Did you... or would you ever consider writing the lease for your investment property without having an attorney's input? And if you've done it, was everything okay with it? I'm thinking I'd probably forget to add something very important, so our manager always takes care of that, but I'd love to hear from anyone who's had success with it if I ever decide to go on my own with it. I've written some business contracts but this is an entirely different area.
Thank you Kate for this thread topic, the first two tenants, i used a lease agreement that i wrote up but the tenants had a field trip and never abided by it, the third tenant..who left recently didn't have an agreement and down the drain i went, so right now am wondering should the agent handle that work or i should write up one and compare with the agents then include an attorney in the mix?...please enlighten me Kate...i will appreciate
Tough one, Diane... I think the best advice would be to have a lawyer draw up a lease agreement, yes. But they cost so much to hire. If you decide to have a property manager, I think they'd probably have a standardized lease to use, so you could skip that middle guy in that case, maybe. I'm remembering those court shows I used to watch, and the question always came down to "do you have a written and signed agreement?" Maybe that's all you'd need, but for peace of mind, I don't think I would write my own lease. Another option may be just finding a good lease online at a legal site and be sure the proper people sign it, but I'm more iffy about that one.
Yes I wrote my own lease agreement an it works, it has never failed me, you just lay out the rules and I also attached a check list for every part of the house like windows if they are intact when the tenenant is moving in , the condition of the walls and so on, they sign that one too, so when the lease is up and they are evacuating , before you refund them with their deposit, that is if you had them pay a refundable deposit, if everything is intact then you give them back their deposit, if not you deduct the cost or the repair from their deposit , before they evacuate.
I've never written a leas agreement, I'd be mortified that I'd forget something important and the tenant would take advantage of it. I always have my attorney take care of it and so far I haven't had any problems. Actually I had a new tenant in an apartment that he already made an agreement for the previous tenant so in that case I just got the old contract and replaced the name with the new tenant and printed it again
Very true... for some reason, if there's any kind of a loophole, people *will* find it and use it to their advantage. I've also found that a lease needs to specify the silliest "little" things... things you'd never think could cause a dispute... until they do!
Yes. I have done this for my brother a few years ago and he had it notarized at the bank. He decided to bypass an attorney for a home he was leasing to a tenant. I am good at writing contracts but as you stated in your post, leasing contracts are different. I had to do some research online about leasing agreements and how I would phrase certain sections to avoid any legal issues from tenants in case a complaint arose. So far my brother had no issues from the tenant.
That's good to hear! I hope it remains that way for him. Yes, there are issues that could arise that I'd never even think of putting into a contract. If there are ways for people to destroy things, they'll find those ways. Sometimes a general "property damage" statement works, but I suppose there are exclusions as with everything else.
...catch 22 huh?...i guess i 'll sit down with the property agent...check out his standardized lease and mine then incorporate everything in one final print...then get the lawyer involved...i guess in the whole process, i might run in on some advice from both of them...thanks Kate, i greatly appreciate.
Thank you Determined2014 for that idea about the checklist and the ideas on deposit...i am not going wrong this time round
