Landlord Tenant Contracts

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The below topics are discussed in much more depth
  on our members' Landlord Tenant Contracts page.

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Also see: Lease Provisions | Good, Bad & Ugly | LT Law

There are a number of key provisions that should be contained in any agreement for transferring possession of real property, including it's legalities and the basic formalities required in a typical lease.
     
 The contract should always include the rights and responsibilities of each party under the agreement and cover how grievances or disagreements will be resolved.  The completed document is commonly called a rental agreement or lease. The terms are used interchangeably throughout our pages. The contract sets out the terms and conditions of the tenancy, is legally binding and enforceable against all parties.

We have several sample leases and rental agreements available from our Forms Web . We also provide more than a hundred common lease provisions that you can copy-paste into your agreements; contained in our Lease Provisions Pages.

Follow the law
Select the first qualified applicant
Lease Basics
Common Lease Provisions
Unlawful Provisions
Types of Tenancy
Attachments

Follow the law

      Several types of laws affect the landlord-tenant relationship and must be considered while constructing a lease. Residential landlords must comply with the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in addition, to the more restrictive laws of their own state and in some cases, the county or municipality.

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Select the first qualified applicant

      There are many good reasons for accepting or rejecting an applicant that are not discriminatory if they are applied equally and fairly.

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Lease Basics

      The lease governs the landlord-tenant relationship. To be enforceable, the rental agreement should satisfy a few basic formalities which help to protect both the landlord and the tenant from fraud or misunderstanding in the event of disagreements or disputes .

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Common Lease Provisions

      The agreement should contain a number of lease provisions that address important aspects of the landlord tenant relationship. It is also best to keep the agreement from becoming exceptionally long, so care should be taken to select only those provisions that are important to a particular relationship.

Among the  many items that should be i n a residential lease are:

  • Identit ies of the parties

  • Address of the property and the unit

  • Length of the rental period

  • D ate of possession

  • Rental amount and when due

  • Late charges prov isions

  • Security deposits information

      We have provided more than a hundred common lease provisions that you can copy-paste into your agreements. They are contained in our Lease Provisions Pages .

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Unlawful Provisions

      Some types of lease provisions are not permitted by law. The lease should not contain provisions that require the tenant to waive his or her rights under federal, state or local laws; these waivers are unenforceable and may cause the lease to be voidable, and can make the landlord subject to penalties.

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Types of Tenancy

The landlord may offer one of four different types of   "tenancies" or "leaseholds." The type of lease will affect the parties' right to terminate or alter the landlord-tenant relationship, and the right to change the terms of the lease.

See our pages on types of tenancy for more information.

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Attachments may include the following:

  • Lead Paint documents

  • Condition or Inventory Checklist

  • Utility transfer agreements

  • Rules and Regulations

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The below topics are discussed in much more depth
  on our members' Landlord Tenant Contracts page.

Non-Members' Homepage