A strong lease agreement is a landlord’s best tool when it comes to managing your tenant, your property, and your expectations. It’s important that you have a good lease, so get a template that’s legally compliant and specific to California. While you can probably find a lot of sample leases on the internet, you don’t want to use one that doesn’t include all the information that’s absolutely critical when you’re renting out a Brentwood property.
There’s a lot you need to include in a lease agreement, and in this blog, we’ll share some of the things you don’t want to forget.
Contact and Identifying Information
Your lease must begin with a description of the property, an address, and information about the landlord and the tenant. If you’re working with a Brentwood property management company, your property manager’s contact information should be in the lease as well. List what’s included in the property, such as appliances, and whether it’s a house, apartment, or condo. All adults living in the property who are 18 years of age or older must be listed on the lease, and you should also include the names and ages of any minors.
Rent Collection Policy
The lease agreement must state how much rent is due, when it is due, and how it should be paid. Make sure you include information about any grace period that you’ll honor, and when the rent is officially considered late. You’ll want to include late fees and other consequences, including the potential for eviction when rent isn’t paid on time. Include the eviction timeline, starting with the Three Day Notice to Pay or Quit. When the rent collection policy is in writing in your lease agreement, tenants cannot claim they didn’t know there were late fees or they didn’t know how to pay.
Establish Who is Responsible for Maintenance
A good lease will explicitly state what the tenant is responsible for taking care of at the rental property. As the landlord, you will need to maintain the home and ensure it remains habitable. But, in your lease, you can instruct the tenants to change air filters, replace light bulbs, and even take care of general things like landscaping. When the tenants are responsible for setting up utility accounts for the property, make sure your lease says so. You should also include a list of requirements that the tenants need to fulfill in order to get their full security deposit back. Provide instructions to tenants on how to report maintenance issues and repair needs.
Include the Necessary Legal Disclosures
Your lease is legally required to include several disclosures designed to protect tenants. These include lead based paint disclosures, information about pest control products being used, asbestos, and whether there are any known carcinogenic materials in the home. You need to tell tenants if a death occurred in the property and if methamphetamines where every detected there.
These are only a few of the important things that you need to include in your lease agreement. It should also talk about pets, utilities, parking, and whether or not smoking and long-term guests are permitted.
To ensure your lease covers everything that it needs to, we recommend you talk to an attorney or a professional Brentwood property manager. We can help. Contact us at Parks Property Management today.