Janet Portman, an attorney and Nolo's executive editor, specializes in residential and commercial landlord/tenant law. She is the author or coauthor of Every Landlord's Legal Guide, Every Tenant's Legal Guide, Renters' Rights, Leases & Rental Agreements, The California Landlord's Law Book: Rights and Responsibilities, and others. Portman received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University and a law degree from Santa Clara University. As a practicing attorney, she specialized in criminal defense before joining Nolo. Ann O'Connell is a legal editor at Nolo specializing in landlord-tenant and real estate law. Before joining Nolo as an editor, Ann was a freelance writer for Nolo and other publications and law firms. She has passed the bar exams in California, Nevada, and Colorado, where she is both an active attorney and a real estate broker. Ann practiced civil litigation in California and Colorado, and had her own firm in Colorado. At her firm, she focused on real estate, landlord-tenant, and small business cases. Ann earned her B.A. from Boston College and her J.D. from UC Berkeley Law.
This lively, practical and occasionally humorous new book... is another in the Nolo series that makes learning about legal topics interesting and almost fun. San Jose Mercury News Get Portman's Renters Rights: The Basics... and research quirks in rental law specific to the state where your teen will be going to college. Houston Chronicle If landlords nationwide were to recommend [this] book to renters, I'd bet only half of today's landlord/tenant problems would exist in the future. Orlando Sentinel In this book of accessible advice for renters, chapters are organized chronologically, from finding and applying for an apartment, through leases and rental agreements, security deposits, repairs and maintenance, ending your tenancy, and getting the deposit back. Other chapters are devoted to discrimination, roommates, tenants' rights to privacy, landlord retaliation, and negotiating a settlement. In addition to an entire chapter on rent control, the rent control perspective is integrated into every chapter. Appendices give links for finding landlord-tenant laws online, plus many detailed charts comparing state laws related to aspects of renting, such as deposit rules and domestic violence situations. The reader-friendly layout includes many subheads, summary boxes, bullet points, web links, suggested books, and chapter ending key points. Eithne O'Leyne, Editor Ringgold, Inc. ProtoView