Finding an adequate apartment suitable for your lifestyle and requirements can be challenging enough. However, the entire paperwork side of leasing any property is much more confusing. To simplify the process, we will discuss how apartment leases work. Here’s what you need to know:
An apartment lease is an agreement that many landlords require their tenants to sign before moving in. A lease is a simple-worded and clear contract between the landlord and tenant that details rental terms, security deposits, rent amount, tenant responsibilities, and property location.
Look at an apartment lease, like an agreement. It’ll state what the landlord requires from the tenant and each party’s responsibilities.
By having a contract, the property owner and renter know what’s needed or offered by both people before moving in to remove any complications down the line.
If you want to understand more about an apartment lease, the different types, and the information on these agreements, I suggest you become familiar with the below. Here we detail it all to ensure you don’t have rental problems in the future.
What Is An Apartment Lease?
Before moving into a rental property, an abundance of landlords will have a mandatory requirement for the tenants to sign a lease agreement.
To simplify a lease, the contract between the landlord and tenant has written details about the rental terms.
With this type of contract, both the landlord and tenant must sign the agreement because they’ll be terms subjected to both parties.
A well-constructed, organized, and defined lease contract will ensure that the tenant and landlord know what’s required throughout the fixed terms.
For instance, if the tenant owns a pet, within the agreement, the landlord might suggest that the tenant pay for any additional damages caused by the pet. Or the landlord will mention that the apartment windows get cleaned twice a month.
By having both parties sign this, they know what they’re entitled to. If you want to see what an outline of a lease agreement looks like, check out this example.
Are There Different Types Of Apartment Leases?
Surprisingly, there are various types of apartment leases that you could be offered or requested.
You’ll want to become familiar with these to ensure you’re receiving optimal flexibility to your initial requirements.
- Long-term leases – A long-term or fixed-term lease is the most common contract a tenant will be offered. Usually, these have a minimum agreement length of a year. Afterward, you’ll have the option to leave whenever with advance notice. Once the minimum lease terms have ended, you can live their month-to-month, renew your lease, or leave. However, you must note that shorter leases tend to be a much higher rent rate.
- Month-to-month leases – As stated by the name, a month-to-month (or periodic lease) allows the landlord to terminate the lease at any given moment. Although opting in for this type of lease might sound somewhat problematic, it’s excellent for those who are continuously traveling. With this, you won’t be contracted to stay for long durations, providing the tenant maximum flexibility for moving.
- Subleasing – In most holiday destinations, you might encounter a subleasing agreement. The best way to describe this is that they’re a re-lease contract. The official landlord already has a tenant, but you’ll be the tenant of the existing tenant.
What Information Will Be On An Apartment Lease?
Now you have a fundamental understanding of the different tenant agreements, let’s discuss the information found on all leasing paperwork. By knowing this, you can guarantee yourself you’re signing a sufficient lease contract.
Landlord And Tenant Identification
The most crucial part of the contract is the identification between both the landlord and tenant. It should clearly state everyone’s names, date of birth, and signatures. By doing this, it binds the contract between both parties without any confusion. Additionally to the above information, the landlord will also mention their office or private address to ensure optimal communication.
Property Location
As you can imagine, the properties’ location will need to be stated somewhere on the paperwork. The following information will be required.
- Apartment number
- Street name
- Town
- State
- Zip Code
Additionally, if the apartment has a name, this could also be stated somewhere on the agreement.
Rental Terms
Including the above, it’s a mandatory requirement to have rental terms on a lease agreement. These are the dates that the contract will be valid for – for example, “the lease begins on January 1, 2021, and ends on December 31, 2021.
Here, the tenant and landlord will know precisely when the agreement ends unless it’s renewed before its expiry date. You’ll want to guarantee exact dates on the contract because having “1 year from the signing date” or something similar isn’t accurate enough.
Rent Amount And Due Date
Another prominent part of the lease agreement is the rent amount and due date. In this section, the landlord will state how much they expect and when the funds must enter their accounts. If you need to transfer the money yourself, it’ll also mention their banking details.
You must note this figure might be a whole or a monthly rate. For example – “the tenant agrees to pay $12,000 of rent over their year contract” or “the tenant agrees to pay $1,000 a month of rent over their year contract”, along with the date “1st day of each month”.
Security Deposit Terms
With almost all lease agreements, whether commercial, a house, or an apartment, they’ll typically always be a security deposit. It’s collected at the start of the contract, and it’ll be returned at the end of the rental unit that hasn’t been damaged (in the agreement, they’ll state reasons why you won’t receive your security deposit back). Additionally to this, they’ll also mention the following information:
- The amount that was collected
- Date it was collected
- Name and address of the bank or institution where the deposit is held
- Interest rate
- Reasons for deductions
- Procedures for returning the funds
Tenant Responsibilities
The agreement will also have a list of tenant responsibilities you must approve before moving into the apartment. Under the landlord-tenant law, the duties agreed upon usually include damages. The property owner doesn’t want their apartment unit damaged. Because of this, they’ll be set “rules” suggested by the landlord about how they’d like their property to be maintained during the rental terms.
It may also be wise to look at renters insurance to cover some damages.
Landlord And Tenant Signatures
Lastly, to ensure that both parties are happy with the agreement, it’ll need to be signed off by the landlord and tenant. Afterward, both groups know what’s happening during the agreement, along with what they expect from each other.