Local Landlord Tenant Law Requires Disclosure
I have often heard landlords say that they don't want their tenant to know where they live. The reason the landlords give is that they don't want a disgruntled tenant showing up at the front door in the middle of the night.
These landlords tell me that, to keep their home address private, they just give the tenant instructions to mail the rent checks to a P.O. Box.
If you are the landlord for owner-managed property, your local landlord tenant laws may require that your tenant is given a physical address where you may be served notice or process. This even applies to out of state landlords who still self-manage the property. If your privacy is of paramount concern, then here is another reason to consider a professional property manager for your rental properties.
Following is the applicable section of the SOUTH CAROLINA RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT. Check your local landlord tenant laws to see if you also have a similar disclosure requirement.
SECTION 27-40-420. Disclosure.
(a) A landlord or any person authorized to enter into a rental agreement on his behalf shall disclose to the tenant in writing at or before the commencement of the tenancy the name and address of an owner of the premises or a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner as agent, inter alia, for purposes of service of process and receiving or receipting notices or demands.
(b) The information required to be furnished by this section must be kept current and this section extends to and is enforceable against any successor landlord, owner, or manager.
I suspect what most big LL's do is use their lawyer's name & address so anybody wanting to make direct contact will need to go to/through that lawyer to contact LL.
the RE Licensing agency is working diligently to educate all RE Agents that they should NOT list or tell anybody where they live...since one or two agents have been stalked, attacked & killed!
In my State of WA (acually, "Panic" all too frequently!
And LL's are just as much potential targets of "nut cases" as Agents, so I'd really discourage any LL from using his/her own physical address.
Since many rentals are in some entity other than an individual owner, such as trust, corp, LLC, one would then use the office address of one of the corp officers, attorney's office, or the trustee's office address.
One of my lawschool classmates was in his big law firm offices one day, when the receptionist buzzed him to tell him "Joe Smith" was here to see him...now my buddy thought he recognized the name of his visitor, so went to the lobby to meet the guy...whereupon the visitor reached behind him, grabbed a bag of MARBLES, and conked my buddy on the head with his bag of marbles!
So even the lawyer/corp. agent in his office isn't totally safe...but better than opening your front door at home, right?
Your points are well taken. Just another reason I use professional property managers. As my agent, it is their address on record for process service.