Finding the right tenant is an important part of protecting a rental property, but not every strong applicant will meet every screening requirement on their own. An applicant may have limited credit history, insufficient income, or other financial circumstances that make it difficult to qualify. In these situations, a qualified co-signer or guarantor can provide an additional layer of financial protection while allowing an otherwise suitable applicant to secure housing.  For landlords, however, accepting a co-signer or guarantor should involve more than adding another signature to the paperwork. Understanding the difference between the two, carefully screening the individual, and establishing consistent qualification criteria can help landlords make more informed leasing decisions.

Verify rent-control status, lawful base rent, banked increases, licenses and deposits before you buy or take over an SF building. Step-by-step checklist.

San Francisco owners must report to the Rent Board Housing Inventory by March 1 and hold a rent increase license before any annual or banked increase.

Skipped a rent increase in San Francisco? Banking may let you impose it later. How the percentages add up, the limits, and the notice period that applies.

What a San Francisco management takeover involves: records, deposits and trust funds, tenants, vendors, and what to do when the outgoing manager stalls.

Property insurance is shifting, and not always in ways that work in a landlord's favor. While some premiums are starting to level off, the coverage attached to those premiums is often getting narrower. For owners of rental property, two trends are worth understanding closely: the growing role of non-admitted carriers, and a rise in habitability-related exclusions.

When was the last time you looked at your rental the way a prospective tenant does, starting with the online reviews, then the listing photos, then the tone of your last email reply, before they even step inside? The rental relationship has changed more in the last decade than in the two decades before it. Renting used to be a temporary stop on the way to homeownership. Now, for many tenants, it is a long-term lifestyle choice, and their expectations have shifted to match. Here is what that means for property owners today.

How Do You Know If Your Property Is Actually Livable?

Rental fraud is not a fringe problem. According to the Federal Trade Commission, rental scams resulted in roughly $65 million in reported losses between 2020 and 2025, and many more incidents go unreported entirely. The schemes targeting landlords today are more sophisticated than they used to be, and a single fraudulent application, bad payment, or compromised account can create legal and financial consequences that take months to untangle.  Here are five of the most common scams targeting landlords right now and what to do about them.