Renters aided if landlord defaults

Crystal Johnson had no idea her landlord had financial trouble until police taped an eviction notice to the door of her Sandy Springs condominium in June.
About a year into her two-year lease, Johnson faced the prospect of being forced out of her home because a bank had foreclosed on the landlord, who was in default on a loan.
“They treated me like I was in default,” Johnson, a music producer and songwriter, said. “But I wasn’t in default.”
As banks and finance companies seize an expanding portfolio of residential properties through foreclosure, tenants can find themselves facing eviction from their homes.
A federal law enacted in late May, however, has eased the pain for renters such as Johnson, a single mother raising her high school aged daughter and a nephew
Source:- http://www.ajc.com

Landlord Tenant Laws for All 50 States Includes Federal Legislation, Statutes and Other Helpful Resources

Legal disputes are an inevitable event between landlords and tenants in the landlording business. Landlord Association.Org feels it is essential that you know and understand your responsibilities and legal rights as a landlord before taking any landlord-tenant issue(s) to the next step. Landlord Association.Org also feels it is vital that you know and understand your tenant's responsibilities and legal rights as well. There are very strict guidelines, procedures and timeframes which must be followed in order to be successful. Landlord Association.Org strongly encourages every landlord to seek the legal counsel of a qualified attorney before starting any legal action
Source: http://www.landlordassociation.org

President Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

Barely nine months into office, President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize, substantially boosting his prestige and standing in the United States and internationally.

The Nobel Committee said the President won the award for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation among peoples." The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

http://www.americanchronicle.com

Rental car taxes are getting jacked up

Anyone renting a car in Maine would be paying the state 12.5% of their bill in excise taxes starting last month if the legislature there had its way.

But residents blocked the state's new tax-reform law — which included a tax increase from 10% to 12.5% on rental car bills — by signing petitions in opposition. If the signatures on the petitions turn out to be valid, the increase will be put to a vote in June, says Sara Lewis, a Maine taxation official.

The action in Maine represents something of a victory for business travelers, corporate travel departments and rental-car companies who are increasingly upset over what's been an explosion in taxes imposed on renting a car.

Airline fees "are bad, but the worst are car-rental taxes," says frequent business traveler Tony Harrison, who has rented cars 75 days so far this year and paid upwards of 20% of his bill in taxes in some cities.

Harrison, president of a company in Edmond, Okla., that trains public-safety officials, says the city, state and airport tax levies on what he pays to rent a car have gotten so bad that he factors them into deciding which airport he'll fly into.

The taxes are tough to avoid. There were 114 separate state and local excise taxes for renting or leasing a car in 43 states and the District of Columbia as of the end of last year. In 1990, there were only 14 of them, according to the Coalition Against Discriminatory Car Rental Excise Taxes, a group formed to combat the proliferation of the taxes and which tracks them.

Taxes a way to close budget gaps

The taxes can cost a Fortune 100 company $5 million to $10 million a year, figures Michael McCormick, executive director of the National Business Travel Association, which represents about 4,000 corporate travel managers and suppliers.

Rental-car companies aren't happy with them either. They don't want to be tax collectors. Nor do they want to hear disgruntled renters complain about the charges on their bills. So three years ago, eight rental-car brands and the National Business Travel Association formed the coalition to publicize the taxes, educate consumers about them and lobby against them.

The taxes are proliferating, however, as states and localities look for revenue to balance their budgets in recessionary times.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/