Protecting The Rights Of Tenants:
What We Do and What Other Landlords Refuse To Do

We are not your typical landlord!
We take the "lord" OUT of landlord, which is rooted in medieval times of Robin Hood or way back to Caesar of Rome! We provide this "tenant's bill of rights" that is modern and honorable. How's that? Most landlords run roughshod over the rights of tenants with lots of bad karma. They think they can enter the premises without notice. They think they can keep the full deposit by claiming fake damages. They think they have the right to raise the rent to any amount. Tenants are often treated like second class citizens. We don't think that is right or fair. Tenants deserve a lot more than that. So, we offer a "tenant's bill of rights" that most landlords would never consider or offer in Louisville.

Rent Control
When you sign a lease, we tell you how much the rent would be if you renewed. A lot of times it is frozen if you pay on time and don't get ugly. If rent is paid on time and is problem-free, we will give current tenants first right of renewing the one year lease.

Right to Privacy
We give you at least 48 hours notice via email or phone call when we need to enter your premises for a reasonable purpose such as showing the place or making a requested repair. We will come in early only if it an emergency. No more creepy workers going in the wrong places! We prefer for you to be present for any repairs so you don;t have to worry whether the plumber or anyone else is unnecessarily going into places they should not be.

References
Hey, landlords will ask you for references, so why not ask them for a few? We will provide you with names of tenants who are renting from us now and those who have in the past. We are that confident about our management style.

Fairness in returning most if not all of the cleaning deposits!
Most landlords are trained to trick you into keeping most if not all of your cleaning or security deposit. Or, what one seminar in Louisville has taught 500 landlords is how to get "thirteen months of rent out of twelve." We want to give you back your cleaning and security deposit. That's why we have more renewals of leases than most landlords. We will even have our housecleaner of seven years coach you on what you need to do, and we pay her to do that!

Right to a safe neighborhood and house.
All of our homes are located in the Highlands, which is ranked as having one of the lowest crime rates in Louisville. To our knowledge we are unaware of any crimes involving rape, physical assault, or robbery. Even if you don't rent from us, ask another landlord if they have any knowledge of crimes occurring in or near their rentals.

100% Smoke-Free Environments
We ask tenants not to smoke inside their rental units.

Making repairs sooner rather than later.
All houses need regular repairs, maintenance, and updating. Too many landlords take their time and feel it is more profitable to delay making repairs. Wrong! When something needs repaired, you contact us and we will immediately refer to our eager maintenance staff to get it done quickly and with high quality. It is our belief that it is better to fix it quickly so that tenants will want to continue renewing leases from us. Moreover, things that go unrepaired might make things worse like a leaky pipe or electric plug that could cause a fire.

A progressive lease that protects tenant's rights.
Our lease was designed in collaboration with tenant advocates to give you maximum protections. I worked as a tenant advocate for the Governor of California.

Free Application
Far too many landlords ask for an "application fee" that is designed to discourage certain classes of people. Our applications are free of charge. The application fee exists to discourage certain protected class folk (elderly, students, minorities, or disabled).

Pet Friendly
We are OK with small house-trained dogs and cats, but you must clean up any mess. Our insurance company says NO to dangerous dogs. Maybe start with a goldfish!

House as a Symbol of Self
OK, you ca'’t take out a wall but we will give you permission to paint a room another color if we like your choice of colors. No more white walls! We love pastels which our interior decorator has chosen.

Freedom of Expression
Most landlords won't allow you to put political signs on your front lawn six weeks before elections. We encourage it.

Breaking Your Lease
We have provisions that will allow you to break your lease for an administration fee that is much less than what most landlords might charge.

Conflict Aversion
We don't like conflict. Our goal is to be conflict-free. We honor the lease and expect you to do the same. We offer a progressive lease with these rights weaved in. So far we have had zero small claims court cases, and we have had over 600 renters over the past ten years. That's an extraordinary record.

Deposits to Hold a Unit
If you truly fall in love with one of our places and "gotta have it" you can give us a nonrefundable deposit to hold it. If we say yes, it goes to the cleaning and security deposit and if we say no we return it immediately.

Acting Green
Just living in the Highlands is a green act since it's the most walkable neighborhood with much shorter commutes to downtown, UofL, and Bellarmine. We encourage green thinking such as high ceiling fans, installing white roofs, keeping trees around the homes, bicycling, recycling, drying clothes outside instead of using the dyers provided, and walking to Bardstown Road restaurants, stores, and pubs.

Appliances
Beware landlords who will show you a house with appliances that will be removed when you sign the lease. When you sign a lease with us, we'll let you know exactly what appliances you'll be getting.

Safety
All of our units have smoke detectors, but we're in the process of voluntarily installing carbon monoxide detectors and plan to do so by Summer of 2013.

You'll know where to find us!
Landlord organizations advize owners to provide you with a P.O. box without a phone number. You know that you'll be able to reach us at 502-608-7567 or by email at jgilde02@sprynet.com.

Professionalism
Every year about 10,000 landlords are fined roughly 3 million dollars for things ranging from littered beer bottles to faulty plumbing. We have never been fined because we provide prompt and professional service. It's good business and it leads to a higher number of renewals.