f you are going to be a determined not to let the problem
landlord, I strongly advise stop me from helping you find or
having a well-prepared develop a good lease. Therefore,
lease. A good lease will solidify let’s begin with me telling you
the verbal agreement and how you go about finding a lease
important criteria between the that best fits your needs. As far
landlord and the tenant. It will as I am concerned there are
also be your strongest ally basically three ways. I’ll list
should a dispute arise between each of them along with the
you and your tenant. A properly advantages and disadvantages
entered lease will go farther in associated with each choice.
solving landlord/tenant disputes
than any other document you have. Draft your own. (Should you
In 99 percent of the cases, it is choose to do this, read my
your first weapon in a courtroom article on the contents of a
battle. lease available on the articles
page at
Finding a lease. http://www.findthatqualitytenant.
com to better understand what
So once you understand what a should be in a lease)
lease is, the next question
becomes, “Where does one find a The advantage: it is cheap.
good rental lease?”
The disadvantage: you could make
That’s an excellent question. One some costly legal mistakes by not
in fact, that I was having having enough information or the
trouble solving for the scope of wrong information in your lease.
my book, How to Find That Quality
Tenant. Fortunately, as I wrote If you choose to draft a lease
the chapter on leases, I was yourself, there are books you can
purchase that will walk you although not nearly as costly as
through the process, although I a poorly drafted lease followed
cannot say how well they work, by a tenant dispute.
because I have personally never
tried to draft my own lease. As you can probably guess by that
last comment, I recommend using a
You can pick one up at an office real estate lawyer to draft a
supply store. lease. They know the laws for
your state, county, and locale,
Advantage: It is easy to do. and have a good idea which
landlord/tenant disputes are most
Disadvantage: It could be too likely to trip you up. Let their
general to offer adequate expertise and past experiences
protection. When you need a lease work to your advantage.
right now, these store-bought
leases can do the trick since In addition, when you are a
they are so easy to find. They landlord, you have at least some
are cheap and simple but will financial net worth; definitely
offer the least amount of more than your tenants will have.
protection out of the three lease This automatically makes you
options. prone to frivolous lawsuits and
unwarranted demands by those
You could have a real estate tenants.
lawyer draft you a lease.
A properly drafted lease will
Advantage: It is tailor fit, offer maximum custom protection
offering you the best overall against many of the possible
protection. lawsuits and demands landlords
are exposed to. Therefore, I
Disadvantage: It is more costly, would advise you to have a lawyer
draft your lease and to do it professional to draft a lease for
from the time you put that first you until you end up with a legal
tenant in your first rental. dispute, which may of course, be
too late.
I know money can be extremely
tight when you are first entering Take my recommendation and spend
your landlording career, but I the money initially on a lawyer
highly recommend using a lawyer structured lease.
from the beginning for this
reason. If you draft your own (I am not a lawyer; therefore, if
lease or use a store-bought one you have any legal concerns with
and you have reasonable success anything in this article, please
with it for a couple of tenants, contact the appropriate legal
you could be lulled into a false counsel).
sense of security. When you reach
this point, you will never pay a
About the Author:
Don Conrad is author of the book, "How to Find That Quality Tenant". His book and his website (http://www.findthatqualitytenant.com) are dedicated to improving the landlords tenant selection process. On this website you will find educational articles, valuable links, real estate related forms, and more.
Read more articles by:
Don Conrad
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