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Landlord question: PO Box not ok to use as the landlord address.
invite response
2013 Mar 21, 7:02am 3,243 views 6 comments
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PockyClipsNow
2013 Mar 21, 7:17am
Sounds weird. Are you gonna be put in jail or fined $1000 for 'using a po box as an address' wtf.
Now I can see why they would pass a law like that - so many vacant homes rotting away are rented out by non owner scammers to victims and these guys use po boxes I bet.
anyway what state/city is this? laws are regional
Dan8267
2013 Mar 21, 7:20am
My landlord is in Austria. How would papers be served to him?
The fact is that many landlords in America don't live in America. They are foreign investors who bought up American property to rent out.
Guys, I appreciate the healthy dose of skepticism, and it's definitely appropriate to ask what happens if you run afowl of this. But keep in mind this was brought to my attention by an attorney that usually represents tenants against landlords. She wouldn't have mentioned it unless it was something she'd use to weaken the landlord's case in the event of a lawsuit. From the little I can find online, her assertion is correct.
rufita11
2013 Mar 21, 9:39am
OK so I cant live in my car and rent out my house? Riduclous!
There's a law that you must have a physical address for a bank account too. I found out when I saw a bunch of charges on an old account for undeliverable mail. They never bothered to call or e-mail me about about the missing physical addy. They called me and mailed about other things, but not this. Homeless people are out of luck when it comes to having a bank account too.
I heard that you have to put a physical addy on a CA DL, but my husband and I both use our P.O. box on ours.
OK so I cant live in my car and rent out my house?
Of course you can if you want to. You just can't infringe on anyone else's rights by parking your POS car on their land while you are living in it. You also can't infringe on the rights of your tenants to be able to have due course of law by hiding your identity via a PO Box. Flips it around and see how you'd like it. What if your tenants trashed the place then go live in their car with no address so you can't go after them for damages?
Yes, deadbeat tenants do that all the time, but as landlords, we should be better than that.
Question for those landlords like myself who try and follow the law as best we can. I was told by an attorney who specializes in these sorts of things (she typically represents tenants) that a PO box is not ok to use as the landlords address, because documents can't be served there.
My time with her was limited so I didn't get to explore this more and searches online have come up generally agreeing with her assertion, but not providing the proper course of action for a landlord. While I am aware that there are 'Registered agent services' those seemed all aimed at corporations. Most of them don't appear to be set up to deal with an individual who is not a LLC and just wants to receive a few rent checks each month.
Are there mail receiving places that can also legally receive documents? Or do you just have to walk into a registered agent's office and explain the situation and they can handle it?