One of my old law partners and I wrote a great residential lease about 15 years ago. Over the years, I have made dozens and dozens of changes to that lease. For example, when a client calls me and reports a problem with a tenant that I had not previously experienced, I will consider the challenge faced by the landlord and will often address that situation by adding new language to my lease form. The lease grows each year by another sentence or two. Every year, I am surprised by the actions of irresponsible and reckless tenants who endanger themselves, their family, friends and property, not to mention the landlord’s property, by doing really dumb things. As long as tenants find new ways to pose risks to landlords, I will be adding new provisions to my lease form.

One of my favorite dumb-tenant activities involved the tenant placing a trampoline between the rental house and his unlawful above-ground pool. His children (young children) would climb a ladder onto the roof of the home, so that could jump off the roof, onto the trampoline and into the pool. Can you spell – L – I – A – B – I – L – I – T – Y?

It is impossible to predict or even react to every dumb thing that a tenant might do. So, it is impossible to guard against every liability risk in a good lease agreement. However, you should try to cover as many risks as are reasonable in a lease.

Last week, I received a call from a client about a risk that I do not think warrants a new provision in my lease form. Ghosts. Seriously, ghosts. The tenant called the landlord to complain about ghosts. I’m not talking about leaking noisy pipes or creaky floors. The tenant claims the rental home is haunted, and the tenant wants concessions from the landlord. And we don’t think the tenant is joking. It appears that the tenant is quite serious about the ghosts and the concessions.

While not every tenant demand, threat or crazy activity will warrant changes to your lease form, you should develop the practice of talking about such challenges with your lawyer and decide whether the threat warrants changes to your lease form or even to the rules promulgated under your lease form.

I have been writing and talking about the SAFE Act- which makes most land contracts in Indiana unlawful- for months now.   I thought that I was the only lawyer in town who had heard of the new law.  No one seemed to know about it.

That recently changed, as a wave of panic swept through the local real estate bar in recent weeks.  And boy oh boy, are there some shocked and angry real estate lawyers out there.  This is a horrible new law in that it makes it unlawful for many people to sell their own real estate on contract.

It has been such a rude awakening for so many lawyers that a Continuing Legal Education class was quickly organized for next Friday in a matter of weeks.  Usually, CLE’s are planned months and months in advance.

Congratulations to those of you who listened to my teleclass on the SAFE Act or who read my blog.  You knew about this crazy new law long before many real estate lawyers did.

If you want to learn more about the SAFE Act and the several new laws that have passed recently, register for the July 17 real estate class.  Details are here.

You can also listen to the teleclass on this blog.

As the costs of litigating disputes continue to increase, litigants are increasingly settling their disputes through arbitration. Arbitration is a process in which a neutral third person (arbitrator) or panel, usually of three persons, considers the facts and arguments presented by the parties and then renders a decision. By utilizing arbitration, litigants can avoid trial, and the lengthy and expensive process of getting to trial. Arbitration usually results in a quicker decision than could be had by going to court. After the arbitrator renders a decision, that decision can be enforced by the courts. However, the courts cannot hear an appeal of an arbitration decision, except in the case fraud.

Arbitration is often preferable for the plaintiff who wants quick redress for the harm he or she has suffered, but defendants may prefer the longer and slower processes of trial and appeal in the courts. The rules of evidence in arbitration differ from those in trial. There are other differences between the two processes. Consequently, before a party agrees to submit to arbitration, thereby waiving the right to trial, careful consideration should be made as to which process is more likely to yield the better result.

How do parties choose arbitration over trial? They simply agree to arbitrate, usually in a written agreement. Written agreements to submit a dispute to arbitration can be signed before or after a dispute arises. So, for example, an employment agreement might include a provision requiring an employee to submit a wage dispute to arbitration. Nearly any agreement can contain an arbitration provision. Agreements can even be written to require mandatory arbitration only if requested by one but not the other party to the agreement.

Whether arbitration is right for you depends on a number of factors particular to your circumstances. However, all parties to an agreement in which significant disputes might arise should consider whether arbitration is a preferable alternative to resolving those potential disputes.