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Archive for April 7th, 2008

Is a closet required in DC to be considered a bedroom

Monday, April 7th, 2008

According to DC zoning office, a closet is not necessary to be considered a bedroom. It is for convenience only.

However, as the article in Washington Post says, 'no matter what is required, most real estate agents would expect a bedroom to have a closet, and most buyers would, too. That's an expectation that sellers should keep in mind.'

Choosing tenants: on what terms landlords are and aren’t allowed to choose tenants based on; specifically criminal records

Monday, April 7th, 2008

According to this article,

"Are criminal background checks legal? It appears that they are, so long as the criminal background information is limited to a certain time frame and comes from a reliable source, and is for the purpose of finding past bad conduct which would put other residents or neighbors in a state of potential harm. If you are going to use criminal background checks for screening, I recommend utilizing an established tenant screening company and establish guidelines concerning the nature and age of the past bad conduct."

Here is some useful information about choosing tenants.