ Date of birth (check local law for regulations that may impact the

legality of a landlord asking for date of birth on an application).

❑ Driver’s license/I.D. number and state where it was issued.

❑ Social security number (this is necessary for a credit check).

❑ Name, date of birth, and relationship of all people who are going to

occupy the premises.

❑ Name, address, and phone number of last two landlords.

❑ Income/employment history for the past year. Income or salary

information should include contact/supervisor’s name, phone

number, and address. If the applicant is self-employed, require a

copy of the business license, tax returns, bank records, or client

references.

❑ Additional income. It is necessary to list only the income that the

applicant wants to include for qualification.

❑ Credit and loan references, including auto payments, department

store and other credit cards, or other loans.

❑ Bank references, including the name, address, and phone number of

the bank, as well as the applicant’s account number.

❑ Name and phone number of a person to call in case of an emergency.

❑ Information about pets.

The following question is not typically on standard forms, but could be

added as a standard question for all:

In the last __ years, have you, or any other person named on this

application, been convicted of dealing or manufacturing illegal
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drugs? (You could also ask about other types of crime that would

constitute a threat to the health, safety, or welfare of other tenants or neighbors—burglary, robbery, sexual assault, and child

molestation are common examples.)

If you are going to use this question make sure you include it on all application

forms.

Of course, if an applicant has been convicted, he or she may lie about it.

However, if you discover that an applicant has lied on the application,

you have grounds for denying the application or, with the right provision in your lease, terminating the tenancy. Also, this is one more warning to dishonest tenants that you are serious in your resolve to maintain

a safe and well-run property.

Fees and Application Deposits

In some states, landlords charge an application fee to defray the cost of

screening potential tenants. Other landlords require an earnest money

deposit at the time of application to make sure the applicant is serious

about renting the unit. While policies vary, most stipulate that, if the

applicant is accepted but chooses not to rent the apartment, the fee or

deposit will not be refunded. The practice of charging a fee or deposit

has the following prevention benefits:

❑ Fees and deposits can promote “self-screening.” People who are

planning illegal activity may recognize your fee as further indication

of your commitment to screen carefully. Further, such a policy can

discourage people who plan to fill out multiple applications, waiting

to set up a drug operation wherever they are accepted first.

❑ Fees and deposits can save you time. You will spend less time

screening people who are not fully committed to renting the unit.

Also, with a financial commitment involved, an applicant might take

an extra few minutes to make sure every line on the application is

filled in completely and accurately—making your verification

process that much easier. Your best investment of the time you save

is to spend it screening each applicant more thoroughly.

Charging an earnest money deposit, or an application fee, is not for every landlord. In addition, because of the potential for abuse, local landlord/tenant laws often regulate policies associated with deposits and

fees, so check your local law to ensure that the policy you set is acceptable. Unless deposits are regulated differently in your area, we suggest

the following approach as a fair policy:

❑ Keep it reasonable. For example, charge enough to cover the direct

out-of-pocket costs of screening a single applicant, but not more

(e.g., the cost of a credit check or the amount you pay a screening

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company). Remember, the major value of charging an application fee

or collecting a deposit is to make sure the applicant is committed to

renting the unit—the fee will not necessarily cover all the costs you

incur to screen applicants.

❑ Keep it fair. Return fees or deposits to all honest applicants who

were not given the opportunity to rent the unit. Return the money

even if you incurred some screening costs for those applicants. If

honest applicants are required to pay a fee even when they are not

offered an apartment, the cost of just finding housing can become

prohibitive.

For more information about fee and deposit policies, as well as guidance

on appropriate forms to use, contact a local property management association or an experienced landlord/tenant attorney. Managers running

multifamily units may also wish to consult those same sources about a

related issue—how to implement a fair waiting list policy for qualified

applicants who are willing to wait for an available unit.

How To Verify Information

Many landlords are surprised to receive calls from other landlords inquiring about the quality of a past tenant; apparently it does not happen

often enough. As one landlord put it, “You can spend $100 in time and

money up front or be stuck with thousands later.” As another put it,

“Ninety-nine percent of these problems can be avoided through effective screening. There is no better investment you can make.”

As you review the following list, keep in mind that you will not have to

complete every step for each applicant, but the basics, in bold letters,

should be done every time. If you implement no other recommendations in

this manual, implement these.

1. Compare the I.D. to the information given. Make sure the photo I.D.

matches the applicant and the information matches that given on the

application form. If the picture, address, and numbers do not match

the application information, find out why—you may have cause to

turn down the application. Unless obvious inconsistencies can be

explained and verified to your satisfaction, you do not have to rent to

the applicant.

2. Have a credit report run and analyzed. A credit report will provide

independent verification of much of the application material, such as

past addresses, court-ordered evictions, credit worthiness, and pastdue bills. The reports are not foolproof, but they provide a good start.

To receive copies of credit reports, try these options:

❑ Join a credit bureau directly. If you are managing a number of

units and are likely to screen multiple applicants every month,

you may find it cost-effective to join a credit bureau directly and
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spend the time to learn how to interpret their reports. While this

is an option, note that even some very large management companies go through associations or contract with applicant screening

firms to gain the benefit of their outside expertise.

❑ Have a third party pull the report and offer interpretation. If

you are not screening a sufficient volume of applicants or would

like assistance interpreting the reports, contact an applicant

screening firm or local rental housing association for assistance.

Services vary from organization to organization, and you should

shop for the organization that best meets your needs. At one end

of the spectrum are organizations that handle the entire applicant

screening process for you. At the other end of the spectrum are

organizations that simply pull the reports and mail you a copy.

There are many variations between these options.

3. Independently identify previous landlords. The most important

calls you make are to the previous landlords. The best indicator of a

tenant’s future behavior is his or her past behavior. To begin, verify

that the applicant has given you accurate information.

❑ Verify the applicant’s past address through the credit check. If

the addresses on the credit report and the application do not

match, find out why. If they do match, you have verification that

the tenant actually lived there.

❑ Verify ownership of the property through the tax rolls. A call to

the county tax assessor will give you the name and address of the

owner of the property that the applicant previously rented. Title

companies and real estate brokers typically have ready access to

this information as well. If the name on the tax records matches

the one provided by the applicant, you have the actual landlord.

If the previous landlord listed on the application does not match

the owner listed on the tax rolls, the listed landlord could still be

legitimate—sometimes tax rolls are not up to date, property may

have changed hands, the owner may be buying the property on

a contract, or a management company may have been hired to

handle landlord responsibilities. Most of these possibilities can be

verified. If nothing else, a landlord who is not listed as an owner

on the tax rolls should be familiar with the name of the person

who is listed, so ask when you call.

❑ If possible, cross-check the previous landlord’s phone number

with the phone book. This may uncover the possibility of an

applicant giving the right name but a different phone number

(e.g., the phone number of a friend who will pretend to be the

previous landlord and vouch for the applicant). If the owner’s

number is unlisted, you will have difficulty verifying the accuracy of the number provided on the application. The local phone

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company may be willing to give you the name of the person

whose number is listed on the application.

Now you have verified the previous landlord’s name, address, and

perhaps even his or her phone number. If the applicant gave you

intentionally false information, deny the application. If the information matches, call all previous landlords listed on the application.

Remember, if the applicant is currently renting somewhere else, the

present landlord may have an interest in moving the tenant out and

may be less inclined to speak honestly. In such an instance, your best

ally is the landlord before that—the one who is no longer involved

with the tenant. Be sure you locate and talk to a past landlord with no

current interest in the applicant.

4. Have a prepared list of questions that you ask each previous

landlord. Applicant verification forms—generally available through

rental housing associations or through legal publishing companies—

give a good indication of the basic questions to ask. You may wish

to add other questions that pertain to your screening criteria. In particular, many landlords we spoke with use the question, “If given the

opportunity, would you rent to this person again?”

Also, if you suspect the person is not the actual landlord, ask about

various facts listed on the application that a landlord should know—

the address or unit number previously rented, the zip code of the

property, the amount of rent paid. If the person is unsure, discourage

requests to call you back and offer to stay on the line while the

information is looked up.

5. Get cosigners if necessary. If the applicant meets one of your

defined “borderline” criteria—such as having rented from a relative

previously—and you have posted the appropriate rule, require that a

cosigner apply with the applicant. Verify the credit and background

of the cosigner just as you would a rental applicant. To ensure the

legal strength of the cosigning agreement, you may wish to have

your attorney draw up a document to use for such purposes.

6. For Section 8 renters, hand deliver a written request for information to your local PHA. This process is dependent on your local

PHA’s procedures and thus will not be available in all areas. In a

nutshell, once you have a signed release from the applicant, you

may be able to verify information on the application against that

contained in the PHA’s files.

7. Verify income sources. Call employers and other contacts using

phone numbers from the phone directory. If an applicant is selfemployed, get copies of bank statements, tax returns, business

licenses, or a list of client references. Do not cut corners here; many

drug distributors wear pagers, have cellular phones, and generally
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appear quite successful, but they cannot verify their income with tax

returns, bank statements, or references from established clients.

8. Consider checking for criminal convictions. The process for

obtaining criminal background information will vary by state, but

you typically will have the right to obtain such information. Outcomes of court proceedings are generally in the public record and

can be obtained through the local court system. Note, however,

that many law enforcement agencies may not be able to disclose

information about someone’s criminal background. If your local

police agency cannot release information on criminal convictions,

this does not necessarily mean the information is unavailable; it may

only mean that the information is not available through that channel.

Again, you may need to go directly to court records to obtain the

information you need. There may also be private tenant screening

firms in your area that will do criminal background searches for you.

Your chances of getting verifiable information are better if you have

the applicant’s name, date of birth, social security number, and

current address.

One cautionary note: Many attorneys advise that convictions—

but not arrests—may be used as a basis for rejecting an applicant.

Patterns of arrest have proved to be discriminatory against protected

classes and, as such, would be inappropriate to use as a screening

criterion. Finally, resist the urge to rely too heavily on this screening

technique—there are many drug criminals who have not yet been

convicted of a crime.

9. Verify all other information according to your screening criteria.

Remember, before you call employers, banks, or other numbers listed

on the application, verify the numbers through your local phone

book or long distance directory assistance.

A Note About Hiring

Many rental property owners hire people to assist with tenant screening,

routine maintenance, and other tasks. It is critical that resident managers

and other “agents” of the landlord be screened even more thoroughly

than applicants for tenancy. In general, when an employee breaks the

law while on duty, both the employee and the employer can be held responsible by the party that is harmed by the action. When an employee

violates an element of rental housing law your potential liability should

be reason enough for extra screening efforts in the hiring process.

One screening tool for job applicants that you will want to seriously consider is a criminal conviction check, even if you do not check criminal

backgrounds on prospective renters. Once property managers are hired,

make certain they are trained in effective applicant screening and in the

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warning signs of dishonest applicants. Be sure property managers

understand and follow the requirements of fair housing laws as well.

How To Turn Down an Applicant

In general, if you have posted fair rental criteria and you screen all applicants against those criteria, you may safely reject an applicant who

does not meet your guidelines. Opinions vary regarding the amount of

information that is required to be given to an applicant who is denied a

rental unit. (Note: if you are managing public housing or publicly subsidized units, your disclosure requirements may be greater than the ones

described here.) We recommend, at minimum, following the guidelines

for denial of credit defined by the Federal Government in the Fair Credit

Reporting Act (FCRA). Check to see if your local jurisdiction requires

additional disclosure.

The following is intended as a general overview of how it works for

two different types of applicant rejections. See the law itself for an exact

description.3

❑ If the rejection is based on information, in whole or in part, from

nonpaid sources (the word of a previous landlord, for example):

While you are not required to disclose immediately your reason for

rejecting applicants in these situations, you are required to advise

applicants of their right to submit, within 60 days, a written request

for that information and their right to a response from you, within a

reasonable period of time, disclosing the nature of the information

upon which the adverse decision was made.

Sample wording: “Based on a check of information you provided in

your application, you do not meet our posted rental criteria. If you

have questions about this decision, you may submit a request in

writing to (your name and address) within 60 days, and we will

explain the basis for the decision within a reasonable period of time.”

Of course, if you receive such a request, then you should report the

nature of the information upon which the adverse decision was

based. Again, if your screening criteria are free of illegal discrimination and you have applied your criteria consistently, then you

may safely reject applicants who do not measure up.

Note this small additional requirement if the rejection is based on information

from a person who is your “affiliate” (e.g., a coworker or co-owner): The

process is identical to that described above, except that the required

response time is specifically stated—30 days or less from the date the

landlord receives the rejected applicant’s written request.

Of course, when possible, keep it simple. For example, if you are

turning down an applicant simply because you accepted an earlier

3 For more information, contact the Federal Trade Commission by phone at 202–326–

3128, or by mail at Sixth Street & Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.

A full copy of the text of the FCRA can be obtained via the Internet at www.ftc.gov.
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applicant, just say so. Or, if one look at the application indicates that

the person doesn’t have nearly enough income to rent the unit, don’t

make the applicant wait a week to find out—again, just say so.

❑ If the rejection is based, in whole or in part, on information from a

credit report, screening company, or other organization that you

pay to provide screening information: Because of the potential for

abuse of, or misinformation in, credit reports, the Fair Credit

Reporting Act requires that very specific information be provided to

applicants who are rejected based on information obtained from a

consumer reporting agency. While the information may be provided

orally, it is a good idea to give written notification just to make sure

your are in full compliance with the Act. The following is intended

only as a brief orientation. The screening company or other consumer

reporting agency you work with should be able to answer your

questions and provide you with a simple, written form to help ensure

you are in full compliance with the Act.

In situations where adverse decisions are based, in whole or in part,

on information from a consumer credit report, a landlord is required

to provide the rejected applicant all of the following information:

■ Notice of the rejection. Sample wording: “Based on information

we have received from your credit report (or other paid source)

you do not meet our written rental criteria and we have therefore

chosen to deny your application for tenancy.”

■ The name, address, and telephone number (including a toll-free

number if the agency is one that keeps nationwide consumer

files) of the consumer reporting agency used that furnished the

information.

■ That the consumer reporting agency did not make the decision to

reject the applicant and therefore it is likely that they will not be

able to explain the reason for the adverse decision.

■ That the applicant has the right to contact the consumer reporting

agency within 60 days to receive a free copy of his or her report.

■ That the applicant has the right to dispute the accuracy or fairness

of information in a consumer report furnished by the consumer

reporting agency.

(Note: Have applicants get a copy of their consumer report directly

from the credit reporting agency, rather than, for example, providing

the applicant with a photocopy of the report you received.)

Again, in the interests of proving you have met disclosure requirements,

you may want to hand out an information sheet with the disclosure process described and appropriate addresses provided. Contact a local

property management association for more details, and again, check

your local law for additional disclosure requirements.

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Other Screening Tips and Warning Signs

The following are additional tips to help you screen applicants. You

should also be familiar with the warning signs described in the “Warning Signs of Drug Activity” chapter of this manual.

❑ Consider using an “application interview.” Some landlords have

started conducting a brief oral interview, often at the same time they

accept the written application. Landlords who use this approach find

it has these advantages: First, applicants don’t know which questions

are coming, so it is harder to make up a story—something that

shouldn’t bother an honest applicant, but may uncover a dishonest

one. Second, the landlord has the opportunity to watch responses

and take mental notes of answers that seem suspicious. For example,

honest applicants usually know their current phone number or

middle name without having to look it up.

The interview involves, at minimum, making sure the applicant can

repeat basic information requested on the application form without

reading it. For example, the landlord might ask the applicant to

verify his or her full name, current phone number, current address,

and other pieces of information that most honest applicants will

know without having to look up.

As with all policies you set, if you decide to do application interviews, you should include a commitment to making reasonable

accommodations for those who cannot comply due to status in a

protected class—e.g., a handicap that causes a speech problem or

language skills associated with a particular national origin.

If you choose not to use an interview approach, at minimum observe

the way the application is filled out. Applicants may not remember

the address of the apartment they lived in 2 years ago, but they

should know where they live now, or just came from. Generally,

honest applicants can remember their last address, the name of their

current landlord, and other frequently needed facts about their life.

❑ Consider a policy requiring that applications be filled in onsite.

Some property managers require all application forms to be filled

in on the premises—an applicant may keep a copy of the form only

after it has been filled in and signed and a copy has been left with

the landlord or manager. Applicants who are unsure of some information should fill in what they can and come back to fill in the rest.

Such a policy should not be a barrier to honest applicants—in most

cases, they would have had to return to bring back the signed application anyway. However, this policy can hamper the ability of dishonest applicants to fabricate a story.

Assuming you have communicated your commitment to keeping

illegal activity off your property, such a policy may also allow
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dishonest or dangerous applicants to exit with minimal confrontation—

leaving without an application in hand that they are less likely to

complete. Once off the premises, they may simply choose not to

return.

Again, if you use such a policy, make sure it includes reasonable

accommodation for otherwise qualified people whose particular

handicap or other protected characteristic would cause this policy to

be a barrier to their application.

❑ Watch for gross inconsistencies. When an applicant arrives in a

brand new, luxury sports car and fills out an application that

indicates an income of $1,000 a month, something is not right. There

are no prohibitions against asking about such an inconsistency or

even choosing to deny the applicant because the style of living is

grossly inconsistent with the stated income. You may also deny the

applicant for other reasons that common sense would dictate are

clearly suspicious (credit reports also can reveal such oddities—for

example, if the applicant is paying out much more per month to

service credit card debts than the applicant is taking in as income).

Many landlords do not realize that unless such a decision would

cause a disproportionate rejection of people of a protected class (such

as race, color, religion, and other characteristics) the law allows room

to make such judgment calls.

Although you may not discriminate on the basis of race, color,

religion, gender, handicap, national origin, familial status (the

presence of children), or other classifications that may be added by

your state or local jurisdiction, you may discriminate on the basis of

many other factors provided the effect is not a disproportionate denial of a

protected class. If you deny an applicant for such a reason, record your

evidence and the reason for your decision. Be careful when making

decisions in this area, but do not assume your hands are tied. The law

is written to prevent discrimination against protected classes. You are

not required to look the other way when gross inconsistencies are

apparent.

❑ Be aware that people involved in illegal activity may use “fronts”

to gain access to your property. You may rent to someone who has

an acceptable rental history and no record of illegal activity, yet once

that person moves in, boyfriends, girlfriends, other acquaintances,

or family members may move in and begin dealing drugs and committing other crimes or causing nuisances. In some cases, the people

to whom you thought you rented do not move in at all—after using

their good references to rent the unit, they give the key to drug

dealers for a fee. Work conducted with landlords across the nation

has repeatedly shown that when illegal activity is based in rental

property, rarely is the worst of the behavior committed directly by

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

the tenant—more commonly it is committed by guests, visitors, or

unauthorized roommates, who are on the property with the tenant’s

permission. This is why, nationally, it is the permission granted by

irresponsible tenants, to guests and others who have not signed the

rental agreement, that results in some of the greatest harm to the

quality of life in rental communities—both public and private.

Warning applicants that they will be held accountable for the actions

of their guests and enforcing such a requirement with your tenants

are key to protecting your property and the surrounding neighborhood. Make sure your tenants know that they must control their

guests and that, if they cannot do so, they should ask for help

quickly. Further, in most states, rental agreements may specify that

only people named on the agreement are allowed to use the unit as

their residence. Make sure such a stipulation is in your rental

agreement (to the degree permitted by your state law) and point it

out to all applicants, emphasizing that having another person move

in requires submitting an application for that person and allowing

you to check their references before permission is granted.

If you make it clear you are enforcing these rules only to prevent

illegal activity, you may discourage potential drug dealers and keep

good tenants feeling more protected. You can also address the

concerns of good tenants if you assure them that you will not raise

the rent because an additional person moves in. For more about this

issue, see the section on Rental Agreements beginning on page 31.

❑ Watch out for Friday afternoon applicants who say they must move

in that very weekend. Drug dealers know that you may not be able

to check references until Monday, by which time they will already be

in the rental unit. Tell the applicant to find a hotel or a friend to stay

with until you can check references. Could it cost you some rent in

the short run? Yes. Will it save you money in the long run? Absolutely.

Ask any landlord who has dealt with a drug problem in a rental unit;

it is worth avoiding. (Some landlords allow weekend applicants to

move in if they can independently verify their story, but you are

better off waiting until you can verify the entire application.)

❑ Observe the way applicants look at the unit. Do they check out each

room? Do they ask about other costs, such as heating, garbage

service, and others? Do they visualize where the furniture will go,

which room the children will sleep in, or how they will best make use

of the kitchen? Or did they barely walk in the front door before

asking to rent, showing a surprising lack of interest in the details?

People who are planning an honest living care about their home and

often show it in the way they look at the unit. Some people who rent

for illegal operations forget to pretend they have the same interest.
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In addition, if the applicant shows little interest in any of the

property except the electrical service, take note—both methamphetamine labs and marijuana growing operations can include

rewiring efforts.

❑ Consider alternate advertising methods for your property. Rental

properties that are within a few miles of colleges or business parks

may be desirable housing for students or professionals. Some landlords have found success in posting advertising at such locations,

thus targeting people who already have a credible connection with

the community.

If you are considering using alternate advertising, keep in mind that

fair housing guidelines apply to all aspects of managing rental

housing, including advertising selection. Advertising through

community colleges only may be acceptable, because such colleges

typically enroll a broad cross-section of the community. But it would

be inappropriate to advertise exclusively through a church newsletter

or through the newsletter of a private club where the membership is

not representative of the greater community because such approaches

could establish patterns of inappropriate discrimination. Either

expand your media selection or change it altogether to make sure

you are reaching a fair cross-section of the public.

❑ Consider driving by the tenant’s current residence. Some property

managers consider this step a required part of verifying every

application. A visual inspection of applicants’ current residences may

reveal much about what kind of tenants they will be. Be sure you are

familiar with visual indications of drug activity before you look at

previous residences.

❑ Announce your screening approach in your advertising. Some

landlords have found it useful to add a line in their advertisements

announcing that they carefully screen applicants or that they run

credit checks. The result can be fewer dishonest applicants choosing

to apply. Select your wording with care—you do not want to use

phrasing that in your community might be interpreted as “code”

telling a protected class that they need not apply. Again, it is

important to ensure that the opportunity to apply for your units—

and to rent them if qualified—is open to all people regardless of race,

color, religion, gender, handicap, national origin, familial status, and

any other classifications that may be granted civil rights law

protection in your jurisdiction.

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Rental Agreements

The Basics

Minimize misunderstandings between you and your tenant, thus building a basis for fair problem resolution down the road.

Use a Current Rental Agreement

Many property managers continue to use the same rental agreements

they started with years ago. Federal and state laws can change annually,

and case law is constantly evolving. Using an outdated rental agreement

may cause a landlord to give up important rights. If a problem tenant

chooses to fight an eviction by going to court, an outdated rental agreement could cost the landlord the case.

Sources for up-to-date rental agreements vary by state. In many areas

property management associations provide rental forms and consider it

their job to make sure the forms are consistent with current law. Local

legal document publishing companies also may be good sources for effective rental agreements. Unless you are planning to work with your

own attorney to develop a rental agreement, purchase updated forms

from one of the sources. Be sure, however, that you are buying a form that

was developed for the laws in your state—“generic” rental agreements sold

nationwide will not work as well as more tailored agreements.

Month-to-Month or Long-Term Lease?

Laws regulating the enforcement of lease terms vary significantly by

state. In many states a landlord can use a month-to-month rental agreement that allows either party to terminate the tenancy, without specifying

a cause, on short notice—30 days in many cases. In some jurisdictions

the “no-cause” notice is not an option, in which case—from the landlord’s perspective—every tenant has a long-term lease.

Part of the process for determining which type of contract to use is understanding the effect of the agreement on your power to evict. Although the

maximum power to evict is gained by using a month-to-month rental

agreement whenever it is legal to do so, such an arrangement may not

be best in every situation. Market factors, as well as the expectations of

local landlords and tenants, also will play a role in determining the best

approach.

Regardless of the type of agreement used, keep in mind that no tenant is

protected from a landlord’s enforcement action if he or she violates local

Get it in writing.

ADVICE GIVEN:

“We’ve solved a lot of problems by using the right

paperwork at the beginning of the rental term—it

improves our legal position

and lets the tenant know

we are serious from the

start.”
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landlord/tenant laws or does not comply with a legal provision of the

rental agreement. If tenants are in violation of the law or are not in compliance with the lease, a landlord may serve notices that require the

behavior to be corrected or the tenants to move out.

Also remember that, although the terms of your rental agreement are

important, even the best rental agreement is not as valuable as effective

applicant screening. The most important part of any rental agreement is

the character of the people who sign it. No amount of legal documentation can replace the value of finding good tenants.

Elements To Emphasize

Inspect the rental agreement you use to see if it has language addressing

the following provisions. If these elements are not in your rental agreement, consider adding them. To gain the most preventive value, you

will need to point out the provisions to your tenant and communicate

that you take your rental agreement seriously. Note that this list is not

comprehensive; it presents only those elements that are occasionally

overlooked and are particularly important for preventing and/or terminating drug-related tenancies.

1. Subleasing is not permitted. The state statutes we have examined do

not regulate subletting, but do allow the landlord to do so. If your

state’s laws follow the same pattern, this means that unless your

rental agreement specifies otherwise, your tenants have the right to

sublet to whomever they please. Make it clear that the tenant cannot assign or transfer the rental agreement and may not sublet the

dwelling. Or you could add the exception that tenants may not sublet

a unit unless the sublease candidate submits a complete application to

the landlord and passes all screening criteria.

You must maintain control over your property. Often the people who

run a drug operation are not the people who rented the unit. This

provision will not stop all efforts to sublease, but it may prevent

some subleasing, and it will put you in a stronger position if you

have to deal with a problem subtenant.

2. Only those people listed on the rental agreement are permitted to

occupy the premises. If the tenant wants another adult to move in,

that person must submit a completed application and pass the

screening criteria for rental history. The method and ability to enforce

this type of rule will, again, vary from state to state.4

 For example,

you may need to define the difference between a “guest” and a

“resident.” Since tenants are typically well within their rights to

have guests stay with them for short periods of time, it is generally

4

 New York state law, for example, gives tenants broad permission to move in a number

of additional people—certain relatives and other “occupants”—regardless of restrictions

in a rental agreement.

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inappropriate for landlords to set rules that attempt to prevent the

occasional overnight guest. However, it is appropriate for landlords

to place limits on the ability of the tenant to have other adults

establish residence at the rental property without permission.

Check with a local property management association or your own

legal advisor before setting this criterion. Assuring your tenant that

you will take this clause seriously may curb illegal behavior by

nontenants. Specifying this stipulation in the rental agreement will

put you in a better legal position should a problem arise.

3. No drug activity is permitted on the premises. Make it clear that the

tenant must not allow the distribution, sale, manufacture, or use of

controlled substances on the premises. You could also prohibit other

types of crimes, such as prostitution or other felony-level criminal

behavior, on the premises. While these activities are already illegal,

spelling them out in the rental agreement can make it easier to serve

eviction notices for these problems.

4. Tenants are responsible for conduct on the property. Tenants

should understand that they will be held responsible for their own

conduct, as well as for the conduct of others they allow on the

property, including their children, roommates, relatives, friends,

guests, visitors, acquaintances, and even pets. Generally speaking,

landlord/tenant laws are designed to allow the tenant the same “my

home is my castle” right to privacy as that enjoyed by any owneroccupant. However, with the right to private enjoyment of the

“castle” comes the responsibility to control what goes on there. Most

landlord/tenant laws address this issue, but spelling it out in the

rental agreement may help as well. For people who plan to “front”

for illegal activity, this underscores the point that they will be given

as little room as possible to protect themselves by claiming that

acquaintances, and not themselves, were involved in the activity.

Wording this provision should be done with care. You may not go

so far as to hold victims responsible for the behavior of people who

abused or intimidated them into silence.

5. Tenants will not unduly disturb the neighbors. Make it clear that

the tenant will be responsible for making sure that all persons on the

premises conduct themselves in a manner that will not interfere with

the peace of the neighborhood. The issue here is not the occasional

loud party. The issue is prevention of chronic nuisance behavior that

can severely affect a neighborhood if the behavior is left unchecked.

Generally, landlord/tenant laws set minimum behavior requirements

for tenants, so in many states a landlord could enforce this type of

requirement even if it has not been specified in a written rental

agreement.

What does disturbing the neighbors have to do with drug crimes?

Perhaps nothing. But we know that managers who attend to their
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own obligations and require tenants to meet specified tenant

obligations are far more effective in preventing drug activity than

managers who look the other way as complaints of noncompliance

roll in. It is almost never the case that a drug criminal’s first observed

evictable offense is dealing or manufacturing narcotics.

Lease Addendum Forbidding Illegal

Activity

Many rental owners have begun to attach an addendum to their rental

agreements spelling out specific crimes under state and local laws that

will be considered violations of the lease. A version of such an addendum is typically provided at the trainings that accompany this manual.

Before using such an addendum, have your attorney review it.

While the behaviors proscribed in such addenda are generally already

against the law, spelling them out as prohibited in the lease may allow

you additional legal choices should you have to evict tenants for allowing or conducting criminal behavior. Even more important, announcing

your commitment to maintaining safe housing through the use of such a

lease addendum can be a valuable tool for discouraging those planning

criminal activity from moving in.

Inspecting the Property Prior to Moving In

Before signing the rental agreement, walk through the property with the

tenant and make a visual inspection together. Some landlords use checkin/check-out forms developed for this purpose; others take photographs,

which are then signed by both parties; still others make a videotape with

the tenant. Regardless of the approach, agree on what repairs need to

be made. Write an agreement and have both parties sign it. Make any

agreed-on repairs, and document that they have been completed. Give

copies of repair documentation to your tenants and keep signed and

dated copies in your files.

If your tenant damages the property, you have a way to prove the damage happened after the tenant took possession of the unit. (Note: This

also protects tenants; the inspection can prevent an irresponsible landlord from trying to hold a tenant responsible for problems that predated

the tenancy.)

The inspection can reduce the likelihood of tenants damaging the premises. The inspection also can protect you against the rare case of a

tenant who may attempt to block a legitimate eviction attempt by damaging the premises and then claiming that the damage was preexisting.

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Note also that in some states, a documented pre-move-in inspection is

required in order for the landlord to be able to claim any part of the security deposit to cover damages or other costs beyond normal wear and

tear when the tenant moves out.

Resident’s Handbook

Many apartment managers, as well as some single-family housing managers, provide a resident’s handbook that spells out rules specific to the

property being rented. Landlord/tenant laws typically place restrictions

on what types of rules can be added, but, generally, property managers

have found success with developing guidelines that restrict excessive

noise levels, define behavior for common areas of the premises, and

spell out rules for the use of facilities such as pools or common laundry

areas.

In general, managers of apartments may set additional rules for common areas that are, in effect, “occupied” by management, not tenants.

For example, as the “occupant” of the common areas of an apartment

complex, a manager may be able to ask police to remove visitors who

are engaged in fights or other intimidating behavior in the courtyard of

the complex. In these instances, managers may exercise more direct, immediate control over problems in the common areas of the property

than they can over problems occurring on or inside the specific, privately rented property.

Key Pickup

As a final preventive step, some landlords require that only a person

listed on the written rental agreement may pick up the keys to the rental

property. This is one more step to ensure that you are giving possession

of the property to the people on the agreement and not someone else.
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Good Ongoing Management

The Basics

Maintain the integrity of the tenant/landlord relationship. Strengthen

communications between the landlord, tenants, and neighbors. Help

build a sense of community.

Do Not Bend Your Rules

A key to good ongoing management of your property is demonstrating

your commitment to your rental agreement and to landlord/tenant law

compliance. Once you set rules, enforce them. Make sure you meet your

responsibilities, and make sure you hold your tenants accountable for

meeting theirs. By the time most drug problems are positively identified, there is a long history of evictable behavior that the landlord ignored. Managers should remember:

❑ When aware of a serious breach, take action before accepting the

next rent payment. If a landlord accepts rent knowing that the tenant

is breaking a rule, but has not acted to correct the behavior, the landlord could lose the right to serve notice for the behavior. Landlord/

tenant laws generally consider acceptance of rent as an acceptance of

lease-violating behaviors about which the landlord has not objected.

Further, regardless of the characteristics of your local law, it does not

pay to teach your tenants that they are allowed to break the rules. So,

at minimum, as soon as you discover violations of local landlord/

tenant laws or of your rental agreement, give tenants written notice

that they are required to correct the problem; then accept the rent.

❑ If someone other than the tenant tries to pay the rent, get an

explanation. Also, note on the receipt that the payment is for your

original tenant only. Otherwise, by depositing the money, you may

be accepting new tenants or new rental agreement terms.

❑ If a person not on the lease may be living in the rental, pursue the

issue immediately. If you take no action to correct the behavior, and

you accept rent knowing the tenant has allowed other people to

move in, you may have accepted the other people as tenants. Either

require the illegal subtenants to submit a rental application or serve

notice to require your original tenant to remove the subtenants under

threat of eviction if the action is not taken.

❑ Maintain habitability and fix code violations at the property

quickly. Maintaining habitable housing for tenants is the most

important of a landlord’s responsibilities. In addition, as discussed

What to do to keep

the tenant/landlord

relationship

working.

COMPLAINTS HEARD:

“The tenant moved out and

someone else moved in

without us knowing it. Now

we have drug dealers on

the property and the courts

insist they are legal tenants, even though they

never signed a lease.”

ADVICE GIVEN:

“You need to follow one

basic rule—you have to

actively manage your property. The only landlords who

go to court are the ones who

don’t actively manage their

property.”

“For most property managers the experience is one of

putting out brush fires all

day long. If property managers can take a more proactive approach to the

process, they can build an

ever improving set of renters, avoid a lot of legal

hassles, and have fewer

brush fires during the day.”

“If your training teaches

landlords nothing else,

teach them that the neighbors in an area are not

their enemies.”

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earlier, failure to maintain a unit could compromise a landlord’s

eviction rights. Tenants may be able to use a “retaliation” defense

when a landlord attempts to evict them after a complaint that the

rental is substandard.

❑ When a tenant does not pay rent, address the problem. Some

landlords have let problem tenants stay in a unit not just weeks but

months after the rent was overdue. While flexibility is important in

making any tenant/landlord relationship work, be careful about

being too flexible. There is a big difference between being willing to

receive rent late during a single month and letting your renters

occupy the unit indefinitely without paying rent. In general, a

nonpayment notice (directing the tenant to pay within a brief period

of time or to vacate) is one of the fastest termination notices available

to a landlord.

❑ If neighbors call to complain of problems, pursue the issue.

Although it does happen, few neighbors call landlords about minor

problems. If you get a call from a neighbor, find out more about the

problem and take appropriate action. If there are misunderstandings,

clear them up. If there are serious problems with your tenants,

correct them. The “Crisis Resolution” chapter provides additional

information about steps to take if a neighbor calls to complain.

If you respect the integrity of your own rules, the tenant will too. If you

let things slide, the situation can deteriorate quickly. Pursuing problems

immediately may mean more work initially, but once the tenants are accustomed to your management style it is less likely that you will be surprised by serious problems later.

Responsibilities Defined

For a legal description of the responsibilities of landlords and tenants,

review your local landlord/tenant law, local maintenance codes, and the

requirements of the Section 8 program, if it applies to your units. You

should also, to state the obvious, check your rental agreement. Rental

agreements typically spell out various responsibilities of both the landlord and the tenant. The following is an overview of the typical responsibilities of both parties.

Landlords

A landlord’s responsibilities typically fall into three areas—the condition of the premises as delivered to the tenant, the obligation to maintain

the unit once it is occupied, and the obligation to respect the rights of

the tenant. A landlord’s responsibilities generally include the following:

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❑ Before move-in, providing the tenant with a clean, sanitary, and

safe rental unit. This typically means the unit should be cleaned,

garbage and debris from previous tenants should be removed, pest

control problems should be addressed as appropriate, various

systems (plumbing, electrical, heating) should be working appropriately, the unit should be adequately weatherproofed, the structural integrity of the unit should be maintained (e.g., no rotting

steps), fire safety issues should be addressed (e.g., smoke detectors

installed and access to secondary exits ensured), working locks

should be installed, and any other potential safety hazards should

be addressed.

❑ After move-in, making sure the unit remains habitable. For

occupied units, landlords generally are responsible for all major

repairs and are granted both the power and the responsibility to

make sure that tenants are doing their part to maintain the habitability of the unit. For example, although the law and the rental

agreement may both require that the tenant do sufficient housekeeping to keep the unit free of sanitation problems, if the tenant is

not doing so, it is generally the landlord’s responsibility to require

the tenant to correct the problem, typically by serving a notice that

would require the tenant to remove garbage or vacate the premises.

❑ Respecting the tenant’s right to private enjoyment of the premises.

With some specific exceptions for activities, such as serving notices,

conducting maintenance inspections, doing agreed-upon repairs, or

showing the unit for sale, the landlord must respect the tenant’s

right to private enjoyment of the unit in much the same way that an

owner-occupant’s right to privacy must be respected. In those areas

where a landlord does have a right to access, the landlord must

generally follow a specific notification process before entering the

rented property.

❑ Avoiding retaliation against a tenant. Generally, a landlord may not

retaliate against a tenant who is legitimately attempting to compel

the landlord to meet his/her responsibilities. For example, a landlord

may not increase rent, decrease service, attempt to evict, or take other

retaliatory action in response to a tenant asking a landlord to repair a

wornout furnace, fix a rotting step, or take other actions that fall

within the landlord’s responsibility under the law.

❑ Avoiding illegal discrimination. Nationwide, landlords may not

discriminate on the basis of a tenant’s (or applicant’s) race, color,

religion, gender, handicap, national origin, or familial status. Your

state and local laws may include additional protected classes. This

means that you may not use such class distinctions to screen

applicants or to treat tenants differently once you enter into a rental

agreement. For more information about the application of civil rights

laws, see the “Applicant Screening” chapter of this manual.
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❑ Enforcing the terms of the rental agreement and landlord/tenant

law. While both the rental agreement and the law will identify

various required behaviors of tenants, in general it is up to the

landlord to make sure the tenant complies. If the tenant is not in

compliance, the law generally gives landlords the power to serve

various types of “cure” and “no-cure” notices to correct the behavior

or require the tenant to move out. Unless the landlord takes action

to correct the problem, there are few other mechanisms to correct

difficulties associated with problem tenants. (Of course, if your

problem tenants are involved in criminal behavior for which there is

enough evidence to make an arrest, the police may be able to arrest

the tenant and, if convicted, that person may serve jail time. However,

although arrest may remove the tenant from the property, you may

still need to serve an eviction notice to regain possession of the

property. See “The Role of the Police” chapter of this manual for

more information.)

Tenants

A tenant’s responsibilities are generally to ensure that no harm is done

to the unit and to pay the rent. Those responsibilities usually include the

following:

❑ Doing basic housekeeping, complying with the rental agreement,

and avoiding harming the unit. In addition to complying with rental

agreement provisions, tenants are typically required to use the premises in a reasonable manner, cause no damage to the unit beyond

normal wear and tear, keep the premises free of accumulations of

garbage and other waste, and do sufficient housekeeping to avoid

safety and sanitation hazards. Some landlord/tenant laws also spell

out a requirement that tenants be good neighbors—that tenants and

their guests may not disturb the peace of other neighbors. Also, from

a civil standpoint, tenants are generally considered responsible for

the behavior of others they invite onto the premises. For example,

tenants typically cannot defend a landlord’s eviction action by

claiming that all alleged violations were committed by friends who

visited regularly.

❑ Paying rent. Landlords have the right to receive rent for the use of

their property, and tenants have an obligation to pay it. Exceptions

exist only in those circumstances where landlord/tenant laws allow

tenants to withhold rent when a landlord refuses to meet the landlord’s responsibilities. For example, if a landlord refuses to fix a

broken furnace, the tenant may have the right to withhold rent until

the repairs are made. In such a circumstance, the tenant may be able

to collect other fines or financial penalties from the landlord as well.

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❑ Enforcing the terms of the rental agreement and landlord/tenant

law. Just as it is up to landlords to make sure that tenants comply

with the rental agreement and landlord/tenant law, tenants generally

hold the primary responsibility for making sure their landlords

comply with the law. Tenants have various powers to withhold rent

and/or take other action to cause a landlord to comply. Specific

agencies can assist in enforcing the law for some problems—problems

associated with building code violations and fair housing issues are

two examples. However, the enforcing agencies often do not get

involved unless they are first notified by the tenant. Therefore, chief

among the powers generally granted to a tenant is protection from

the landlord’s retaliation for a tenant’s attempt to assert a right

defined in the law.

Property Inspections

A cornerstone of active management is regular property inspections.

Unless you inspect your property, you can’t be sure you are meeting

your responsibility to provide safe and habitable housing. As mentioned

earlier, maintaining habitable property protects your rights as well. If a

dishonest tenant also can claim that you are not meeting your responsibilities, you may have difficulty succeeding with an eviction. Conversely, if it is clear you make every effort to meet your responsibilities

(and you document it) a tenant will be less inclined to fight an honest

eviction effort.

While the purpose of a maintenance inspection is to care for the unit and

ensure its habitability, regular inspections also will deter some types of

illegal activity. For example, if tenants know that the landlord actively

manages the property, tenants may be less likely to make illegal modifications to the unit in order to set up a marijuana growing operation. Illegal activity is less likely to occur at a property where the landlord has a

reputation for concerned, active management. Inspections can also help

catch problems associated with illegal activity before such activity becomes more serious. For example, it is common for drug dealers to cause

damage to a rental unit that is way beyond normal wear and tear—a

problem that could be observed, documented, and addressed through

the process of a regular inspection program.

The key to successful property inspection is to avoid an unnecessarily

adversarial approach. A properly conducted inspection program should

be welcomed by your honest tenants. Steps you may take include the

following:

1. Set an inspection schedule and follow it. At minimum, perform

inspections every 6 months. It is rare that a home does not need some

maintenance or repair work at least twice a year.
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2. Use the inspection/notice procedures defined by local law.

Generally, landlords have the right to perform maintenance

inspections of rental property if the tenant is given proper notice.

However, each state sets its own limits on the conditions under

which a landlord may enter an occupied rental unit. If the inspection

is routine, keep the approach friendly. Call the tenant in advance and

follow up by serving the inspection notice according to the methods

defined in local law. To help address all maintenance needs efficiently, ask tenants to note any concerns they have in advance of the

inspection date.

3. Find and address code and habitability problems. When you

inspect the property, check for maintenance problems and handle

any necessary routine maintenance, such as replacing furnace or air

conditioning filters or putting fresh batteries in a smoke detector.

Discuss with the tenants any concerns they may have. Make

agreements to remedy problems; then make the repairs.

Utilities

There are some instances when shutdown utilities are a symptom of

drug activity—as dealers or heavy users get more involved in drug use,

paying bills can become less important.

Remember that if your lease stipulates that the tenant is responsible for

utility bills, and the tenant stops paying for those services, you have

grounds for serving a for-cause eviction notice requiring that tenants

comply with the lease terms or vacate the premises. Serving such notices

may be particularly important if shutting off a utility would result in the

unit no longer meeting habitability standards.

Keep a Paper Trail

It can be difficult to prove the existence of a verbal agreement in court.

The type of tenant who is involved in illegal activity and would choose

to fight you in court will know that. So keep a written record of your

agreements, and provide copies to the tenant. Allowing tenants to know

that you keep records may be enough to discourage those few who

might consider making a false claim against you. You will need to retain

documentation that demonstrates your good-faith efforts to keep the

property habitable and shows any changing agreements with a tenant—

dated and signed by both parties.

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Trade Phone Numbers With Neighbors

Landlords of single-family residential housing sometimes don’t hear of

dangerous or damaging activity on their property until neighbors have

written to the mayor or until the police have served a search warrant.

Often such a situation could have been prevented if the landlord and

area neighbors had established better communication.

Find neighbors who seem responsible, concerned, and reliable. Trade

phone numbers and ask them to advise you of serious concerns. You

will know you have found the right neighbors when you find people

who seem relieved to meet you and happy to discover you are willing to

work on problems. Conversely, if neighbors seek you out, work with

them and solicit their help in the same way.

Note that landlords and neighbors tend to assume their relationship will

be adversarial. Address any such assumptions and remember that, if

you both want the neighborhood to stay livable, then you are on the

same side and have nothing to gain by fighting each other.
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Apartment Watch/

Promoting Community

The Basics

Form partnerships with tenants to work together toward the common

goal of a safe community.

Benefits

In multifamily units, unless your tenants report suspicious behavior,

you may not find out about drug activity until the problem becomes

extreme. Some people—tenants and homeowners alike—are frightened

to report illegal activity until they discover strength in numbers by joining a community watch organization. Whether you call your efforts

“apartment watch,” “community pride,” or “resident retention programs,” the goal is the same—transforming an apartment complex

into a community.

Organizing a community is more than just encouraging tenants to act as

the community’s eyes and ears. In the absence of a sense of community,

the isolation that residents feel can lead to apathy, withdrawal, anger,

and even hostility toward the community around them. Organizing

group efforts can lead to profound changes. As apartment residents get

to know each other and the manager, a sense of community—of belonging—develops, and neighbors and tenants are more willing to do what it

takes to keep a neighborhood healthy and free of drug activity.

Complexes that enjoy a sense of community often have more stable tenancies and fewer crime problems than comparable complexes that lack

organization among residents. Managers who have initiated efforts to

organize tenants note the following benefits:

❑ Lower tenant turnover, leading to considerable savings in the costs

associated with finding new tenants.

❑ Less damage to property, leading to lower repair bills.

❑ Reduced crime.

❑ A safer, more relaxed atmosphere for the tenants.

❑ A more positive reputation for the complex, leading to higher quality

applicants and, over time, increased property values.

Turning an apartment complex into

a community.

COMPLAINTS HEARD:

“We already have an

‘apartment watch.’ The

tenants get together and

watch the manager to see

if I screw up!”

ADVICE GIVEN:

“Please teach landlords

that their good tenants

can help.”
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Key Elements

The key to effective community building is to have the property manager take the lead and make sure that efforts are ongoing. Community

organizing that is directed entirely by tenants may not be stable in the

long term because tenant turnover will occur and key organizers will

move on. For this reason, it is important that managers help organize

the program. Further, if management waits until the tenants are so fed

up that they organize themselves, the relationship between tenants and

manager may be soured from the start. If management takes a proactive

role in helping tenants work together for their mutual benefit, the opportunity for a positive working relationship between manager and tenants is greater. Following are a few tips to help you get started:

1. Clean house. If you have tenants who are involved in drug activity,

illegal gang activity, or other dangerous criminal behavior, resolve

the issue before inviting tenants to a buildingwide meeting. Your

responsible tenants may be frightened to attend a meeting where

they know irresponsible tenants might attend. In addition, responsible tenants may question your motivation if you appear to encourage them to meet with people involved in illegal activity. So before

you organize, you will need to evict problem tenants and make sure

that improved applicant screening procedures are in place. Until

then, rely on informal communication with responsible tenants to

help identify and address your concerns.

2. Make community activities a management priority. Budget for the

expenses and consider promotion of such activity a criterion for

management evaluation. Community organization should not be an

afterthought, something that resident managers should get around

to if there is time. Unless managers make community organizing a

priority, it will not get done.

3. Hold meetings/events quarterly. Don’t expect major results from the

first meeting, but do expect to see significant differences by the time

the third or fourth meeting is held.

4. Meet in the common areas if possible. While small meetings can be

held in the manager’s office, a vacant unit, or—if a tenant volunteers—

a tenant’s apartment, more people will feel comfortable participating

if they can meet on neutral territory. If you can hold events in courtyards or other outdoor locations, you also may have more room to

structure special events for children in the same area.

5. At each event, encourage people to meet each other. Regardless of

other specific plans for meetings, take basic steps that encourage

people to meet each other. Simple steps performed faithfully can

make a big difference over time. At each event you should:

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❑ Use name tags. This step is important in helping to break down

walls for newcomers.

❑ Conduct introductions. Begin any formal meeting by having

people introduce themselves by name.

❑ Allow time at each event for people to socialize. Make sure to

allot some time during the meeting. Once the event is under way,

participants will have a shared experience with which to start a

conversation.

❑ Keep meeting agendas on track. It is important to keep meeting

agendas on track, interesting, and focused on tangible, measurable outcomes. If tenants feel that meetings rarely address the

published agenda, interest will diminish quickly.

❑ Offer refreshments. Free food, whether it is as simple as coffee

and pastries or as involved as a potluck dinner or a summer

barbecue, can attract many people to a meeting who might not

otherwise attend.

❑ Include activities for children and teenagers, as well as adults.

Getting children involved in games and other events will provide

a positive experience for the children and help encourage parents

to meet each other. Also, like adults, when children and teenagers

get to know their resident manager better, they are more likely to

share information. This is important because teenagers in particular may have information about a community problem of which

the adults are unaware.

6. Hold “theme” events and special meetings as appropriate. There

should be a balance between holding a purely social event and a

meeting for the purpose of addressing an agenda. The balance at each

meeting can vary, but it is important to provide some of both. At

least one of the meetings held each year should be primarily for the

purpose of celebration—a holiday party in the winter or a “get to

know your neighbor” barbecue in the summer. Others can offer a

time for socializing and a time for covering an agenda. Meeting

agendas may vary. In general, meetings should:

❑ Respond to issues that are of direct concern to a number of

tenants. If there are immediate concerns, such issues should take

priority over other potential agenda items. If tenants are concerned about gang violence in the neighborhood, less pressing

topics may seem irrelevant.

❑ Provide new information about the local community. This

information could take any number of forms. You might invite

merchants from the area, firefighters, police officers, members of

neighborhood associations or other community groups, social

workers, employment counselors, or any number of other people

to your meeting to share useful information with tenants.
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7. Nurture a sense of shared responsibility. Although it is important

for management to continue providing support for the communitybuilding process, it should not be a one-way street. Tenant leadership in the complex should be nurtured and volunteers should be

recruited at each meeting to assist with the next meeting, program,

or event. The more residents experience the community-building

process as a joint effort between management and residents, the

more they will appreciate it. Promoting a sense of shared responsibility can be accomplished in many ways, including the following:

❑ Asking for volunteers to serve on a tenants council. The council

could meet informally once a month to discuss issues of concern

in the complex and to plan the upcoming communitywide events.

Don’t be discouraged if only one or two people get involved

initially; with success, more will join.

❑ Whenever possible, having tenants set the meeting agendas.

Whether it is through a tenant council or simply by collecting

suggestions at community events, make sure tenants know they

play a key role in defining the direction of community-building

efforts.

❑ Giving tenants a chance to comment on plans for the property.

Even the simplest issues can be turned into opportunities for

building community. For example, if a fence is going to be built

or replaced, you might discuss the plans at a meeting before

starting the work and allow tenants to express their concerns or

make suggestions. You may hear some new ideas that can make

the result more attractive. In situations where you cannot act on a

suggestion, you have the opportunity to explain your reasons to

your tenants and at least provide tenants with a feeling of participation that they did not previously have. Along similar lines, by

listening to tenant concerns, you may discover that a relatively

simple adjustment in policy can result in a significant increase in

tenants’ overall satisfaction.

8. Picking projects that can succeed. Don’t promise more than you

can deliver. Make sure that easily implemented changes are made

promptly so that tenants can see the results. Although it is important

to pursue larger goals as well (such as eliminating drug activity in

the rest of the neighborhood), short-term results are needed to help

tenants see that change is possible.

9. Developing a communication system. This can be as elaborate as

quarterly or monthly newsletters, complete with updates from

management, articles from tenants, advertisements from local

merchants, and referrals to local social service agencies. Or it may

be as simple as use of a centrally located bulletin board where

community announcements are posted. Whatever the process, the

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key is to make sure that your tenants are aware of the information

source and that they find it useful.

10. Implementing basic crime-prevention measures. In addition to the

general community-building techniques described in this chapter,

various traditional crime watch techniques also can be implemented

on your property. Apartment watch training should be provided to

your involved tenants before starting the program. Contact a crimeprevention officer in your area for more details. Crime-prevention

specialists can help facilitate the first apartment watch meeting and

discuss the practices of local law enforcement agencies. Crimeprevention steps you can initiate include the following:

❑ Making sure tenants have the manager’s phone number readily

accessible and that they know to call the manager if they

suspect illegal activity. Of course, tenants should call 911 immediately if they witness a crime in progress or any life-threatening

emergency situation. They should also contact police nonemergency services to discuss illegal activity that is not urgent. Encourage tenants to contact the manager after they have contacted

911 in the case of immediate and life-threatening situations, and

to contact management any other time they suspect illegal activity is occurring in the complex. The sooner your tenants advise

you of a problem, the more opportunity you have to solve it

before the situation gets out of hand.

❑ Encouraging tenants to develop a list of tenant phone numbers.

By sharing phone numbers, tenants will be able to contact each

other with concerns as well as organize reporting of crime problems witnessed by multiple tenants. Note that sharing phone

numbers among tenants should be done on a voluntary basis

only—those who do not want to participate should not be required to do so.

❑ Distributing a list of local resources. The resource list should

include numbers for police, fire, and medical emergency services

(911 in most areas) as well as hotlines for local crime prevention,

substance abuse problems, domestic violence problems, employment assistance, and any number of other services and organizations that may be able to help your tenants.

❑ Purchasing a property engraver for each complex. Encourage

tenants to engrave their driver’s license number on items of

value such as video recorders, cameras, televisions, etc. Then

post notices of the fact that tenants in the complex have marked

their property for identification purposes. Burglars would rather

steal property that cannot be traced.
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❑ Applying CPTED changes. If tenants cannot see the problem,

they cannot report it. The chapter “Preparing the Property”

covers environmental design approaches in detail. It is important

that lighting, landscaping, and building design combine to create

an environment that deters drug dealers, burglars, and other

criminals. Make it difficult to break into tenants’ homes, close off

escape routes, and make sure areas of the complex that are

accessible to the public can be easily observed by people

throughout the complex.

11. Encouraging nearby neighbors and apartment complexes to get

involved. Solving the entire problem of illegal activity in the neighborhood may require encouraging similar cooperative steps in

adjacent apartment complexes or making sure neighbors in nearby

single-family homes also get involved. As a starting point, invite

area neighbors to at least some of the community events held at your

complex each year.

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Warning Signs of Drug

Activity

The Basics

Familiarize yourself with these warning signs so you can identify drug

activity on your property.

The Drugs

Although many illegal drugs are sold on the street today, the following

are the most common:

1. Cocaine and Crack. Cocaine is a stimulant. Popular names include

“coke,” “nose candy,” “blow,” “snow,” and a variety of others. At

one time cocaine was very expensive and generally out of reach for

people with low incomes. Today, the price has dropped to the point

that cocaine can be purchased by persons of all economic levels.

Cocaine in its powder form is usually taken nasally (“snorted”); less

frequently, it is injected.

Crack, a derivative of cocaine, produces a more intense but shorter

high. Among other popular names it is also known as “rock.” Crack

is manufactured from cocaine and baking soda, a process that

doesnot produce any of the toxic waste problems associated with

methamphetamine production (see below). Because crack delivers a

high using less cocaine, it costs less per dose, making it particularly

attractive to drug users with low incomes. Crack is typically smoked

in small glass pipes.

Powdered cocaine has the look and consistency of baking soda and

is often sold in small, folded paper packets. Crack has the look of a

small piece of old, dried soap. Crack is often sold in tiny plastic bags,

little glass vials, balloons, or even no container at all.

In general, signs of cocaine activity are not necessarily apparent to

observers. Users may be identified by combinations of the following:

regular late-night activity (e.g., after midnight on weeknights), highly

talkative behavior, paranoid behavior, and constant sniffing or

bloody noses (for intense users of powdered cocaine).

Powdered cocaine usage crosses all social and economic levels. Crack

usage is generally associated with lower income levels. While Los

Angeles-style gangs (for example, the Bloods and the Crips) have

made crack popular, other groups and individuals have begun

manufacturing and selling the drug as well.

The sooner it is recognized, the faster it

can be stopped.

COMPLAINTS HEARD:

“The neighbors tell me my

tenants are dealing drugs.

But I drove by three different times and didn’t see a

thing.”

ADVICE GIVEN:

“You’ve got to give up being naive. We could stop a

lot more of it if more people

knew what to look for.”

—Narcotics detective

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2. Methamphetamine. Methamphetamine is a stimulant. Popular

names include “meth,” “crank,” “speed,” “crystal,” “STP,” and

others. Until the price of cocaine began dropping, methamphetamine

was known as “the poor man’s cocaine.” Methamphetamine is

usually ingested, snorted, or injected. A new, more dangerous form

of methamphetamine, “crystal meth” or “ice,” can be smoked.

“Pharmaceutical” grade methamphetamine is a dry, white crystalline

powder. Although some methamphetamine sold on the street is

white, much of it is yellowish or even brown and is sometimes the

consistency of damp powdered sugar. The drug has a strong

medicinal smell and is often sold in tiny, sealable plastic bags.

Hard-core methamphetamine addicts get very little sleep, and their

appearance reflects this. Chronic users and “cooks”—those who

manufacture the drug—generally appear unclean and may have

open sores on their skin and bad teeth. Paranoid behavior combined with regular late-night activity are potential indicators of

methamphetamine usage. Occasional users may not show obvious

signs. Cooks tend to be lower income persons who may have an

unpleasant urine smell about them. Although many types of

individuals are involved in methamphetamine production, the

activity is particularly common among some outlaw motorcycle

gangs.

Because of the toxic waste dangers associated with methamphetamine production, we have included additional information on

dealing with methamphetamine labs in a separate chapter. See the

“What To Do If You Discover a Clandestine Lab” chapter of this

manual.

3. Tar Heroin. Heroin is a powerful pain killer for both emotional and

physical problems. Popular names include “brown sugar,” “Mexican

tar,” “chiva,” “horse,” “smack,” “H,” and various others. Heroin is

typically injected. Tar heroin has the look of creosote or instant coffee

melted with only a few drops of water and has a strong vinegar

smell. It is typically sold in small amounts, wrapped in tinfoil or

plastic. Paraphernalia that might be observed include hypodermic

needles with a brown liquid residue, spoons that are blackened on

the bottom, and blackened cotton balls.

When heroin addicts are on the drug, they appear disconnected

and sleepy. They can fade out, or even fall asleep, while having a

conversation. Although heroin began as a drug of the wealthy, it

has become a drug for those who have little income or who are

unemployed. Heroin addicts don’t care about much but their next

“fix,” and their clothes and demeanor reflect this. When they are not

high, addicts can become quite aggressive. As with most needle

users, you will rarely see a heroin user wearing a short-sleeved shirt.

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4. Marijuana. Marijuana is also known as “grass,” “weed,” “reefer,”

“joint,” “J,” “Mary Jane,” cannabis, and many other names.

Marijuana is smoked in a pipe or a rolled cigarette and typically

produces a mellow high. However, the type and power of the high

varies significantly with the strength and strain of the drug.

The marijuana grown today is far more powerful than the drug that

became popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Growers have

developed more sophisticated ways to control growth of the plants,

which causes higher output of the resin that contains THC, the

ingredient that gives marijuana its potency. Today’s marijuana is

often grown indoors to gain greater control over the crop and to

prevent detection by competitors, animals, or law enforcement

officers. It takes 90 to 180 days to bring the crops from seed to

harvest. Marijuana is generally sold in plastic bags or rolled in

cigarette paper. The smell of the smoke has been described as a

“musky” cigarette smoke. Users generally appear disconnected and

nonaggressive. The user’s eyes also may appear bloodshot or dilated.

Use of marijuana crosses all social and economic levels.

Signs of Drug Activity in Residential

Property

The following list describes signs of drug activity that either you or

neighbors may observe. As the list will show, many indicators are only

visible at times when the landlord is not present; this is one reason why

a solid partnership with trusted neighbors is important. Note also that,

while some of the indicators are reasonably conclusive in and of themselves, others should be considered significant only if multiple factors

are present. This list primarily applies to tenant activity. For information

on indicators of dishonest applicants, see the “Applicant Screening”

chapter of this manual.

Dealing

Drug dealers typically sell small quantities to many purchasers. Dealing

locations are like convenience stores—high traffic locations with each

customer buying a small amount.

Neighbors may observe the following activities:

❑ Heavy traffic. That is, a number of cars and pedestrians stopping at

a home for only brief periods. Traffic may be cyclical, increasing on

weekends or late at night, or minimal for a few weeks and then

intense for a period of a few days—particularly paydays.

❑ Exchanges of money. Cash and packets may be traded through

windows, mail slots, or under doorways.
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❑ Unknown Visitors. Visitors appear to be acquaintances rather than

friends.

❑ People bring valuables into the unit. Visitors regularly bring

televisions, bicycles, VCRs, and cameras—and leave empty handed.

❑ Waiting in cars and use of odd parking locations. Visitors may sit

in their cars for a while after leaving a residence or may leave one

person in the car while the others visit. Visitors also may park around

a corner or a few blocks away and approach on foot.

❑ Lookouts. Frequently lookouts will be younger people who tend to

hang around the rental unit during heavy traffic periods described

earlier.

❑ Regular activity at extremely late hours. For example, noise and

visitors between midnight and 4 a.m. on weeknights. (Both cocaine

and methamphetamine are stimulants—users tend to stay up late.)

❑ Other obvious signs. These signs may include people exchanging

small packets for cash, people using drugs while sitting in their cars,

and syringes or other paraphernalia left in common areas or on

neighboring property.

Landlords may observe the following activities:

❑ Tenants not meeting their responsibilities. Tenants may fail to pay

utility bills or rent, fail to maintain the unit in appropriate condition,

or cause general damage to the property. Some dealers smoke or

inject much of their profit; as they get more involved in the drugs,

they are more likely to ignore bills, maintenance, and housekeeping.

Distribution

Distributors are persons who sell larger quantities of drugs to other,

smaller distributors or dealers. They are the “wholesale” component,

while dealers are the “retail” component. If the distributors are not taking the drugs themselves, they can be difficult to identify. A combination of the following drug sale indicators may be significant:

❑ Expensive vehicles. Particularly vehicles owned by people otherwise

associated with a lower standard of living. Some distributors make it

a practice to spend their money on items that are easily moved, so

they might drive a $50,000 car while renting an inexpensive unit.

❑ Pagers and cellular phones. Particularly when used by people who

have no visible means of support.

❑ Frequent late-night trips. Many people work swing shifts or have

other legitimate reasons to come and go at late hours. However, if

you are seeing a number of other signs along with frequent late-night

trips, this could be significant.

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❑ Secretive loading and unloading of vehicles. Trucks, trailers, or cars

being loaded and unloaded late at night in a hurried, clandestine

manner. Loading and distribution houses (most likely to be found in

border states) are essentially repackaging locations that move large

quantities of drugs.

Marijuana Growing Operations

Marijuana growing operations are hard to identify from the street. These

operations are more likely to be found in single-family residential units

than in apartments. In addition to the general signs of excessive fortifications or overly paranoid behavior, other signs that tenants are growing marijuana are listed below.

Neighbors may observe the following indicators:

❑ Electrical wiring that has been tampered with. For example,

evidence of residents tampering with wiring and hooking directly

into power lines.

❑ Powerful lights on all night in the attic or basement. Growers use

powerful lights to speed the development of the marijuana plants.

Landlords may observe the following indicators:

❑ A sudden jump in utility bills. As mentioned above, growing

operations require special lighting, which will increase utility costs.

❑ High humidity in a unit. Growing operations require a lot of

moisture. In addition to feeling the humidity, landlords may observe

peeling paint or mildewed wallboard or carpet.

❑ Rewiring efforts or bypassed circuitry. Again, growing operations

require a lot of electricity—some use 1,000-watt bulbs that require

220-volt circuits. The extra circuitry for growing operations generally

exceeds the power rating for the rental and can burn out the wiring,

resulting in fires or the need to rewire before you can rent a property

again.

❑ Other obvious signs. Other indicators include basements or attics

filled with plants, lights, and reflective material (e.g., tinfoil) used to

speed growing.

Methamphetamine Labs

Once a methamphetamine cook has collected chemicals and set up

equipment, it doesn’t take long to make the drug—about 12 hours for

one batch. Clandestine labs have been set up in all manner of living

quarters, from hotel rooms and recreational vehicles to single-family

rentals or other apartment units. Lab operators favor units that offer

extra privacy. In rural settings barns or houses well away from other

residences offer such privacy. In urban settings labs may be set up in
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houses with plenty of surrounding trees and shrubs to block views of

the interior, or apartment or hotel units that are well away from the

view of management. However, while seclusion is preferred, clandestine

labs have been found in virtually all types of rental units.

Neighbors may observe the following indicators:

❑ A strong ammonia smell. This smell is very similar to cat box odor

and is unique to the amalgam method for methamphetamine

production.

❑ Other odd chemical odors. The smell of other chemicals or solvents

not typically associated with residential housing may be present.

❑ Chemical containers. Chemical drums or other chemical containers

with their labels painted over may be present.

❑ Smoke breaks. If other suspicious signs are present, individuals

leaving the premises to smoke a cigarette may also be an indicator

because ether, which is highly explosive, is used in methamphetamine production; methamphetamine cooks must leave the lab

before lighting up.

Landlords may observe the following indicators:

❑ Strong unpleasant or chemical odors. A particularly strong cat box

or ammonia smell within the rental may indicate methamphetamine

production using the amalgam process. The odor of ether, chloroform, or other solvents may also be present.

❑ Many empty containers of over-the-counter cold or allergy

medicines. New, faster methods of “cooking” methamphetamine

require the use of large quantities of over-the-counter cold medicines

that contain the drug ephedrine. The average cold sufferer may leave

one or two empty cold medicine containers in the trash. The presence

of many such emptied out boxes, bottles, or blister packs is a definite

warning sign.

❑ Chemistry equipment. The presence of flasks, beakers, and rubber

tubing like those used in high school chemistry classes in rental units

or garbage. Few people practice chemistry as a hobby—if you see

such articles, take it seriously.

❑ A maroon-colored residue on aluminum windows in the unit. The

“ephedrine process” of methamphetamine production is a more

expensive process, but it does not emit the telltale ammonia/cat box

odor. However, the hydroiodic acid used in the process does eat

through metals and, in particular, the vapor of the acid leaves a

maroon residue on aluminum.

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❑ Bottles or jugs used extensively for secondary purposes. For

example, milk jugs and screw-top beer bottles full of mysterious

liquids.

If you have reason to believe there is a methamphetamine lab on your

property, leave immediately, wash your face and hands, and call the

narcotics division of your local law enforcement agency to report what

you know. If you have reason to believe your exposure has been extensive, contact your doctor; some of the chemicals involved in creating this

drug are toxic. For more information about methamphetamine labs, see

the “What To Do If You Discover a Clandestine Lab” chapter of this

manual.

General Indicators of Illegal Drug Activity

In addition to the preceding signs associated with specific types of activity, the following signs are more general—they could be indicators of

various types of illegal drug activity, including dealing, distribution,

manufacturing, or growing.

Neighbors may observe the following indicators:

❑ Expensive vehicles. People in extremely expensive cars regularly

visiting renters who appear less solvent may be significant.

❑ A dramatic drop in activity after police are called. If activity in and

around a unit stops after the police have been called but before the

police arrive, this may indicate that tenants are involved in illegal

activity and are using a radio scanner to monitor police activity.

❑ Unusual fortification of a unit. Blacked-out windows, window bars,

extra deadbolts, and expensive alarm systems may be significant.

Note that grow operators and methamphetamine cooks, in particular,

often add fortifications—extra locks and thorough window coverings

are typical.

❑ Frequent late-night motorcycle or bicycle trips. This would be a

significant sign only if the trips are made from a location where other

indicators of drug activity are observed.

❑ Firearms. The presence of weapons, particularly assault weapons and

guns that have been modified for concealment such as sawed-off

shotguns, may indicate drug activity.

Landlords may observe the following indicators:

❑ An applicant’s willingness to pay rent months in advance,

particularly in cash. If an applicant offers you 6 months’ rent in

advance, resist the urge to accept, and require the person to go

through the application process. By accepting the cash without

checking the applicant’s background, you might have more money in
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the short run, but your rental unit may suffer damage and you may

also damage the neighborhood and the value of your long-term

investment.

❑ A tenant’s tendency to pay in cash combined with a lack of visible

means of support. Some honest people simply don’t like writing

checks; however, if other signs are noted, and tenants possess large

amounts of cash with no apparent source of income, be suspicious.

❑ Unusual fortification by a tenant of individual rooms. For example,

tenants putting deadbolts or alarms on interior doors.

❑ A willingness to install expensive exterior fortifications. If your

tenants offer to pay for installing expensive window bars and other

exterior fortifications, they may be interested in more than

preventing a burglary.

❑ The presence of any obvious evidence. The presence of bags of

white powder, syringes, marijuana plants, very small plastic bags—

the type in which jewelry or beads are sometimes kept—that are not

generally used in large quantities by most people, combined with

other factors, should cause suspicion.

❑ Unusually sophisticated weight scales. The scales typically used by

drug dealers, distributors, and manufacturers are noticeably more

sophisticated and accurate than household scales. Of course, there

are legitimate reasons to have such scales, so don’t consider such a

scale, by itself, an indication of illegal activity.

❑ Large amounts of tinfoil or baking soda or a large number of

electrical cords. Tinfoil is used in growing operations and methamphetamine production. Baking soda is used in methamphetamine

production and in the process of converting cocaine to crack.

Electrical cords are used in methamphetamine labs and growing

operations.

While the preceding list offers a number of potential indicators of drug

activity, it is worth keeping in mind that the practices and habits of

those involved in drug activity varies both by personal preference and

by the types of practices that may be popular in a particular part of the

country. To gain a more complete picture of the types of warning signs

to look for in your area, contact your local police department.

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What To Do If You Discover a

Clandestine Lab

Because methamphetamine labs represent a far greater potential health hazard

than other types of drug activity, we have included this section to advise you on

how to deal with this particular problem. This information is intended to help

you through the period immediately after discovering a methamphetamine lab

on your property. For information about warning signs of methamphetamine

labs and other drug activity, see the “Warning Signs of Drug Activity” chapter

of this manual.

The Basics

Know the dangers of a methamphetamine lab and whom to contact for

help; do not risk investigating such labs yourself.

The Danger: Toxic Chemicals in

Unpredictable Situations

There is very little that is consistent, standard, or predictable about the

safety level of a methamphetamine lab. The only thing we can say for

sure is that once you suspect you are in a methamphetamine lab, you

should leave the premises immediately. Consider the following elements, present in many labs:

❑ Cleanliness is usually a low priority. Cooks rarely pay attention to

keeping the site clean or keeping dangerous chemicals away from

household items. The chemicals are rarely stored in their original

containers—often you will see plastic milk jugs or screw-top beer

bottles containing unknown liquids. It is common to find bottles of

lethal chemicals sitting open on the same table with the cook’s bowl

of breakfast cereal or even next to a baby’s bottle or toys.

❑ Toxic dump sites are common. As the glass cooking vessels become

brittle with usage, they must be discarded. It is common to find small

dump sites of contaminated broken glass, needles, and other

paraphernalia on the grounds surrounding a methamphetamine lab

or in a spare room.

❑ The chemicals vary from lab to lab. While some chemicals can be

found in any methamphetamine lab, others vary. “Recipes” for

cooking methamphetamine are shared, and each one has variations.

So we cannot say with any certainty what chemicals would be

present in any given methamphetamine lab.

COMPLAINTS HEARD:

“There was a time when I

didn’t even know what a

‘precursor chemical’ was.

Now I know all about

methamphetamine labs.

So far it has cost me more

than $10,000 to deal with

one property with a meth

lab on it. And we’re still not

done.”

ADVICE GIVEN:

“Some of the acids used in

meth production don’t have

any ‘long-term’ effects—it’s

all immediate. They damage your lungs if you

breathe the vapors and

they’ll burn your skin on

contact.”

—Narcotics detective
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❑ “Booby traps” are a possibility. Other methamphetamine users and

dealers may have an interest in stealing the product from a cook.

Also, as drug usage increases, so does the user’s paranoia. Some

cooks set booby traps to protect their product. A trap could be as

innocent as a trip wire that sounds an alarm, or as lethal as a wire

that pulls the trigger of a shotgun or causes the release of deadly

chemical gases.

❑ The risk of explosion and fire is high. Ether, commonly used in

some drug labs, is highly explosive; its vapor can be ignited by the

spark of a light switch. Under some conditions, a bottle could

explode just by jarring it. Methamphetamine lab fires are generally

the result of an ether explosion, and the result can be instant

destruction of the room, leaving the remainder of the structure in

flames.

❑ Health effects are unpredictable. Before the law enforcement

community learned of the dangers of methamphetamine labs, they

entered them without protective clothing and breathing apparatus.

The results varied—in some cases officers experienced no ill effects,

while in others they developed “mild” symptoms such as intense

headaches. However, in other cases officers experienced burned lung

tissue from breathing toxic vapors, burns on the skin from coming

into contact with various chemicals, and other more severe reactions.

❑ Many toxic chemicals are involved. The list of chemicals that have

been found in methamphetamine labs is a long one. Some are

standard household items, like baking soda. Others are extremely

toxic or volatile like hydroiodic acid (which eats through metals),

benzene (which is carcinogenic), ether (which is highly explosive), or

even hydrogen cyanide (which is also used in gas chambers). Other

chemicals may be present, such as phenylacetic acid and phenyl-2-

propanone, that have been known to cause adverse health effects but

about which little is known of the long-term consequences of

exposure.

What To Do If You Find a Lab

1. Leave. Because you will not know what chemicals are present,

whether or not the place is booby-trapped, or how clean the operation is, leave the lab immediately. Do not open any containers. Do not

turn on, turn off, or unplug anything. Do not touch anything,

especially where you cannot see what you are touching—among

other hazards, by groping inside a drawer or a box, you could be

stabbed by the sharp end of a hypodermic needle. If you are not sure

you have discovered a clandestine lab, but think you may have, don’t

stay to investigate. Make a mental note of what made you suspicious

and get out.

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2. Wash your face and hands and check for symptoms. As soon as

possible after leaving the premises, wash your face and hands, and

check for physical symptoms. If you have concerns about symptoms

you are experiencing, call your doctor, contact an emergency room,

or call a poison control center for advice. As soon as is reasonably

possible, even if you feel no adverse effects, change your clothes and

take a shower. Whether or not you can smell them, the chemical

dusts and vapors of an active methamphetamine lab can cling to your

clothing the same way that cigarette smoke does. (In most cases,

normal laundry cleaning—not dry cleaning—will decontaminate

your clothes.)

3. Alert local police. Contact the narcotics unit of your local law

enforcement agency. (Call your police emergency number, 911 in

most areas, after hours.) If you are unsure of whom to call, contact

police services through their nonemergency numbers listed in the

phone book. Because of the dangers associated with clandestine lab

activity, such reports often receive priority and are investigated

quickly. Typically the law enforcement agency will coordinate with

the local fire department’s hazardous materials team to respond to

the report.

4. Arrange for cleanup. Before you can rent out the property again you

will need to decontaminate it. Cleanup procedures are evolving, and

regulations on cleanup vary significantly from state to state. Start

by getting appropriate information from the law enforcement and

hazardous materials officials who dealt with your unit. Ask for

suggestions on whom to contact in your area—generally county or

state health officials will need to be involved and will have information on methods for decontamination.

Depending on the level of contamination present, cleanup may be as

simple as a thorough cleaning of all surfaces and removal of absorbent materials (e.g., stuffed furniture and rugs), or as complex as

replacing flooring or drywall. On very rare occasions demolition of

the entire structure may be required. Again, contact your local health

officials for details. Because of the range of chemicals involved and

the differing levels of contamination possible, we cannot accurately

predict the length of time needed to decontaminate a property.

If there are remaining issues to be addressed with your tenants, do

so. However, when a methamphetamine lab is discovered, your

tenants typically either will have already left or will no longer have

any interest in possessing the unit, so while there may be other issues

to resolve, physical removal of tenants is usually not one of them.
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“How Do the ‘Cooks’ Survive?”

Many landlords ask the question, “If lab sites are so toxic, how can

methamphetamine cooks live there?”

The short answer is that methamphetamine cooks are willing to accept

the risks of the toxic effects of the chemicals around them. Methamphetamine cooks are often addicted to the drug and are often under its influence during the cooking process. This makes the cooks less aware and

more tolerant of their environment, as well as more careless with the

chemicals they use and therefore more dangerous to the people around

them.

Methamphetamine cooks are frequently recognized by signs such as

rotting teeth, open sores on the skin, and a variety of other health problems. Some of the chemicals used by methamphetamine cooks may

cause cancer; what often isn’t known is how much exposure it takes and

how long after exposure the cancer may begin. Essentially, methamphetamine cooks have volunteered for an uncontrolled experiment on the

long-term health effects of the chemicals involved.

There are occasions when methamphetamine cooks are forced to leave a

lab. For example, reports of explosions and fires are among the more

common ways that local police and fire officials discover the presence

of a lab—while fighting the fire, they discover the evidence of drug lab

activity.

Finally, you face a different set of risks in a methamphetamine lab than

do the cooks. The cooks know which compounds they are storing in the

unmarked containers. They know where the more dangerous chemicals

are located and how volatile their makeshift setup is likely to be. When

you enter the premises, you have none of this information, and without

it you face a much greater health risk.

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Crisis Resolution

The Basics

Address problems quickly and fairly as soon as they come up. Know

how to respond if a neighbor calls with a complaint. If eviction is required, do it efficiently. If you don’t know the legal requirements involved in the eviction process, ask a skilled attorney.

Act Immediately

Effective property management includes early recognition of noncompliance and immediate response. Don’t wait for rumors of drug activity,

and don’t wait for official action against you or the property (e.g., warning letters, fines, closure, or forfeiture). Prevention is the most effective

way to deal with rental-based drug activity. Many drug operators have

histories of noncompliant behavior that the landlord ignored. If you give

the consistent message that you are committed to keeping the property

up to code and appropriately used, dishonest tenants will learn that they

can’t take advantage of you or your property.

The following are three of the more common reasons why landlords

delay taking action, as well as some reasons why you may want to take

action swiftly:

❑ Fear of the legal process. Many landlords don’t take swift action

because they are intimidated by the legal process. However, the

penalty for indecision can be high—if you do not act, and accept rent

with the knowledge that a tenant is in noncompliance, you may

compromise your ability to take any future action against the

problem. Your position is strongest if you consistently apply the law

whenever tenants are not in compliance with the rental agreement or

your landlord/tenant laws. Your position is weakened whenever you

look the other way.

❑ Fear of damage to the rental unit. Some landlords don’t act for fear

the tenant will damage the rental property. Unfortunately, such

inaction generally makes the situation worse. Problem tenants may

see your inaction as a sign of acceptance. You will lose what control

you have over the renter’s noncompliant behavior, lose options to

evict while allowing a renter to abuse your rights, and likely get a

damaged rental anyway—if your tenants are the type who would

damage a rental, sooner or later they will.

❑ Misplaced belief in one’s tenants. While developing this manual, we

heard with considerable frequency, “The people renting the property

aren’t dealing the drugs. We haven’t had any problems with them.

Stop the problem

before it gets worse.

COMPLAINTS HEARD:†

“The problem is these landlord/tenant laws don’t give

us any room. The tenants

have all the rights and we

have hardly any. Our

hands are tied.”

“The system works primarily

for the tenant—for-cause

evictions are very difficult

to do. The judges bend

over backward to help the

tenant.”

ADVICE GIVEN:

“Serving eviction papers on

drug house tenants is not

the time to cut costs. Unless

you already know the process, you are better off

paying for a little legal

advice before you serve

the papers than for a lot

of it afterward.”

“Tell them to read a current copy of the landlord/

tenant law. Too many

landlords haven’t looked at

it in years.”

† Note that some “complaints”

contain inaccurate or incomplete assumptions about legal

rights or procedures.

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The drug dealers are their friends who often stay at the property. So

what do we do? The tenants aren’t making trouble, it’s these other

people.” Ask yourself whether your innocent tenants contacted you

or the police when the drug activity first occurred. Or did your

tenants acknowledge the truth only after you received phone calls

from upset neighbors or a warning from the police? Also, is your

tenant breaking your rental agreement by having long-term guests

or subtenants?

To be sure, tenants can be victimized by friends or relations.

Therefore, if tenants seek your assistance early, help as much as you

can. But be wary of stories you hear from tenants who don’t admit to

problems until after you have received complaints from neighbors or

police. The sooner tenants who front for others realize they will be

held responsible for illegal activity in their unit, the sooner they may

choose to stop helping the dealers.

The Secret to Good, Low-Cost Legal Help

If you are not familiar with the process for eviction, contact a skilled

landlord-tenant attorney before you begin. By paying for a small amount

of legal advice up front, many landlords have saved themselves from

having to pay for much more expensive legal help further down the

road. The law may look simple to apply, but as any landlord—or tenant—who has lost in eviction court can attest, it is more complicated

than it seems. While researching this manual, we repeatedly heard from

both landlords and legal experts that the vast majority of successful

eviction defenses are won because of incorrect procedure by the landlord

and not because the landlord’s case is shown to be without merit.

If you don’t know a good landlord-tenant attorney, find one. If you

think you can’t afford an attorney, think again. Too often, out of fear of

paying attorney fees, landlords make mistakes in the eviction process

that cost them the equivalent of many months of rent. Yet many evictions, when done correctly, are simple procedures that cost only a fraction of a month’s rent in attorney’s fees.

Finding a good landlord-tenant attorney is relatively easy. Check your

yellow pages phone directory for those attorneys who list themselves as

specialists in landlord and tenant issues. Generally, you will find a very

short list, because few attorneys make landlord and tenant law a specialty. In some communities you may not find any attorneys listed at all.

In such a case, try contacting a local property management association

for referrals or call a few local property management companies and

find out who they use. Once you have names of attorneys who specialize in landlord/tenant issues, call at least three and interview them. Ask

about how many evictions they do per month, how often they are in

court on eviction matters, and how much they charge. In our experience,

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the safest bets are often those attorneys who handle many evictions per

month—they see it as a major part of their practice, not a sideline that

they advise on infrequently. Once you find attorneys who have the necessary experience, pick the one you feel most comfortable working with

and ask that person to help.

What To Do When a Neighbor Calls

With a Complaint

If a neighbor calls to report drug activity, or any other type of dangerous

or illegal activity at your rental, take the following steps:

1. At the initial call, stay objective and ask for details. Don’t be defensive or jump to conclusions. Your goal is to get as much information

as you can from the neighbor about what has been observed. You

also want to avoid establishing an adversarial relationship with the

neighbor—if illegal drug activity is taking place on your property,

you need to know about it.

Make a commitment that you will not reveal the caller’s name to the

tenant without permission (unless subpoenaed to do so). In the past,

some landlords—perhaps believing that neighbors’ reports were

exaggerated—have treated dangerous situations casually and told

criminals the names of neighbors who called to complain. If the

neighbors have exaggerated, you do no harm by protecting their

names; if they haven’t, you could put them in real danger by

revealing too much.

Ask the caller for the following:

❑ A detailed description of what has been observed.

❑ A letter documenting what has been observed to be sent to you

and to your local law enforcement agency’s narcotics division. If

you have Section 8 tenants, make sure that the local PHA receives

a copy as well.

❑ The caller’s name, address, and phone number, if they are

willing to give it. If neighbors don’t know you, they may be

unwilling to give you their names on the first call. This is one

reason why we recommend you meet neighbors and trade phone

numbers before a crisis occurs. If the only thing neighbors know

about you is that you have rented to a drug dealer, they will have

reason to be cautious when they call.

❑ Names of other citizens you can call who could verify the complaint, or ask that the neighbor encourage other neighbors to

contact you. You will need more evidence than the phone call

of a single neighbor to take meaningful action. Explaining this

need may encourage the neighbor to ask others to call. Multiple
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complaints can also help protect the caller by taking the focus off

of a single complainant.

A single call from one neighbor doesn’t necessarily mean your

tenants are doing anything illegal. However, a single call is

justification to pursue the matter further.

2. Find out more. Go to other sources for additional information and

assistance. Your goal is to collect enough information to verify any

problems at the rental and then to take appropriate action.

❑ Get in touch with other neighbors. Even if your tenant is running a high-volume dealing operation, it is likely that some

neighbors will suspect nothing; many citizens are unobservant or

give their neighbors too much benefit of doubt. However, while

some neighbors may be unaware of the scope of the problem, it is

also likely that others will have a lot to tell you.

❑ Contact the police. Get in touch with a district officer for your

area and contact the narcotics division of your local law enforcement agency. Determine what, if anything, they have on record

that can be revealed (see “The Role of the Police” chapter for

details).

❑ Call a crime-prevention specialist. Many communities have

police officers assigned to crime-prevention work; others hire

civilians to perform the task. Start by calling your local law

enforcement agency and asking for information about neighborhood crime-prevention assistance. Reports from neighbors

mayhave been called in to local crime-prevention staff. Crimeprevention staff also may have additional information that can

help you address the situation effectively.

❑ If you feel comfortable doing it, consider a property maintenance inspection. Again, few tenants involved in serious illegal

activity are model renters. Discovery of maintenance violations

may provide sufficient basis for serving eviction notices without

having to pursue the more difficult route of developing civil

proof that dangerous criminal behavior has occurred.

3. Once you’ve identified the problem, address it. If you discover that

your tenant is innocent, immediately contact the neighbor who called

and do your best to clear up the matter. If you discover no drug

activity but strong examples of disturbing the neighbors’ peace or

other violations, don’t let the problem continue; serve the appropriate notices. Likewise, if you become confident your property is

being used for drug activity or other dangerous behavior, take action.

Advise the police narcotics division of your findings and your plan.

The following are examples of options you might pursue, although

the specifics will depend on your local laws:

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❑ If the evidence provides just cause, serve an eviction notice for

alleged drug activity. The type of notice you serve will depend on

your local law. For drug dealing and manufacturing, many jurisdictions allow a very fast eviction notice, such as an “immediate,”

“24-hour,” or “3-day no-cure” eviction. (Such notices do not

actually force eviction on such short notice; rather, they terminate

the rental agreement on short notice, which allows the landlord to

start the process for seeking a court-ordered eviction that much

more quickly.)

Keep in mind that if your tenant wishes to fight the eviction in

court, you will need to establish civil—not criminal—proof that

drug activity has occurred. This is a lower level of proof than local

law enforcement would need to get a conviction. Nevertheless,

allegations of drug activity or other dangerous activity should be

made with care. Given the seriousness of the charge, always

contact an attorney before serving an eviction notice based on

suspicion of drug activity.

Note that, frequently, if the tenants are involved in illegal activity,

they move out quickly rather than fight the eviction—it won’t

help their drug operation to appear in court. One exception is

Section 8 tenants who, for reasons unrelated to the drug activity,

may be more inclined to resist eviction (as described in “The

Section 8 Program” chapter of this manual).

Note also that your failure to act if you have grounds for serving

such a notice may also put you at risk. If your tenants act on a

threat, or continue to carry out activities that endanger the community, you could face legal action by neighbors who are as a

result harmed or the local government for not taking action once

you had knowledge of the problem.

❑ If you have the option, consider a “no-cause” or “nonrenewal”

notice. In some rental situations, such as month-to-month rentals

or at the expiration of a lease term, you may be able to evict

without giving the cause. This is not an option in every jurisdiction, but if it is in yours it can be a less adversarial way to solve

the problem.

❑ Consider serving notice for other apparent causes. Cause in this

case could be disturbance of the neighbors’ peace, nonpayment

of rent, or any other significant issue of noncompliance with the

rental agreement or the landlord/tenant law that you have discovered since cashing the last rent check. Again, if drug activity

is present, an inspection of the unit will likely reveal a failure to

maintain the property as provided in the rental agreement, additional people living in the unit, or other noncompliant behavior.

Note that notices served for many types of noncompliant behavior are curable—that is, if the tenant can fix the problem in a
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legally defined period of time, the tenant will be allowed to stay

in the unit.

❑ Consider a mutual agreement to dissolve the lease. This is a

frequently overlooked method of handling problem tenants.

Essentially, if both you and your tenant can agree that the tenant

will move by a specific date, you may not need to pursue courtordered eviction at all. In some instances this can be beneficial to

both parties. Write the tenant a letter discussing the problem and

offering whatever supporting evidence seems appropriate. Recommend dissolving the terms of the lease, thus allowing the

tenant to search for other housing without going through the

confrontation of a court-ordered eviction. Let Section 8 renters

know that a mutual agreement to dissolve the lease does not

threaten program eligibility.

Make sure the letter is evenhanded—that it presents evidence, not

accusations. Make no claims that you cannot support. Have the

letter reviewed by an attorney familiar with landlord/tenant law.

Handled properly, this can be a useful way to dissolve a problem

to your and your tenant’s satisfaction without dealing with the

court process. Handled improperly, this will cause more problems than it will solve. Don’t try this option without doing your

homework first.

Finally, if you evict someone for engaging in drug activity, share the information with the local PHA and others. Landlords who are screening

tenants later may not find out about these incidents unless the information is documented. If the problem tenant is a Section 8 renter, make

sure the local PHA has a letter from you on file regarding the incident.

Also contact the screening company or credit reporting service you use

and advise them of the circumstances; they may also be able to keep

track of the information.

How To Serve Notice

When an eviction notice is served, often the tenant moves out and the

procedure is complete. However, in those cases where a tenant requests

a trial, the details of the eviction process will be analyzed. As one landlord puts it, “Ninety percent of the cases lost are not lost on the bottomline issues, but on technicalities.” Another points out, “Even if you have

police testimony that the tenants are dealing drugs, you still have to

serve the notice correctly.”

Eviction options include a legal process that you must follow. In addition, the process also may be affected by the provisions of your rental

agreement or Section 8 contract. Begin by reading your rental contracts

and landlord/tenant law. One of the best skills you can develop is a

working knowledge of the law. In any eviction, take the following steps:

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1. Start with the right form. When available, use forms already developed for each eviction option. Forms that have been written and

reviewed for consistency with state law generally can be purchased

through property management associations or legal document publishing companies. In some states, the form actually may appear in

the statute. You can, of course, have your attorney generate the

appropriate notices as well.

2. Complete the form correctly. If you are using a for-cause notice, you

must cite the specific breach of landlord/tenant law or the section of

the rental agreement that the tenant has violated. In addition, briefly

describe the tenant’s noncompliant behavior. You will need to have

other elements that your local law requires, such as noting the time of

service or the date and time by which the notice requires the tenant

to act. Also, if it is a Section 8 rental, you may need to note that a

copy of the notice is being delivered to the local PHA.

3. Time the notice accurately. Issues of notice timing vary significantly

by state. Overall, cases can be lost because a landlord did not extend

the notice period to allow for delivery time, did not allow sufficient

time for a tenant to remedy a problem, or did not accurately note the

timing of the process on the notice itself. Check landlord/tenant law,

your rental agreement, and your Section 8 contract (if applicable) to

make sure you address timing issues correctly.

4. Serve the notice properly. Again, check the law and your contracts

to make sure your notice delivery process is correct. Generally,

placing the notice directly into the hands of a tenant whose name is

on the rental agreement is allowable in any jurisdiction. Other types

of legal delivery vary by state. In some areas all mailed notices must

be delivered by certified mail. In other areas only standard first-class

mail may be used and a certified mail notice would be considered

illegal. So don’t guess. Read the law, check with your attorney, and

proceed from there.

5. Don’t guess; get help. As mentioned earlier, unless you are comfortable with the process, consult an attorney who is experienced in

landlord/tenant law before you serve an eviction notice. If you have

drug activity on your property, you already have a major problem.

Now is not the time to cut corners to save money. Following proper

legal processes could save you thousands of dollars in damages,

penalties, and legal fees.

What Evidence Is Required

An eviction trial is a civil proceeding. This means that civil proof of drug

activity is typically all that is required to successfully evict a tenant. For

example, in eviction court landlords have established strong proof of

drug activity in a rental by providing the following:
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❑ Credible testimony of neighbors who have observed suspected drugrelated behavior (such as described in the “Warning Signs of Drug

Activity” chapter of this manual).

❑ The landlord’s testimony about additional signs observed during an

inspection of a unit.

❑ The subpoenaed testimony of a police officer who has made a single

undercover buy from a tenant or arrested a tenant for possession of

drugs.

From a criminal standpoint, this would generally not be enough proof

for the police to get a search warrant. But this evidence could be enough

to prove suspicion of chronic drug activity in a civil court. Of course, the

actual amount of proof required in your jurisdiction will be determined

by a combination of local law, court precedents, the presiding judge, and

the “trier of fact”—either a judge or jury—who hears the case. (For more

on the issues of criminal versus civil law, see “The Role of the Police”

chapter of this manual.)

The Court Process

The popular belief is that a “termination” notice is sufficient to force a

tenant to move out by the date specified on the notice. In fact, the notice

is just the first step in the eviction process. Technically, the landlord’s

first notice to vacate means that, if the tenant does not move out by the

date specified, the landlord may file suit to regain possession of the

property. While many tenants will move out before the initial notice expires, if they don’t the landlord will need to start legal action with the

local courts to regain possession of the property.

In cases where a tenant wishes to resist eviction, he or she will be allowed to remain on the premises until a landlord has received a court

judgment against the tenant. If physical removal of the tenant is required, it will be done by a local law enforcement official, most commonly a sheriff or marshal. The actual eviction procedure varies

significantly by jurisdiction, as does the length of time required.

Perhaps the most compelling point we can make about the eviction process, from service of notice to arguing in court, is that eviction is an expensive, time-consuming way to “screen” tenants. You will save much

heartache and considerable expense if you screen your tenants carefully

before you rent to them.

If You Have a Problem With Neighboring

Property

When chronic problem activity is present in a neighborhood, every affected citizen makes a conscious or unconscious choice about what kind

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

of action to take. The choices are to move away, to do nothing and hope

the problem will go away, or to take action to stop the problem. Doing

nothing or moving away usually means the problem will remain and

grow worse—somebody, someday, will have to cope with it. Taking action, especially when it involves many neighbors working together, can

both solve the problem and create a needed sense of community.

Many neighbors are under the impression that solutions to crime are the

exclusive responsibility of the police and the justice system—that there

isn’t much an individual citizen can do. Actually, there is a lot that citizens can do, even must do, to ensure that they live in a safe and healthy

neighborhood. Getting more involved in your neighborhood isn’t just a

good idea, it is how our system of law and civic life was designed and

the only way it can really work. With that in mind, the following it a list

of proven community organizing techniques to help you begin.

1. Find others concerned about the problem and enlist their help. As

you consider the following steps, keep in mind that a number of

neighbors following the same course of action will magnify the

credibility and effectiveness of each step. In particular, several

neighbors calling a government agency separately about the same

problem will usually make the problem appear more serious to the

agency. The involvement of many neighbors also increases everyone’s safety. Tenants involved in illegal activity might target one

neighbor for revenge but they are less likely to try to identify and

harass several neighbors.

2. Make sure the police are informed in detail. It doesn’t matter how

many police officers work in your local department if people don’t

call the police and report crime. Even if you have called without

getting the results you expected, keep calling, and as you follow the

other recommendations of this section, keep working with police. Of

course, establishing a connection with a particular officer who works

the area regularly is often a key to success. Other strategies include

the following:

❑ Report incidents when they occur. Call 911 in an emergency or

call police narcotics detectives, gang units, and other special

enforcement units as appropriate. You may need to do some

research to find out what agency deals with a particular type of

problem.

❑ Keep activity logs or diaries. Track activity when disturbances

occur frequently at one address, and encourage neighbors to do

the same. Share copies of these logs with a police officer, in

person if possible.

❑ Encourage civil abatement action. When speaking with law

enforcement officials, be aware that, in addition to criminal

investigation, police often have the option of using civil law to
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help solve a problem, such as fining the owner, closing (boarding

up) property, or even seizing property that is associated with

illegal drug activity.

3. Consider direct contact with the property owner. Many activists

contact the owner directly and ask for help in solving the problem.

While police officers may do this for you, it is an option available to

any citizen. Understand that it may not be safe to contact some

irresponsible owners, so be sure to plan your approach carefully. In

general, try a friendly, cooperative approach first—it usually works.

If this doesn’t work, then move on to more adversarial tactics.

Following are some tips for approaching owners:

❑ Use tax records to find the owner. Local property tax assessment

records generally will identify who owns the property.

❑ Discuss the problem with the owner. It is amazing how often

this simple step is never taken. Discuss the problem and ask for

assistance in stopping it.

❑ Suggest this training. If the property is a rental, consider delivering a copy of this manual to the owner and encouraging him or

her to attend a Landlord Training Program in the area.

❑ Give police references. Give the property owner the names of

officers who have been called to the address. (Names of specific

officers are far more useful than general statements such as “The

police have been out frequently.”)

❑ Help locate criminal records if appropriate. Learn how you or

the property owner can access criminal background information.

For example, if an occupant has a criminal record in your county,

the local courthouse should have the records.

❑ Share activity logs. Consider giving copies of your activity logs

to the landlord if it appears the landlord will use them to support

lease-enforcement actions.

4. Enlist the help of others. If it becomes apparent that the problem

will not get resolved without more effort, it may be time for more

aggressive action. This may require more organization and structure

in the neighborhood. Here are some approaches to apply more

pressure to neighboring landlords:

❑ Remind others to make requests. After any action you take, call

several other neighbors and ask them to consider doing the same

thing, whether it is reporting an incident to police, calling the

landlord, or speaking to a local official. Don’t ask neighbors to

call and repeat your report. Ask neighbors to make an independent assessment of the problem you have observed and, if they

also consider it a problem, to report it as well.

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❑ Call the public housing authority. If the problem residents are

receiving public housing assistance, contact the local housing

authority and report the problems observed.

❑ Call for a code inspection. Call your local building maintenance

code enforcement department to report maintenance code violations. Maintenance codes address exterior building structure and

appearance, interior structure and appearance, as well as nuisances in yards, such as animals, abandoned cars, trash, and

neglect. Most properties with problem residents will have many

violations of maintenance codes as well.

❑ Consider calling the mortgage holder. Sometimes the holder of

the mortgage on a property can take action if the property is not

in compliance with local law. Generally, if a financial institution

is holding a mortgage on real property, the name of the institution will be listed on the title records kept by the assessors’ office.

❑ Write letters. Citizens who write letters to mayors, council members, chiefs of police, building inspectors, and others give legitimacy to a problem that may not have received as much attention

as it required. The first letters should be written to persons in a

position to take direct action—a police officer, code inspector, or

other person tasked with addressing problems like the one you

are working on. Don’t write letters to managerial or political

authorities until you have given this a chance to work. Write

letters to such authorities if it becomes apparent that the help

your neighborhood needs will not be forthcoming. When necessary, follow up calls or letters with personal appointments.

5. Two strategies of last resort. Generally, these activities should be

undertaken only by a well-organized group, and only when consistent and diligent work with police, neighbors, and city officials has

made little or no progress.

❑ Consider getting the media involved. After making a concerted

effort to get results through other means, discussing the problem

with the media can be a way to focus more attention—and sometimes resources—on a problem. However, going to the media

with your complaint before communicating clearly with the

accountable person or organization can be counterproductive;

it can cause justifiable resentment by public officials who feel

blindsided by media attention on an issue about which they had

no prior warning. Also be aware that, if the problem is associated

with criminal drug or gang activity, attracting media attention to

yourself can put you at risk.

❑ Start legal action against the property owner. Citizens also can

pursue lawsuits against a nuisance property directly. In the final

analysis, even the most negligent property owners will take
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action when they are made to fully understand that it will cost

more money to ignore the problem than it will to stop it. The legal

options for this type of approach vary substantially by jurisdiction.

In general, this is not an easy process and should be considered

only as a last resort. Again, the vast majority of neighborhood

problems can be solved without having to go through the time

and expense of taking legal action.

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The Role of the Police

The Basics

Know how to work with the system to ensure rapid problem resolution.

Have a working knowledge of how your local law enforcement agency

deals with drug problems in residential neighborhoods.

Defining the Roles: Landlords and Police

It is a common misconception that law enforcement agencies can evict

tenants involved in illegal activity. In fact, only the landlord has the authority to evict; the police do not. The police can arrest people for criminal activity. But arrest itself has no bearing on a tenant’s right to occupy

your property.

Eviction, on the other hand, is a civil process in which the landlord sues

the tenant for possession of the property. There are differences in the

proof required for these two processes. Victory in civil court requires a

preponderance of evidence—the scales must tip, however slightly, in

your favor. Criminal conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable

doubt—a much tougher standard. Therefore, you may find yourself in a

position where you have enough evidence to evict your tenants, but the

police do not have enough evidence to arrest them. Further, even if the

police arrest your tenants and a court convicts them, you still must evict

them from your property through a separate process. If you do not pursue the eviction process, upon release the tenant will have the right to

return to and occupy your property.

Many landlords are surprised to discover the power they have to close

drug houses and eliminate such threats to the neighborhood. As one police captain put it, “Even our ultimate action against a drug operation in

a rental—a raid and the arrest of the people inside—will not solve a

landlord’s problem, because the tenants retain a legal right to occupy

the property. It’s still the tenants’ home until they move out or the landlord evicts them. And, as is often the case, those people do not go to jail,

or do not stay in jail long.” It’s surprising, but the person with the most

power over an individual “drug house” operation in a neighborhood is

the property owner—the landlord. Ultimately, the landlord can remove

all tenants in a unit; the police can’t.

The only time law enforcement may get involved in eviction is to enforce the outcome of your civil proceeding. For example, when a court

issues a judgment requiring a tenant to move out and the tenant refuses,

the landlord can go to the sheriff (or other appropriate law enforcement

agency) and request that the tenant be physically removed. Until that

Building an effective

partnership.

COMPLAINTS HEARD:

“The problem is the police

won’t get rid of these

people when we call.

We’ve had dealers operating in one unit for 4

months. The other tenants

are constantly kept up by

the activity—even as late

as 2:00 or 3:00 in the

morning on weeknights.”

“I called police about one

of my properties. They

wouldn’t even confirm

that anyone suspected

activity at the place. A

month later they raided

the house. Now I’m stuck

with repair bills from the

raid. If they had just told

me what they knew,

I could have done

something.”

ADVICE GIVEN:

“In almost every case,

when the police raid a

drug house, there is a history of compliance violations unrelated to the

drug activity for which an

active landlord would

have evicted the tenant.”

—Narcotics detective
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point, law enforcement cannot get directly involved in the eviction

process. However, the police may be able to provide information or

other support appropriate to the situation, such as testifying at the trial,

providing records of search warrant results, or being present when you

serve the eviction notice.

Again, criminal arrest and civil eviction are unrelated; the only connection is the possibility of subpoenaing an arresting officer or using conviction records as evidence in an eviction trial. No matter how serious

a crime your tenants have committed, eviction remains your responsibility.

What To Expect

Police officers are paid, and trained, to deal with dangerous criminal

situations; they are experts in enforcing criminal law. However, they are

not authorities in civil law. While you should inform the police if you

have tenants who are involved in illegal activity, do not make the assumption that you can turn the matter over to the authorities and they

will take it from there. Because landlord/tenant laws are enforced only

by the parties in the relationship, when it comes to removal of a tenant,

landlords are the authorities. With that in mind, you will get the best results from police by providing any information you can for their criminal investigation while requesting police give any supporting evidence

you can use for your civil proceeding.

In order to get the most cooperation from the police, remember the rule

of working with any bureaucracy: The best results are achieved by

working one-on-one with the same contact. This rule is especially important when working with a law enforcement agency where information shared with the wrong people could harm an investigation or

endanger the life of an officer. If an officer doesn’t know you, the officer

may be hesitant to give you information about suspected activity at your

rental.

The best approach, therefore, is to make an appointment to speak with a

narcotics officer in person or to call your local precinct and arrange to

speak directly with an officer who patrols the district where your rental

is located. There can be a significant difference between the type of information available through a single, anonymous phone call and the

amount of assistance possible if you arrange an in-person meeting.

The type of assistance possible will vary depending on the situation—

from advice about what to look for on your property to documentation

for and testimony in your eviction proceeding. Remember that the police are not obligated to collect information for you to evict problem tenants. Although you can get valuable assistance from the police, don’t

wait for the police to develop an entire criminal case before you take action. If neighbors are complaining that drug activity or other dangerous

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

situations are occurring in your rental, investigate the problem and resolve it as quickly as possible (see the “Crisis Resolution” chapter of this

manual). Don’t assume that the situation at your unit must be under

control simply because the police have yet to serve a search warrant at

the property.

Fines, Forfeiture, and Other Penalties

Laws are on the books nationwide that allow such actions as heavy fines

against owners who allow drug manufacturing or sale on their properties, closure of such property for specified time periods, or even forfeiture of such property when the owner’s complicity with the crime can be

established.

While it is valuable for you to be aware of the specific laws that affect

your area, these laws are rarely used on properties that are actively

managed. If you are screening tenants with care, enforcing rental agreements, and, in apartments, encouraging a sense of healthy community

among good tenants, it is unlikely that such laws will ever be used

against you or your property.
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The Section 8 Program

The term “Section 8” refers to a number of federal subsidy programs that allow

people of limited means to rent housing. The tenant pays a portion of the rent,

while the Federal Government pays the rest. The Section 8 program is under

the control of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is

administered locally by public housing agencies.

The Basics

Understand the legal and practical differences between publicly subsidized rentals and private rentals in order to have the same success rate

in either type of rental situation.

Benefits

The most important benefit of a landlord participating in the Section 8

program is that, if the landlord manages responsibly, it will help the entire community. Landlords who meet their responsibilities and require

Section 8 tenants to do the same provide a valuable service—by renting

decent housing to good citizens who otherwise could not afford it. In

addition to the satisfaction of serving the public good, landlords can enjoy the following direct benefits for their business:

1. Reliable rents. A large portion of the rent, and sometimes all of it,

is guaranteed by the Federal Government. Once the paperwork is

processed, you’ll get the subsidy portion on time, every month. Also,

assuming you screen applicants responsibly, your tenants should be

able to pay their portion on time since the amount has been determined to be within their means.

2. Fair Market Rents. HUD and local PHAs ensure that subsidized

rents do not exceed comparable private rents in the area. Landlords

who are charging comparable rates will receive similar amounts

under Section 8. Landlords who attempt to lead the market in the

rents they charge may suffer somewhat.

Misconceptions

The following are common misconceptions about Section 8.

PHAs prescreen their participants using the same guidelines that a landlord

should use.

False. PHAs screen Section 8 program applicants primarily for

program eligibility (essentially, income level). It is up to the landlord

“For landlords the message

is simple. Bottom line, if

you screen your tenants,

Section 8 is a very good

program.”

—A Section 8

program director

ADVICE GIVEN:

“Few landlords realize it,

but you can screen a subsidized applicant the same

way you screen any applicant. Most don’t screen

subsidized applicants for

rental history—either

because they don’t know

they can or because they

are too excited about the

guaranteed rent check.”

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Bureau of Justice Assistance

to perform standard tenant screening—making sure applicants can

pay the remainder of the rent, checking their rental records through

previous landlords, and running all other checks a private landlord

would run. You are not only legally permitted to screen Section 8

participants in this way, you are expected to. Screening applicants,

subsidized or not, is both your right and your responsibility; you are

entitled to turn down Section 8 applicants who do not meet your

screening criteria and to accept those who do. Even guaranteed rent

is not worth the risk of having drug-dealing tenants moving in.

In short, the path toward successfully renting to Section 8 tenants is

not very different from the path to success in any rental situation—

the first step is careful screening.

Landlords who rent to Section 8 tenants must use a PHA model lease.

False. HUD guidelines developed in 1995 make it easier for the landlord to use the same lease used for nonsubsidized tenants. However,

the landlord will be required to use an approved lease addendum

provided by the local housing agency that adds to and/or modifies

some of the conditions of the lease that the landlord typically uses

with nonsubsidized tenants.

Note also that the lease addendum and model leases provided by

PHAs are written to match HUD’s requirements and won’t necessarily include all the provisions you are accustomed to using. It is

important, therefore, to be aware of differences between the conditions of your Section 8 lease and/or lease addendum and the conditions of your typical lease for nonsubsidized tenants.

Section 8 tenants cannot be evicted.

False. This misconception arises primarily from confusion about the

types of notices that can be served on a subsidized tenant. While it is

true that during the first year, a Section 8 lease will forbid the use of

“no-cause” or nonrenewal notices, in general, all “for-cause” notices

still apply. So, for example, if a tenant is violating the terms of the

lease or damaging the property, a landlord can serve the applicable

for-cause notice defined in the local landlord/tenant law. New HUD

regulations now permit landlords in many areas to use a lease that

will permit no-cause terminations after the first year. Check with

your local PHA to see whether such an approach is available to you.

Section 8 participants are bound by the same state and local landlord/

tenant laws that govern nonsubsidized rental relationships. In theory,

the only difference should be the wording of the lease. However,

there are instances where evictions can be more complicated with

Section 8 tenants. Your best approach, as with any eviction, is to

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: Participant’s Manual

speak with an experienced landlord/tenant attorney before starting

an eviction process.

If you evict tenants for drug activity, the local PHA will simply let the same

people rent again elsewhere.

False. New HUD guidelines allow local PHAs to terminate assistance

to tenants involved in the manufacture, sale, distribution, possession,

or use of illegal drugs. The same guidelines apply to tenants involved

in violent criminal activity. New federal guidelines introduced in

1995 also give local PHAs expanded options for terminating a person’s

eligibility for the Section 8 program for problems such as repeated

and serious lease violations.
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Resources

Many of the key resources available to landlords and property managers

vary by city, county, and state, so it is impractical to provide a resource

list in a national manual. Therefore, the following are examples of the

types of resources you may wish to use as you pursue your property

management goals and suggestions for how to locate them.

Property Management Associations

These groups are typically listed in local phone directories under

associations.

The services and type of support offered by each organization varies.

Examples of services include legislative lobbying and providing rental

forms, continuing education, attorney referrals, and answers to landlord/tenant questions. Other services can include running credit checks

and holding monthly meetings to discuss topics of interest.

Tenant Screening Services

Your local phone directory may list a variety of companies under the

heading “credit reporting agencies,” some of which regularly work with

landlords. In most directories, you also will find a listing of companies

that can help you with tenant screening under the heading “property

management.”

Although providing credit reports is standard, other services vary, and

may include providing records of courthouse eviction proceedings;

tracking landlord complaints on problem tenants; searching public

records for judgments, tax liens, or lawsuits; conducting criminal background checks; verifying employment; verifying addresses; and checking references with present and previous landlords. The best approach

is to contact a few different companies, interview them about their services (and fees), and check their references and reputations with other

landlords.

Crime Prevention/Apartment Watch

For help in establishing a crime prevention or apartment watch in your

complex, contact a crime prevention specialist at your local law enforcement agency (which is typically listed in the government section of local

phone directories) and find out what types of assistance are available.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of

evil is for good people to

do nothing.”

—Edmund Burke
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Bureau of Justice Assistance

Community-Based Organizations

To locate community-based organizations, contact your city or county’s

local citizen participation or community development agencies. Nonprofit community-based organizations are generally involved in various

community-building projects from rehabilitating housing and organizing neighbors to providing a range of local referral and support assistance. Staff at some community-based organizations may be able to

provide more indepth information about specific neighborhood concerns that citywide agencies provide.

Section 8 Rent Assistance Program

Contact the public housing agency in your area for answers to questions

regarding the Section 8 program.

Laws and Ordinances

These are generally available through your local public library. State

laws also are available through your state legislature’s information

service. To locate state statutes on the Internet, one of the more comprehensive reference sites is maintained by Cornell University at:

www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html#state. Contact your local city and

county governments for applicable ordinances.

Participant’s Manual
Appendixes
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

Sources for Further

Information

As of the first quarter of 1999, more than 400 jurisdictions in the United

States and Canada have received permission to adapt the Landlord

Training Program. The following are examples of resources that have a

depth of experience with the original program or its variations:

❑ Community Policing Services, Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc.,

319 SW. Washington, Suite 802, Portland, Oregon 97204. Phone:

(503) 221–2005. E-mail: LTPinfo@cdri.com. CDRI handles all

license requests, typically for no charge. Many answers on licensing

questions and other program issues can be found by visiting the

Campbell DeLong Web site at www.cdri.com. CDRI can answer

questions about the program on a time-available basis and can

provide referrals to agencies and organizations that may also be able

to offer technical assistance. Also, as the original program developer,

CDRI is available to assist directly with program design and

implementation, but can only respond to a limited number of such

requests per year.

❑ Planning & Support Division, Portland Police Bureau, 1111 SW.

Second Avenue, Room 1552, Portland, Oregon 97204. Phone: (503)

823–0283. This is the sponsor of the original Landlord Training

Program. In 1998 the program in Portland became a joint partnership

between the Portland Police Bureau and the city of Portland’s Bureau

of Buildings. The Bureau of Buildings now manages all Landlord

Training Program elements and can provide information on local

program status. Phone: (503) 823–7955.

❑ Landlord Training Program, Department of Building Inspection,

City of Milwaukee, Room 1008 Municipal Building, 841 North

Broadway, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202. Phone: (414) 286–2954.

Milwaukee has a depth of experience in the original Landlord

Training Program model and is an excellent resource for advice on

program development. Milwaukee’s manual has been approved as

a basis for adaptation by other Wisconsin jurisdictions.

❑ Landlord Training Program, Community Resource Team, Beaverton

Police Department, David G. Bishop, Chief, 4755 SW. Griffith Drive,

Beaverton, Oregon 97076–4755. Phone: (503) 526–2561. Provides

Landlord Training, monthly “active participation” meetings, and a

range of innovative problem-solving techniques for addressing

chronic problems on rental property. Also experienced in developing

the Enhanced Safety Properties Program.

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Appendix A
Bureau of Justice Assistance

❑ Jackson County Missouri Landlord Training Program, Jackson

County Prosecutor’s Office, Jackson County Missouri, 415 East

12th, 10th Floor, Kansas City, Missouri 64106. Phone: (816) 881–3555.

Provides the Landlord Training Program and implements a variety

of innovative problem-solving techniques for addressing chronic

problems on rental property. Has expertise in dealing with problems

associated with methamphetamine labs.

❑ Crime Free Rental Housing Program, City of San Bernardino Police

Department, 710 North D Street, First Floor, San Bernardino,

California 92410. Phone: (909) 388–4830. Has developed a manual

and program based on the original, with a three-phase certification

element added. The city of San Bernardino’s original manual has

been approved for adaptation by other California jurisdictions.

❑ Department of Community Development, City of Syracuse, 233

East Washington Street, Syracuse, New York 13202. Phone: (315) 448–

8100. Published a tailored Landlord Training Program Manual based on

New York law and Syracuse-specific issues in 1998. Familiar with the

challenges of establishing a program in the state of New York.

❑ Landlord Training Program, Oakland Police Department, Beat

Health Unit, 455 Seventh Street, Oakland, California 94607. Phone:

(510) 615–5808. One of the earliest to experiment with adapting the

program, Oakland has had considerable experience in providing its

version of the Landlord Training Program.

❑ Tucson Police Department, Community Services Section, 270 South

Stone Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85701–1917. Phone: (520) 791–4450.

Wrote the original Arizona version of the Landlord Training Program

Manual. Now provides a version of the Crime Free Multi-Housing

Program. Has considerable experience with the challenges of

developing a local training.

❑ Seattle Neighborhood Group, 1904 Third Avenue, #614, Seattle,

Washington 98101–1100. Phone: (206) 323–9666. Washington area law

enforcement agencies will find the Seattle Neighborhood Group’s

Landlord Training Program Manual to be a carefully developed adaptation. It has been approved for adaptation by other Washington state

jurisdictions.

❑ Landlord Training Program, Austin Police Department, City of

Austin, 12425 Lamplight Village Avenue, Austin, Texas 78758. Phone:

(512) 834–7906. A host city for the 1996 train-the-trainer programs,

with experience in providing the trainings.

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

❑ Rental Management Training Program, Baltimore County Police

Department, Baltimore County, Maryland, 700 East Joppa Road,

Towson, Maryland 21286–5501. Phone: (410) 887–2214. A host agency

for the 1996 train-the-trainer programs, with experience in providing

the trainings.

❑ FALCON Narcotic Abatement Unit, City Attorney’s Office, City of

Los Angeles, 1645 Corinth Avenue, Room 203, West Los Angeles,

California 90025. Phone: (310) 575–8552. A host city for the 1996 trainthe-trainer programs, the city of Los Angeles had not developed a

training program directly as of the printing of the first edition of this

monograph.

❑ Aurora Police-Community Housing Program, Aurora Police

Department, 350 North River Street, Aurora, Illinois 60506. Phone:

(708) 859–1700. Provides the Landlord Training Program under the

name “Police-Community Housing Program.”

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Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

Sample Letter for Manual

Draft Review (as Used in

Milwaukee)

[DATE]

Dear Reviewer:

The following draft of the city of Milwaukee’s Landlord Training Program

is based on interviews with many organizations and individuals, including landlords, management associations, private attorneys, tenant

advocates, housing authority personnel, narcotics detectives, crime prevention officers, Drug Abatement Program staff, and many others. Your

review of this draft is a crucial part of its development. We genuinely

desire feedback on the manual—from the minor points to the grand design. Make all comments and suggested changes on the draft, and then

mail it back to us. Because each person reviewing this document has a

different area of expertise, feel free to comment only on the area that interests you or on the whole document. It is unlikely that we will be able

to implement every suggestion we receive, but every suggestion is

valuable.

Please feel free to call and discuss any of your comments by phone. You

may give your feedback to [PROGRAM MANAGER, DEPARTMENT, NUMBER].

Please respond by [DATE].

Please do not make copies of this material or consider the information legally

accurate. This document is being provided to you for the exclusive purpose of gaining your feedback and not for the purpose of disseminating

information. While it is based on our best understanding of the scope of

a landlord’s rights, responsibilities, and options, some elements in this

document may be legally inaccurate and some recommendations not

appropriate. A final version will be published soon; please wait for it.

The current draft has not been professionally proofread, so there may be

some errors; however, the final version will be error free. Program training and marketing strategy will begin to be developed as we receive

feedback on the manual. Thank you for your support of this project.

Sincerely,

[SIGNED BY PROGRAM MANAGER]

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Appendix B
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

Sample Police Chief’s Letter

(as Used in Portland)

[DATE]

Dear Property Owner:

Our records indicate that you own rental property in Portland, Oregon.

Because of the problems associated with drug activity in rental housing,

I am writing to you and other rental owners to invite you to a seminar,

the Landlord Training Program, on how landlords and property managers can keep illegal activity out of their units. To date, more than 7,000

landlords and property managers have attended the Landlord Training

Program in other areas of the city. Now that the program is being offered for landlords in your neighborhood, I urge you to take advantage

of it.

This program is part of an effort to stop drug activity in residential

neighborhoods. While we use the Specified Crime Ordinance to fine

owners and close property in cases where the landlord has allowed drug

dealing, distribution, or manufacturing on the property, we would prefer to work with landlords to ensure that problems never reach this

level. Landlords who use techniques from the Landlord Training Program tell us the rewards outweigh the costs, and include the following:

❑ A stabilized, more satisfied tenant base, with increased demand

for rentals.

❑ Lower maintenance and repair costs.

❑ Improved property values.

❑ Improved level of personal safety for both tenants and neighbors.

❑ Peace of mind from spending less time on crisis control.

Reactions from people who have taken the course have been very positive. Landlords tell us that the course provided them with new screening techniques and helped them deal successfully with tenants involved

in illegal activity. A recent survey indicates that more than 90 percent

of landlords who attend the training make changes in the way they

manage their property as a result of the program. The program is also

an effective community policing tool.

The attached pages provide information about the training, including

the times and locations of upcoming seminars. Please select the date(s)

that fits your schedule, and register by mailing back the enclosed form.

If you do not have a registration form, you may sign up by calling the

C–1

Appendix C
Bureau of Justice Assistance

Planning & Support Division, Portland Police Bureau, at (503) 823–0283

between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Your attendance is encouraged. We wouldn’t ask if it weren’t so

important.

Very truly yours,

[SIGNED BY CHIEF OF POLICE]

C–2
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

Sample Information Page

Schedule is generally shown on reverse side.

Landlord Training Program Information Page

The Landlord Training Program is designed to help owners and managers keep illegal drug activity

and other criminal activity off their property. The content of the course has been developed through

a process of intensive research involving hundreds of organizations and individuals: landlords,

management associations, private attorneys, public defenders, housing authority personnel, tenant

screening companies, narcotics detectives, district officers, and many others. The program has won

the approval of active landlords and concerned tenants alike.

The program has been adapted for [COMMUNITY] by [AGENCY] and is based on the National

Landlord Training Program, originally supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S.

Department of Justice. Funding for this series of trainings is provided by [SPONSOR NAME(S)].

Research shows that more than 90 percent of landlords who have taken the original course agree

that they feel more secure in their ability to screen applicants, more likely to recognize warning

signs of drug activity, and more confident of their ability to evict tenants in illegal activity on the

property. Of landlords who have had to deal with drug-involved tenants after taking the course,

94 percent report using information from the course to help resolve the problem.

The training is presented in two parts in an all-day session. The training schedule is shown on

the reverse side.

PART I

❑ Introduction—The impact of property management on the health of a community.

❑ Applicant Screening—How to screen out dishonest applicants, while ensuring that honest

applicants are encouraged to apply.

❑ Signs of Dishonest Applicants—Tips on what to look for.

❑ Rental Agreements—Approaches that will strengthen your ability to evict drug house tenants.

❑ Ongoing Management—How to manage property in a way that discourages illegal

behavior and ensures early warning should it occur.

❑ Partnerships With Residents—How to work with your tenants and property neighbors

to keep illegal activity out of the neighborhood as effectively and easily as possible.

PART II

❑ Preparing the property/CPTED—How to use the concepts of crime prevention through

environmental design to reduce the likelihood of crime occurring on, or near, your

rentals.

❑ Warning Signs of Drug Activity—How to recognize the drugs and the activity.

❑ Eviction—The options, the process, and the practical application in drug house situations.

❑ Working With the Police—What to expect, what not to expect, and how to get maximum

cooperation.

❑ About Section 8 (Subsidized Housing)—The rights and responsibilities are somewhat

different from typical private rentals. Success is found by understanding the differences.

D–1

Appendix D
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

Sample Schedule Page

Generally shown on back of information page.

Landlord Training Program

Dates, Time, Location(s)

Dates: [DAY OF WEEK, DATE]

Times: Registration begins at [TIME]

Training starts PROMPTLY at [TIME] and will run until [TIME] with

a 1-hour lunch break about noon.

Location[s]:

Lunch: [On your own—a selection of restaurants are nearby] or

[To be provided]

Parking:

Call: Please call [CONTACT, PHONE NUMBER] or fax the attached

registration form to [FAX NUMBER], so we can reserve your space

today.

Map to location of training, if needed

Thank you. We wouldn’t ask if it weren’t so important.

E–1

Appendix E
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

Sample Registration Form

Landlord Training Program Registration

Training date and location Number attending

Name(s)

Company

Street/P.O. Box

City/State/ZIP Code

Business/Daytime Phone

 Number of units responsible for:

____ Units within the city of [NAME] ___________________________________________

____ Units outside the city of [NAME] __________________________________________

 Prior to coming to the training, did you (check all that apply)

____ Receive a letter from the police regarding this training

____ Hear about it through the news media

____ Hear about it through a rental housing association

____ Hear about it from friends, colleagues, or acquaintances

Return this form to:

Landlord Training Program

[AGENCY ADDRESS]

F–1

Appendix F
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

Sample Confirmation Letter

[DATE]

Dear Property Owner or Manager:

As you requested, we have reserved space for you in the [DATE] session

of the Landlord Training Program. This training will be held at the

[LOCATION, ADDRESS]. Sign-in for the training will begin at 8:30 a.m., and

the training will run from 9:00 a.m. to approximately 4:30 p.m.

Feedback from earlier trainings shows that the program is of real, practical use to those who attend. The opportunity to hear ideas from other

property managers, to discuss techniques presented in the training, and

to receive written reference materials has proved to be very successful.

If for any reason you are not planning to attend the training, please call

in advance and let us know. Demand for the training has been high, and

we would rather fill available space from a waiting list than have seats

go empty.

We look forward to seeing you on [DATE]!

Sincerely,

[SIGNED BY PROGRAM MANAGER]

If you are a person with a disability and need special accommodation,

please call [NUMBER] (voice) or [NUMBER] (TDD).

G–1

Appendix G
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

Sample Certificate of

Completion

H–1

Appendix H
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

Sample Landlord Training Program

Posttraining Questionnaire

DATE(s) oF TRAINING: ____________________

1A. Total number of units responsible for: _____

 B. Number of those units which are within [JURISDICTION] limits: _____

2A. In which one part of the [JURISDICTION] area do you have the most units? (select one)

_____ Northwest [OR OTHER APPROPRIATE GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION]

_____ Southwest

_____ Northeast

_____ Southeast

_____ Outside of [JURISDICTION] (specify): ___________________

 B. Where do you currently live?

_____ Northwest [OR OTHER APPROPRIATE GEOGRAPHIC DIVISION]

_____ Southwest

_____ Northeast

_____ Southeast

_____ Outside of [JURISDICTION] (specify): ___________________

3A. To the best of your knowledge, in the past 2 years have you had problems with tenants

involved in drug activity?

_____ Yes _____ No

 B. To the best of your knowledge, do you believe you currently have tenants who are involved

in the manufacture or delivery of illegal drugs?

_____ Yes _____ No

 C. Have you ever had a methamphetamine lab on any of your properties?

_____ Yes _____ No

I–1

Appendix I
Bureau of Justice Assistance

4. Please rate the course you just took according to the following criteria (circle your

response):

 A. To what degree did the course give you information or ideas that you didn’t

already know?

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Poor Fair Good Excellent

 B. To what degree did the course provide practical information?

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Poor Fair Good Excellent

 C. To what degree will the information help you prevent applicants involved in drug

activity from renting your property?

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Poor Fair Good Excellent

 D. To what degree will the information help you deal with drug house situations

should they occur on your property?

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Poor Fair Good Excellent

 E. To what degree was the training program worthwhile?

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Poor Fair Good Excellent

 F. To what degree did the program increase your awareness of the problems of

methamphetamine manufacturing on rental property?

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Poor Fair Good Excellent

 G. To what degree did the program give you a clear description of the steps to take upon

discovering a methamphetamine lab on your property?

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Poor Fair Good Excellent

5. As a result of taking this training, do you plan to make changes in the way you manage

property?

_____ Definitely

_____ Probably

_____ Probably not

I–2
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

6. Which aspects of the training, if any, were particularly valuable? Why?

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

7. Which aspects of the training, if any, were not valuable? Why?

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

8. Please rate the training manual on the following:

 A. A valuable, “plain English” reference source.

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Poor Fair Good Excellent

 B. Provides important information that I can use to keep illegal activity off my property.

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Poor Fair Good Excellent

9. Please include any other comments regarding the training in the space below.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. (Optional) Please include any advice you may have for agencies that affect your business

(police bureau, courts, legislative, legal aid, housing authority, others)?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11. (Optional)

Name _____________________________________

Daytime phone number _____________________

Thank you for your participation!

I–3
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

Sample 6-Month Followup Evaluation

Please take a few minutes to fill out this questionnaire and return it in the postage prepaid

envelope. The information you provide will be crucial to future planning.

1. On [DATE], you attended the Landlord Training Program. Did you attend the entire session,

from the introduction and discussion of applicant screening to the conclusion and

discussion of the role of the police in drug house evictions?

_____ Attended entire training.

_____ Attended partial training.

2A. Please indicate the total number of rental units you are responsible for:

_____ Units

 B. For how many years have you been a landlord or property manager?

_____ Years

3A. To the best of your knowledge, in the past 2 years have you had problems with tenants

involved in drug activity?

_____ Yes _____ No

 B. To the best of your knowledge, do you think that you currently have tenants who are

involved in the manufacture or delivery of illegal drugs?

_____ Yes _____ No

4A. As a result of taking the training, have you made changes in the way you manage your

rental property?

_____ Yes _____ No

 B. What changes, if any, have you made?

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

5A. Since taking the training, have you had to deal with problems associated with suspicions of

drug or other illegal activity on your property?

_____ Yes _____ No

J–1

Appendix J
Bureau of Justice Assistance

 B. If yes, did information from the Landlord Training Program help you address the situation?

_____ Yes _____ No

6. Which of the following actions, if any, have you taken since attending the course?

 A. Examined the visibility of my rental unit(s) and made improvements if necessary (e.g., trim

back shrubbery, increase outdoor lighting, or similar actions).

_____ Yes _____ No

 B. Developed or revised written tenant applicant criteria based on ideas discussed in the

course.

_____ Yes _____ No _____ Not Applicable (no tenant turnover since taking the

 course)

 C. Used advice from the training to make other adjustments in the way I approach applicant

screening.

_____ Yes _____ No _____ Not Applicable (no tenant turnover since taking the

 course)

 D. Inspected property more carefully or more frequently than I would have prior to taking

the training.

_____ Yes _____ No

 E. Traded phone numbers with property neighbors.

_____ Yes _____ No

 F. Begun work on apartment watches.

_____ Yes _____ No _____ Not Applicable (renting single-family units only)

 G. Purchased updated forms to match current landlord tenant law.

_____ Yes _____ No

 H. Used other ideas presented in the training to make adjustments in the way I manage

property.

_____ Yes _____ No

7. Please rate whether you agree or disagree with the following statements (circle your

response):

 A. The Landlord Training Program increased my understanding of the role I can play in

reducing the impact of drug activity on residential neighborhoods.

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Agree Strongly Agree Disagree Disagree Strongly

J–2
Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property

 B. As a result of the program, I feel more confident in my ability to screen applicants.

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Agree Strongly Agree Disagree Disagree Strongly

 C. As a result of the program, I am better able to recognize drug activity on my property

should it occur.

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Agree Strongly Agree Disagree Disagree Strongly

 D. As a result of the program, I have a better understanding of how the eviction process works

and, should I need to use it, am better able to use it correctly.

1 .............................................2 .......................................... 3 .......................................... 4

Agree Strongly Agree Disagree Disagree Strongly

8. Please include any other comments regarding the training in the space below:

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

9. (Optional)

Name _______________________________________

Daytime phone number _______________________

Thank you for your participation!

J–3
Bureau of Justice Assistance

Information

General Information

Callers may contact the U.S. Department of Justice Response Center for general information or specific needs,

such as assistance in submitting grants applications and information on training. To contact the Response Center,

call 1–800–421–6770 or write to 1100 Vermont Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20005.

Indepth Information

For more indepth information about BJA, its programs, and its funding opportunities, requesters can call the

BJA Clearinghouse. The BJA Clearinghouse, a component of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service

(NCJRS), shares BJA program information with state and local agencies and community groups across the

country. Information specialists are available to provide reference and referral services, publication distribution, participation and support for conferences, and other networking and outreach activities. The Clearinghouse can be reached by:

❒ Mail

P.O. Box 6000

Rockville, MD 20849–6000

❒ Visit

2277 Research Boulevard

Rockville, MD 20850

❒ Telephone

1–800–688–4252

Monday through Friday

8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

eastern time

❒ Fax

301–519–5212

❒ Fax on Demand

1–800–688–4252

❒ BJA Home Page

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA

❒ NCJRS World Wide Web

www.ncjrs.org

❒ E-mail

askncjrs@ncjrs.org

❒ JUSTINFO Newsletter

E-mail to listproc@ncjrs.org

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