What to Include in a Lease Agreement?

Answer 1

If you're leasing a piece of property to an individual or a business, it's more important than ever to protect your legal interests. From damage to your property to missed payments, leasing property can easily become a legal minefield, so it pays to have every protection you can set in place before the lease even begins. To do this, you need to have a legally sound agreement drafted, and you need to be assured that all parties involved have a clear understanding of the terms and conditions of the agreement.

Key Elements to Include in Any Lease Agreement

Essentially, a lease agreement needs to contain a few key elements: what property is being leased, the identity of the parties involved in the agreement, the length of the lease, as well as information on payments. These elements are important in order to establish exactly what property is being leased in the agreement, who will have possession of the property and who retains actual ownership, how long the lease will be for and how any payments will be handled. Having these elements allows all parties in a lease agreement to have a clear understanding of the agreement as a whole, and they also offer protection for both parties if the agreement is used in court.

What Happens if the Lease Agreement is Broken?

You will also want to include terms and conditions within your lease agreement that address penalties if payments are missed, if the leased property is damaged, as well as what legal recourse all agreeing parties have if the lease is broken. This may mean defining an actual monetary value for specific damages, or it may discuss a security deposit requirement that will be used specifically for damage to the leased property. Once again, this information can be crucial if the lease agreement is used as evidence in court.

Miscellaneous Information to Include

Many lease agreements may include miscellaneous information, such as stipulations of use on the leased property. These guidelines ensure that the leased property will be used for its intended purpose, and are often put in place for the property owner's protection. An example of this would be where someone is leasing a home to another individual. The lease agreement may stipulate that the home being leased can not be used as a commercial business, as this may cause the property owner to incur fees from the city or county where the property is registered.