Purchase agreements are certainly not the only impactful type of real-estate-related contract out there. Another type are lease agreements. These are the agreements formed between landlords and tenants in relation to the renting of a property.
Typically, lease agreements have terms covering all manner of different things regarding the landlord-tenant relationship, including:
- The lease’s length and how renewals will be handled.
- Rent matters: such as rent amount, rent due date and late fees.
- Security deposits.
- Where certain responsibilities, such as maintenance responsibilities, will lie while the lease is in effect.
- What things the landlord and the tenant are allowed to do during the course of the lease.
- The ending of a lease, such as termination notice issues.
How these different elements of the landlord-tenant relationship are handled can have major impacts in both the present and the future for landlords and tenants. So, what a lease agreement has to say on these types of issues can be a very big deal.
Given this, for both landlords and tenants, failing to give proper attention to the terms of a lease agreement when forming a lease could be very problematic. It could leave them with an unclear or inaccurate view of their rights and responsibilities under the lease. In relationships as potentially sensitive as landlord-tenant relationships, unpleasant surprises when it come to these kind of things can create some incredibly tumultuous and difficult situations.
So, when it comes to lease agreement issues, both landlords and tenants may want the guidance of a real estate lawyer knowledgeable in lease matters.
Source: FindLaw, “Standard Lease Provisions,” Accessed April 18, 2016