What to Include in a Lease Agreement: A Landlord’s Checklist
Whether you are signing a renewal with an existing tenant or you are still in the screening phase with applicants, having a solid lease in place is good for you and good for your tenant.
A solid lease is a roadmap. It gives both of you the same understanding and the same reference point for every stage of the tenancy, from moving in, to regular and emergency maintenance, to moving out or lease renewal. When something comes up, and something always comes up, the lease is where you both look.
The parts that make a lease a lease
The parties. The full legal name of the landlord, and the full legal name of every adult who will live in the unit. Anyone who lives there and does not sign is not held to the lease, which is the whole reason every adult signs, not just the one who answered your ad.
The property. The full address, the unit or apartment number, and everything that comes with it. List the parking space or spaces, the garage, the storage, the yard, and the appliances that stay. Name what is not included too, so there is no assumption about the basement, the attic, or a second parking spot.
The term. The start date, the end date if it is a fixed term, and whether it is a fixed term or month to month. Say what happens when a fixed term ends. Does it roll into month to month on the same terms, or does it end outright, and how much notice does each side owe to walk away?
The rent. The amount, the day it is due, where it goes, and which payment methods you accept. Leave no room to read this two ways.
While it may seem that the first line is more detailed, a tenant can argue over the math in February of a leap year, when the year runs 366 days instead of 365, because the first version tied rent to a day count. A longer lease or more elaborate wording does not automatically mean it is better. The best lease terms are the ones that are clear to understand.
The signatures. Every adult tenant and the landlord sign and date it. A lease is a contract, and a contract needs the people it binds to actually put their names on it. Important contracts also get an initial on every page. Have each party initial every page of your agreement, so nobody can later claim a page was swapped or never seen.
The money terms, written so they cannot be argued
Late fees and returned payments. Name the day rent is late, whether there is a grace period, and the exact late fee, whether it is a flat amount or adds up per day. Say what happens when a payment bounces, including any returned payment fee. A late fee clause only works if the lease defines “late” in the first place. Late fees are subject to your lease and to local limits, and some states cap the amount or require a grace period, so check your state’s rule before you set the number.
The security deposit. The amount you are collecting, what it can be used for, and how a tenant gets it back. A deposit typically covers unpaid rent and damage beyond normal wear, not the ordinary wear that comes from someone simply living there. How much you can hold, whether it must sit in a separate account, whether you owe interest, and how fast you have to return it with an itemized list are some of the most state specific rules in all of renting. Many states set both a cap and a return deadline, so confirm yours rather than copying a number from a template you found online.
Money due at signing. Lay out everything owed before you hand over keys: first month’s rent, last month’s rent if you collect it, the security deposit, and any pet deposit. A simple table of what is due and what has been received is the easiest way to show it. If you collect last month’s rent, keep it separate from the security deposit in the lease and on any receipt.
Who lives there, and how the place gets treated
Occupants. Name every person who is allowed to live in the unit, adults and children. Set a plain rule for guests, such as how many nights a guest can stay before they count as an occupant, and a process for adding someone later, usually an application and your written approval. This is also where joint liability lives. When every adult signs and the lease says they are jointly and severally responsible, you can collect the full rent from any one of them instead of chasing halves between roommates. Removing someone from the lease is not automatic, it takes a written change signed by everyone, and until then the people who signed stay responsible for the full rent. Prohibit subletting and short term rentals like Airbnb without your written approval, so the unit is not re-rented without your say.
A couple signs the lease, and a third adult is “just staying for a while.” Six months later that third person is clearly living there, but now you cannot say anything because your lease did not cover guests and new occupants. While they are not violating your lease agreement, you feel they should have told you about the additional person. They feel that since their rent is paid they are well within their rights to have a roommate. A solid lease solves the communication and expectation discrepancy described.
Pets and animals. Pets fall under your pet policy. You decide whether to allow them, and you can set reasonable rules, a pet deposit, or pet rent, within what your local law and your market allow. Put those terms in the lease or in an animal addendum so the rules are clear before an animal moves in.
Assistance animals are a different thing entirely, and they are not pets under the Fair Housing Act. This covers both service animals and emotional support animals. You cannot charge a pet deposit or pet rent for them, and you cannot apply breed, weight, or size limits. They are approved through a reasonable accommodation request, which sits outside your pet policy. What does still apply is damage: the tenant remains responsible for any damage an assistance animal causes, and it is worth saying that plainly in the lease.
The Animal Conduct Agreement I include with my lease handles both lanes on one signed form.
Vehicles, smoking, and house rules. Which vehicles and how many can park at the property, and whether inoperable vehicles are allowed. Whether the unit is smoke free or has a designated smoking area, and that the policy includes vaping. Who is responsible for the lawn, and if it is the tenant, what that involves specifically. Any quiet hours or shared space rules that keep neighbors on good terms. A house rule is only enforceable if you can point to a line in the lease.
Running the tenancy, and ending it
Utilities. Name who pays for each utility, water, sewer, trash, gas, electric, and internet, so none of it is a surprise. If anything is shared across units or billed back to the tenant, say how it is split, what counts as excessive use, and how excessive use will be handled. If the tenant is responsible for putting utilities in their own name by move-in, write that in, and decide up front what happens if a bill in the tenant’s name falls behind, since an unpaid utility can become your problem when it attaches to the property.
Entry. How much notice you give before you enter, and the reasons you might, such as repairs, inspections, or showing the unit near move-out. Entry notice periods are set by state law, commonly around 24 hours but not everywhere, so find and write in your state’s window. Define clearly the line between a normal visit, which needs notice, and a true emergency, which does not.
Maintenance and repairs. Start with how a tenant reports a problem. Ask for it in writing, to one method or contact, so there is a record and a clear start to the clock. Then name who handles what. As the landlord, you keep the unit habitable and handle the major systems and structure. The tenant handles basic upkeep, things like changing bulbs and filters, keeping the place clean, and reporting issues promptly.
Two situations are worth writing down directly. First, what happens when a tenant knows about a problem and does not report it, and a small issue grows into a bigger one. A tenant can be held responsible for the added damage their delay caused. Second, what happens when a tenant reports a problem and you do not address it. Your state sets expectations for how fast a landlord has to respond to a habitability issue, and a tenant has remedies if you do not, so know your local timeline and honor it.
Handle emergencies on their own. Define what counts as an emergency, no heat, no water, a burst pipe, a gas leak, anything that makes the unit unsafe, and give an after hours number to call. Everything else is a normal request that follows the standard reporting path. Many landlords also require the tenant to carry renters insurance, which covers the tenant’s own belongings and their liability, not your building. If you require it, write it into the lease and ask for proof at move-in.
Alterations and changes to the unit. Any change a tenant wants to make to the property needs your written approval first. Name what that covers so there is no gray area: painting, wallpaper, drilling or anchoring beyond small picture nails, shelving or built ins, changing or re-keying locks, mounting a TV to the studs, installing a satellite dish or exterior equipment, and anything touching wiring, plumbing, or flooring. Put the request and your answer in writing every time.
Violations and cure periods. What counts as a violation, and how a tenant can fix, or “cure,” it before it becomes a bigger problem. Some violations can be cured, like a late payment or an unauthorized pet, and some are more serious like criminal activity or major damage to the unit. The notice you give and the time a tenant has to cure are set by state law, so flag that your local rule controls the timeline, and keep a copy of every notice you send.
Ending the lease. How the tenancy ends, the notice each side owes to end or not renew, and your policy on early termination, including whether you allow a lease break and on what terms. Certain endings are protected by law, such as a tenant’s rights under military service or domestic violence protections, and a well built lease accounts for them. Clearly defining the move-out standard at signing can head off many deposit disputes, since a tenant can only be held to a condition the lease actually named. Include how keys come back and how the tenant gives you a forwarding address, so you can return the deposit on time.
Guarantors. If your applicant could not independently meet your income or credit policy, a guarantor may have signed on. A guarantor agrees to be legally responsible for the lease if the tenant does not pay, and does not live in the unit. You verify a guarantor much like an applicant, and their responsibility gets written into the lease or a guaranty addendum, so it is clear exactly what they are on the hook for.
Casualty and disaster. Say what happens if fire, a storm, a flood, or another disaster damages the unit through no fault of the tenant. If the place becomes unlivable, either side can end the lease and rent stops as of that date, with any prepaid rent for the days after refunded. If only part of the unit is unusable and the rest is still livable, rent drops in proportion to the affected part while the condition lasts. Some states set stronger tenant protections for casualty and rent abatement, so match your lease to your own state’s rule.
Liability and insurance. Note that you are not responsible for a tenant’s belongings or for an injury on the property unless the cause is your own negligence, and that the tenant answers for the conduct of their own guests and occupants. If you require renters insurance, this is where that requirement sits, since it covers the tenant’s property and liability, not your building.
General provisions. The boilerplate at the end does real work. Governing law ties the lease to your state, an entire agreement clause means only what is written counts, a modification clause requires any change to be in writing and signed by everyone, and a severability clause keeps the rest of the lease valid if a single line is ever struck down.
The disclosures you hand over before anyone signs
Some things are not clauses inside the lease. They are documents the law asks you to give the tenant before signing.
Lead based paint, if the building predates 1978. This is a federal rule, so it applies no matter which state you are in. Before a tenant signs a lease on most housing built before 1978, federal law asks the landlord to give them the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home,” disclose any known lead based paint or hazards, hand over any records or reports you have, and include a Lead Warning Statement. You keep a signed copy for three years after the lease begins. There are real exemptions, including zero bedroom units and leases of 100 days or less, so read the rule to see if yours is one of them.
Your state’s disclosures. On top of the federal lead rule, most states ask for their own disclosures before signing, and the list varies a lot from place to place. Common ones include mold or moisture history, bedbug history, whether the property has flooded, how the security deposit is held, and any shared utility arrangement. This is a “check your state” moment, since what is required in one state is not even mentioned in the next.
| Disclosure type | What it usually covers | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Lead-based paint | Known lead paint and hazards in pre-1978 housing, plus the EPA pamphlet | Federal, applies in every state |
| Mold or moisture | Known dampness or visible mold in the unit | State specific, verify yours |
| Bedbug history | Recent infestation history for the unit or building | State specific, verify yours |
| Flooding | Whether the property sits in a flood area or has flooded before | State specific, verify yours |
| Security deposit handling | Where the deposit is held and the terms for its return | State specific, verify yours |
| Shared utilities | How a shared meter is split and billed | State specific, verify yours |
Treat the state rows as examples, not a finished list. The one honest note here is that disclosure rules change and differ by city and county, so confirm your own state before you finalize a lease.
One lease, built to hold all of this
If you are putting a lease together from scratch, this is a lot to get right.
The lease I use, built as a guided fill in the blank Word document and a print ready PDF, ready to print or sign digitally. Twenty three sections covering parties and joint liability, the property, term, rent, late fees, the security deposit, occupants, animals kept separate from pets, vehicles, utilities, entry, maintenance, violations and cure periods, move-out standards, and guarantors, plus casualty and property damage, liability and insurance, and events outside anyone’s control. The Animal Conduct Agreement is included, so pets, assistance animals, and service animals are covered from policy to signature, and a “Make Your Lease Fit Your State” checklist tells you exactly what to confirm, from deposit limits to notice periods to required disclosures, before you sign. Plain language notes walk you through what each section actually does. Built by a working independent landlord for use in all 50 states.
Get the Residential Lease Agreement Template →Once the lease is signed, the next job is documenting the unit’s condition on day one, with the new tenant, so there is no argument about it at move-out. That is the move-in inspection.