Having reviewed so many lease agreements, I have seen some that were structured very well and others that concerned potential investment buyers to a point that they decided not to pursue that property. After experiencing leases that varied so much in quality I decided to pull together some basic information that I believe should be covered in a lease agreement.
First a quick disclosure! I am NOT an attorney and this is not intended to be legal advice. You should seek out the legal and professional advice of a Real Estate Attorney who deals with Landlord and Tenant laws within your state.
Some of the basic items you should include in your lease are just basic house rules such as no illegal activity of any kind, taking out the trash, cleaning the unit on regular basis, and lost key procedure.
Other things you should include are the due date of the rent (it is the tenant’s responsibility to get the rent paid ON TIME to the landlord). When there is a roommate who does not have their portion of the rent, the rent is still due in full and you are not negotiating between roommates. Include late payment information and do not accept cash. Only money orders or certified bank checks. You can accept personal checks but make them aware that when a personal check bounces you will no longer accept them. Only money orders or bank checks!
When a tenant is responsible for the utility payments include that you are not the one who is responsible for any utility outage when they don’t pay for their utilities or a storm disrupts their services. They need to contact the utility company directly.
Add that when you need to call for service person for something like clearing a drain, and it is found that they were negligent because something was stuffed down the drain that should not have been there, you will charge them for the damages.
Include that you don’t allow for satellite dish installation without prior approval. Many times the dish companies will install them on the roof which could cause roof damages. You could also end up with many of them placed all around which could be unsightly.
Make the tenants aware that when they have a break-in to call the police first and the second call should be to their insurance carrier, not you. Include that they should secure all the windows and doors when leaving the house.
Other things to add to a lease agreement are things like:
- No inoperable vehicles. When a vehicle is not working get it fixed within a specified time or it will get towed at vehicle owner’s expense.
- No grilling inside the house or within several feet of the house outside.
- No inside furniture outside.
- No open flames inside the house.
- Get tenant insurance. The owner / landlord is not responsible for the loss of tenant’s belongings.
I can think of many other things to add to a lease agreement and when I see a 2 page lease agreement I can assume something is missing.