Rental Agreement

What is a rental agreement letter?

This rental agreement letter is something which is used as a formal agreement between two parties (one who is leasing this property and other who is going to take it). This formal agreement letter is also considered as a license to take charge of a certain property for a limited period of time. It includes some important points such as amount require to be deposited for taking this property, date of agreement, initial payment deposit, amenities available on that property along with restrictions.

What is significance of rental application form?

Though, it looks always tempting to accomplish a deal with a handshake and verbal agreement, still in a verbal conversation no legal bindings exist that can be enforced if tenant or landlord do not abide by their words. This kind of situation may arise at any time and in any condition as there is no one witnessing this whole situation or verbal communication. Therefore, if there any dispute arises regarding lease agreement between the tenant and landlord, none of them can take help of court to settle this matter because, without any legal proof or paper, the court cannot give any judgment based on truth. Therefore, instead of adopting an easy way out, it is always better to write each and every term and conditions on a legal paper so that no future misunderstanding takes place between two parties. There should be two copies of a rental agreement made, and both the party should keep a copy of this agreement. This lease agreement is basically a legal document enforced by law. If any party breaks any of its terms and conditions, an action can be issued against that party by the court. This is why in today’s age; a rental agreement is issued for every property whether it is offered on lease or monthly rental basis. If you have a property that you want to offer for rent and looking for a rental agreement to settle this deal legally, you don’t need to go anywhere or hire anybody for preparing legal papers as you can now download rent agreement format online and fill the blanks as per your requirements. Isn’t it an easy and convenient option? Yes! It is a good option.

Types of rental agreement letter

In rental agreement, landlord must take a sign of tenant on a copy of agreement and the tenant may request landlord to provide a replacement a copy of it during the time of tenancy. Rental agreement letters have been categorized into five different types such as –

Month to month rental agreement

This Month to month rental agreement does not include any specific time period. The period of tenancy continues unless and until the other party issues a legal notice to vacate that property. In some countries, this type of agreement is done either in verbal or written format. In Washington, verbal agreement is considered legal in respect of month to month rental agreement. If the landlord takes any initial deposit or non-refundable fund from his tenant, the agreement should be made in written format only where the terms and condition will be specified mentioning under which condition the fund is refundable to the tenant. For preparing such type of agreement paper, one can download month to month rental agreement template online and give it a customized look mentioning your terms and conditions.

Tenancy agreement

A tenancy agreement is almost similar like rental agreement paper where a contract is made between two parties (tenant and landlord). The agreement includes all important points, terms and conditions on which both parties have to agree upon. Tenancy agreement letter should be made in writing only, and the landlord will give a copy of it to the tenant with signature. The tenant must read all the terms and conditions mentioned in the agreement before signing it. He or she should understand each and every clause, and if there arise any confusion, they must ask the landlord or seek legal advice before signing on it. One can now download tenancy agreement template online and fulfill the necessity of a legal agreement.

Room rental agreement

A room rental agreement is applicable for a person who is renting a room for accommodation. The person who rents this room for a specific time period is called the resident and the person offering accommodation is called the accommodation provider. The agreement must include all regulations and rights along with the mention of any special clause agreed between the provider and the residents. A room rental agreement must include the following points –

• Mention the terms and conditions to abide by both the provider and the resident
• The amount of rent to be paid along with other costs applicable to personal care, food or any special service
• The frequency of the payment and what common areas the resident can use
• A specific time limit of the agreement such as fixed, periodic or half yearly basis

One way lease agreement

One way lease agreement is a legal document where the landlord charges a certain amount of money or fee from tenant if he or she moves out the property after a few months. These legal agreements are called one-way lease because it benefits only the landlord.

Fixed-term lease agreement

This kind of lease agreement is made for a specific period of time, and it should be in written format only. Fixed term lease agreement restricts the landlord from increasing the amount of rent or imposing any new rule or restriction over the course of fixed-term of tenancy. The tenants are liable to meet the terms and conditions, and if they breach any of it, a legal action will be issued against the party.

What are the terms must include in a rental contract?

A rental contract or agreement is considered as foundation of landlord and tenant relationship. Therefore, this sort agreement must include certain terms and conditions which both parties should abide by. Here are some terms to be included in a legal rental contract –

• Tenants list

When more than one adult is planning to rent a property, it is important that name of every adult person should be mentioned in that agreement. After that, landlord must obtain signature of every adult tenant on that paper so that he/she can make sure that all tenants are liable to abide by those terms while continuing their tenancy. This kind of agreement also ensures that landlord can collect rent from any of the adults living in his property and terminate this lease if any of them violate the terms and conditions.

• Amount of rent and payment form

Besides, mentioning exact amount of rent payable by tenant, it should also be mentioned what is acceptable form of payment, to whom this payment should be made, grace period allowed to make late payments and any special term or clause to abide by tenant.

• Mention of each term with proper definition

Basically, terminology of a rental agreement depends on state or the place where a tenant lives in, and duration of rental agreement stays for a maximum period of one year. The landlord should clearly state the time period for which the agreement will be valid.

• Initial deposit amount

While renting a property, security deposit plays the most important role between a tenant and landlord. It is a common dispute item that may create confusion in future. So, along with defining exact amount of rent payable by tenant, the landlord should also mention initial deposit or security money which will be refunded when that tenant moves out of that property. The amount of security deposit is determined as per the principle of state law.

• Repair and maintenance

Both the tenant and landlord are responsible for repair and maintenance of the property. Therefore, the obligations of each party should be clearly mentioned in the agreement. Basically, the tenants are liable to keep their premises clean and responsible for any damage caused to the rental property. On the other hand, landlords are responsible for keeping the property in good condition and taking the charge of repairing any damage which is not done by the tenant.

• Restrictions and illegal behavior

A landlord must impose restrictions on any illegal behavior of the tenant, and it should be clearly mentioned in the agreement so that they don’t get any justifiable ground of termination the terms and conditions of the agreement. Therefore, to avoid such type of situation on the part of the tenant, certain types of restricted behavior should properly be mentioned such as loud music, excessive noise, drug dealing and the like. All these are important elements to be included in a rental agreement paper. However, keeping in mind all these terms and conditions is quite a difficult task and therefore, to ease the job of the landlords, professional rental contract templates available online where they just need to download the papers and fill the blanks as per their requirements.

Minimum information to be included in a tenancy agreement

Each tenancy agreement must include the below-mentioned minimum information –

• Full name and address of both landlord and tenant should be mentioned in this agreement
• The address of rented property must be included in that agreement
• The signing date of the tenancy agreement should be mentioned
• The date from which this tenancy starts must be mentioned in that agreement
• If there exists any bond between the tenant and the landlord, it should be clearly mentioned in the agreement
• The amount of rent and the frequency of payment must be mentioned in the agreement
• The rent payment form should be mentioned along with the name and bank account number of the person to whom it is payable
• A list of things provided by the landlord to the tenant such as curtains, furniture, and other fittings

Additional conditions to be mentioned

It is here to be noted that the landlord is not liable to include any term and condition they feel important for tenancy agreement. If they add any such term and condition to the tenancy agreement, it should comply with the state law.

What is eviction notice?

A landlord can serve different notices to the tenant based on the reasons for eviction. An eviction notice is served when the tenant is failed to pay the rent, comply with the terms and conditions of the agreement or vacate the place within a limited time frame. The process of issuing this notice must take place before taking any legal action.

Importance of rental agreement letter template

Just by mentioning the basic terms and conditions of renting property does not make a proper rental agreement letter. In fact, it will not be accepted by the Court of law to settle any dispute. There are many important points to be mentioned to make a proper structure of a renting agreement. Fortunately, there is a number of rental agreement templates available online with which you can reduce the hassles of preparing such a document or hire any professional for accomplishing this task. Just download it from online, mention the terms and conditions you want in an agreement and provide a copy to the tenant. With these ready-made templates, you can rest assure that your agreement paper includes all important points.