Animal hoarders. Bed bugs. Drug dealers and wife beaters.
If you dont have a horror story to tell, then youre probably not a really a landlord, said Garry Miller, a Bensalem property manager of more than 25 years.
Bucks County is home to about 53,836 rental units, according the 2010 Census. The number of rental units jumped 10 percent in just three years, records show.
More locals are leasing properties or simply renting out rooms for extra money, experts said. And more of those landlords are taking their tenants to district court, according to the county.
On Thursday, more than 60 property managers funneled into the Warminster Recreational Center for a workshop on dealing with, at times, unruly renters.
Among the scheduled speakers, local District Judge Daniel Finello said he often spends half the morning dealing with landlord-tenant disputes from Warminster and Ivyland.
Its one of those decisions we must take very seriously, said the judge. One of the most basic needs in life is having a roof over your head.
Unfortunately, some are renting out their properties on merely verbal agreements, Finello said. Those owners have little or nothing that would constitute a written contract, he added.
During the workshop, one landlord asked if cellphone text messages could be considered a form of written consent. The assembled panel said text messages might stand up in court. However, the landlord would have to prove that the person responding to the texts was definitely the renter.
Others attending Thursdays workshop raised questions about their legal responsibility in cases where the renter becomes disabled, injured or suddenly unemployed.
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More people renting leads to more heading to court
