South Carolina Residential Lease: Fill & Download for Free

I lost my father to a Heart Attack in 2003. It was sudden and unexpected. While he had been in failing health (Diabetes, etc), he’d changed his eating habits, visiting his doctor regularly, and was seeking to move to a more quiet, suburban area that would be more conducive to his age and health status.After his passing, I quickly gathered up his belongings and brought them back to South Carolina with me from Texas. After some time, I began going through them. As I went through the paper items, like bills, residential leases, etc., I found some paperwork from a medical appointment. It basically stated that my father had Advanced HIV disease. I was paralyzed in the floor of my closet for what seemed like an eternity. Dad and I had spoken on a regular basis for years. Several times a week. While I respected his need for privacy, I was shocked that he did not let me know that he was ill. He and my mother had been separated for 9 years prior to his passing. She’d been through many medical tests due to other medical conditions of her own. So, I was sure that there was no danger to her. I decided not to tell her. The only other person who knows about this discovery is my wife.

I have been renting out for the past 8 years after the housing market crash when i had to move out of my house in South carolina to Ohio for a new job.I have had about 4 tenants so far and the 4th person has been living there with his pet dog for about close to 6 years now. So i can share my experience. Before talking sbout the tenant, i also like to mention about how a landlord should be to have a good tenant stay at your rental.Landlord should not be greedy and he/she need to be honest and fair and straight forward and make sure he attends to repairs as soon as possible than taking the tenant for granted. He should also do the required background check before taking a tenant.My first tenant, a wonderful married couple i found through craigslist. I didnt do any background check but just believed what they said as i was new to renting out. Ofcourse i chatted with them and found they are homeowners in another state and so i trusted them. They had excellent credit score. They paid their rent on time without fail and kept my house like a new model home. I didnt raise their rent in the second year. When they had to move out they handed over like a new house with mowed lawn and cleaned professionally. As committed I returned their deposit in full without taking a penny and returned within 2 weeks.My second tenant, unmarried couple i again found through craislist. I didnt do enough background check and that was a big mistake. They didnt have good credit score but they sounded decent and so i decided to take a chance to regret later. They were not promt with paying rent at times and they broke up and also broke my house when that guy threatened with a drama locking himself in a room to kill himself and so the girl had to break the door . Within 6 months i wanted them to leave and i ended up repairing and fixing spending about 500 dollars to repaint walls due to the damages by their kids and for replacing the broken door plus that girl’s step father took away all the OSB boards i kept aside for the windows for hurricane season. Terrible mistake and my friends in SC helped fixing things. So there is a reason why credit check is important to understand the nature of people. So make sure you do this.I decided to be smart in taking tenant and so hired a company to do the background check on tenant prospects and yes there are companies who does this service called “Find a tenant” and you have to pay anywhere between 15 days to one month rent as a service fee and after that you maintain directly.So the third married couple i had for few months and obviously with excellent credits paid rent on time and they returned the house as how i gave them when they had to move out for professional reasons breaking the lease in 4 months. I got them after paying 800 dollars to rental company on 1 year lease. Fortunately i had a clause in my lease that if tenant has to break the lease within 6 months the rental per month would be 150 more and depending on when they break it will go down. So i am not greedy to tax people and make them pay rent for an year if they break lease like apartments. They paid the extra 150 rental per month for breaking lease and i surprised them by sending their full deposit in 15 days that they were not at all expecting which they wrote to me in their thanking mail saying they would be very happy to give a character reference for me anytime i would need.My fourth tenant a military man who had to foreclose his house and move for job reasons had a bad credit score but I, out of my respect for military people decided to take him. Got him screened through rental company and he has been living there like his own house making rental payments through ACH transfer promptly and i attend to repairs on time. Any smaller things he fix them by himself and i am thankful. I was in school and so he used to advance the repairs and deduct from rent. It was good and i trusted him and never bothered him. I raised his rent only after 4 years when my insurance and taxes went up due to the fact the house is getting older. I couldnt visit the house in 4 years as i went back to school leaving my job and when i visited after i got a good job he surprised me by showing the house as a new house. I never try to be greedy and that has been a very important factor and when we remain good we do find good people.So a good tenant and a good landlord is an equation and not a one way traffic.

If only cities owned land then this would be a communist country. Individual land ownership is part of the DNA of the US. Not only this, but cities don't come close to covering all the land mass in this country. Counties do, but don't own the vast majority of the land. In some parts of the west that are sparsely populated the federal government owns a fair amount of land that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and then leased out to various users from ranchers to mining and lumber companies.As far as property taxes, it depends on where you live and whether or not you own property. All states have some amount of property taxes, but depending on the state the amount paid is quite different.The full list of the top ten best states for property taxes along with the percentage of home value paid in property taxes is:Louisiana - 0.18%Hawaii - 0.26%Alabama - 0.33%Delaware - 0.43%West Virginia - 0.49%South Carolina - 0.50%Arkansas - 0.52%Mississippi - 0.52%New Mexico - 0.55%Wyoming - 0.58%Worst States for Property TaxesThe Tax Foundation found that homeowners in these states paid the most in property taxes compared to home value. The percentages represent the percentage of home value that homeowners pay in property taxes.New Jersey - 1.89%New Hampshire - 1.86%Texas - 1.81%Wisconsin - 1.76%Nebraska - 1.70%Illinois - 1.73%Connecticut - 1.63%Michigan - 1.62%Vermont - 1.59%North Dakota - 1.42%The Best (and Worst) States for Property TaxesThese are also just the state rates, there are lots of other taxing entities that tack on their percentages as well, such as cities, counties, school districts, hospital districts and other special districts. Where I live in Texas, our property tax rate is 2.7 %.Also, businesses (at least in Texas) are usually given breaks on their property taxes so most of the onus lies on the residential owners. Renters don't pay property taxes directly, but it is probably built into the rent in most areas.