Landlord Operating Under a DBA for Privacy

[John E Ceisel]

Hello BP!

If you own properties in your own name (or a trust that you are the trustee of) is there a legal conflict managing and/or operating the properties under a DBA?

This first came up when prospective tenants would ask if I own the property during showings.  Due to my young age, the next question would always be "how many properties do you own?" 

I saw establishing a DBA as a way to cut this by saying I simply work for "insert DBA name" and that the property belongs to a legal entity. However, since being a property management company in the state of California requires a broker's license I'm a bit unsure if this is OK.

Also, is not disclosing that I own the property unethical?  I simply don't want applicants invading my privacy and asking about my finances.  Has anyone else had this challenge?

[Kyle J.]

There are several valid reasons to use a DBA (i.e. being able to use a company name, open a business bank account, etc). However, a DBA is not a "legal entity" and it really doesn't provide any anonymity. You won't be able to title the property in the DBA name, so you'll still be the owner of record. Consequently, it's just as easy for your tenants to find out who owns it. There's also no need to get a broker's license to manage your own properties so no need to worry about that.

The topic of whether or not to tell tenants that you're the owner has been discussed on here many times.  Personally, I tell mine that I'm the owner.  I like my privacy too, but the reality is there's not much you can do to hide the fact that you're the owner.  You can make it more difficult to figure out, but there's still ways to figure it out.  Ultimately it just comes down to wanting to be honest with my tenants since I expect them to be honest with me.  The last thing I want is for them to figure out I lied about being the owner and set the wrong tone for the relationship.

If it helps, sometimes them knowing you're the owner can be a good thing.  Especially if you intend to run your rental business the right way and be a good landlord.  I can't tell you how many times I've had tenants call me up and ask if I had any other rentals available because their friend/family member/co-worker/etc was moving to the area and they told them what a good landlord I was and they wanted to rent from me.  So there are some benefits.  :)