The Importance of Leases and Rental Agreements

Before you move into a place, it’s crucially important that you have, review, and sign a lease or rental agreement. That lease or rental agreement is a contract that establishes the legal basis of the tenant-landlord relationship and will be the foundation on which you will resolve your disputes. If you ever need to go to court, you will need to produce that in order to get any resolution. Ultimately, it puts the landlord and the tenant on the same page with respect to a multitude of issues including but not limited to: the length of the agreement, the amount of rent and the deposits required, the number of tenants in the property, who is responsible for utilities, the access the landlord has to the property, and dispute resolution clauses.

Always get the document in writing and always have both parties sign it. If it’s strictly verbal, you have a lot of opportunity to forget what was agreed to and some states won’t accept verbal agreements. While it might be nice to have something quick and easy like a handshake, you put yourself at risk because you have nothing in writing to refer to. Your memory may seem fine now, but wait 8 months and a few arguments, you may find your memory wrong (or you could be right, but you now have no proof!).

Lastly, if it’s on paper and you can refer to it, a dispute could be resolved simply be referencing the document instead of the expensive route of the court.