Alaska Landlord and Tenant Act Seeks Balance of Power

There's a new booklet on the Alaska Landlord and Tenant Act. The publisher is the Real Estate Commission, with the blessing of the Attorney General.

Tenants should know where to find a copy, and no landlord should be without it. The booklet is in plain English and includes form notices.

The statute creates a balance of power. Like facing mirrors, rights and responsi­bilities of landlords have like images for tenants. The booklet is written that way, in three sections, appropriately named "Moving In," "Living There," and "Moving Out."

There isn't a quiz in the book, so see how you do on these true-false questions:

A manager comes calling to collect rent. Is he or she the "landlord?" True, but only if the person lives there. If the manager lives elsewhere, he or she must be a licensed real estate agent.

A rental agreement may limit the number of children in an apartment. False. Limits on the total number of occupants are legal, but it is unlawful discrimination to refuse to rent to people with children.

The tenant has the right to know what bank holds the security deposit. True. The money must be in an account titled "trust account."

The law gives landlords the right to collect late fees. False. There is nothing in the law on the subject. The State's booklet speculates that late fees within the limits of the usury laws or fees that "reasonably approximate the landlord's actual costs . . . are prob­ably all right."

If the tenant moves and owes a month's rent, the landlord automatically takes it out of the security deposit. False. The landlord has to try to find a replacement tenant. The landlord takes rent from the deposit only for the days between tenants. Experience teaches that landlords need to be clear with tenants that they must pay the rent for the last month, even when they have given notice, or tenants will just say "take it from my deposit."

An application fee does not have to be returned if the tenant doesn't move in. False. Application fees can only offset actual costs, like credit reports. The landlord and tenant must sign a rental agreement before deposits are at risk. Where the agreement is in place and the tenant changes his or her mind, the usual rules of notice and liability for unpaid rent apply.

You buy a rental property and the former owner doesn't turn over security depos­its. You aren't liable to the tenants. False. Both of you are. There is a gray area when the buyer is a lender who forecloses.

The law requires landlords to give tenants move-in inspection reports. False. It's a good business practice, but not required.

A landlord can change a rule allowing pets and require tenants to get rid of them or move, with two week's notice. False. Landlords can change house rules with 30 days notice and a tenant can give 30 days notice if he or she wants to move instead of comply­ing. Where there is a lease that runs more than month-to-month, the landlord can't change or make house rules that change the terms of the lease.

A landlord makes an appointment to show a unit but says "it's rented" when the applicant, a racial minority, arrives. This is discrimination. Maybe. If the apartment remains unrented and it comes out that it wasn't earlier rented, the landlord better have a credible answer.

Landlords have to furnish garbage cans and pay for trash removal. False. Rental agreements for houses and duplexes can make this a tenant responsibility.

If something goes wrong with the property, the tenant can fix it and deduct the cost from the rent. True, but only after first telling the landlord so the landlord can deal with it first.

It takes a 20-day notice for a landlord to evict a tenant who breaks a rental agreement. False. The first notice gives the tenant 10 days to correct the problem, or the tenant has 20 days to move. If the tenant does the same thing in the next six months, how­ever, only ten days notice is required. The same rules apply to tenants who give landlords this type of notice.

Tenants must move in ten days if they make only a partial rent payment after re­ceiving a late rent notice. False. If a landlord accepts partial rent, the notice requirements start over.

The landlord has 14 days to refund security deposits, or provide an accounting. False. If tenant's notice is inadequate, the landlord has 30 days.

Tenants must notify landlords if they are going to be gone for more than seven days. True, although the rental agreement must say it. This helps the landlord protect the property. The landlord can take over the property if the tenant has been gone more than a week without notice, has left personal property behind and is behind on rent.

It takes a process server to give a tenant notice when they refuse delivery. False. A landlord can give the notice to any adult who appears to live there, or post it on the door.

Wintertime evictions of families with children are forbidden in Alaska. False.