Document Summary for Customized Lease Agreement and Support Documents

The Residential Rental Agreement

This lease is the result of experiences we have had with 9,000+ tenants over the last 35 years managing for over 3,000 owners including private landlords, equity groups and government agencies. Every time we get kicked in the teeth we add some language to this document (or create a housekeeping document) so it won’t happen again. We have spent 10’s of thousands of dollars with our law firm on this document over the years and continue to tweak, polish, refine and adapt it to protect ourselves from litigation and make us money. Even though we have lots of supporting documents (see housekeeping documents below) the lease is seven pages and 32 stipulations.

The biggest advantage of this lease is you discover all the revenue stream we’ve developed and added to it over the years. You not only get a killer lease, designed for professional managers, but you pick up 40+ ideas on ways to generate more income while managing your tenants. According to our attorney we should sell this for $2,000 (she would charge $4,000) but we want lots of managers using it so we priced it at a fraction of its value. The income you’ll gain in the first year alone would justify spending several thousand dollars for it but you don’t have to spend thousands.

You can get a lease anywhere but not one from a manager with 35 years of professional landlord experience. You can learn this stuff yourself over the next 20 to 30 years or have it today by downloading this document. This is the rental agreement we use today and are doing 30 to 40 move-ins a month.

You can download this rental agreement with (or without) the supporting (housekeeping) documents. It works great as a stand-alone agreement or in conjunction with all the other documents listed below.

What you get: 1. The Residential Rental Agreement: a fully editable lease document that you will add your name to, make some adjustments for fees and percentages, add your brand and be up and running in minutes. You would pay an attorney several thousand dollars to get this document and you still wouldn’t have all the writer’s experience and all the money-making ideas. 2. Instructions to Adapt the Residential Rental Agreement to Your Company: instructions to Adapt the Residential Rental Agreement to Your Company Another document to help you fill in the right information so your final agreement says exactly what you want. This document identifies 22 blanks to fill in so you don’t miss anything in the agreement to adapt it to your model. 3. Residential Rental Agreement with Instructor’s Notes: a full document filled in with instructor training notes after every paragraph (14 pages long) addressing each issue in detail.

Every document comes fully editable originals, with a sister copy filled out, plus instructor notes where appropriate, plus originals. Add your name to the original and you’re up and running.

Customized Lease Agreement Package # 1 includes THREE documents. We spent thousands of dollars developing these documents. You can have them for pennies on the dollar. Remember this is a Georgia specific document. Think of this as what you might earn leasing one property, or about the cost of two hours with a medium priced attorney.

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For more savings view Super Package at the bottom of the page.

Housekeeping (Support) Documents (items 1-11)

to be used with every lease.

The lease agreement should not be more than a few pages long making it easy for new tenants to sign. Minor issues should be managed within housekeeping and ancillary documents allowing you to alter and expand the small stuff without ever changing the primary lease.

You need these short legal documents below to protect your lease from document creep.

1. Pet Exhibit

Be sure every tenant signs a pet exhibit so every detail is covered on every lease. If they have a pet you want them to tell you breed, weight, color and name so they don’t sneak in a different one. You also want to remind them of the six things they need to do after move-out to get their deposit back. If they don’t have a pet you need to remind them of the costs, penalties and process you’ll go through if you discover a pet. Let them know there are serious penalties if they try to hide one from you.

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2. Resident’s Maintenance Agreement

Be sure to articulate exactly what maintenance the tenant is responsible for on every lease. This document address after hours maintenance, appointment stand up’s, flipping GFI switches, resetting garbage disposals, changing out all light bulbs and lots of other nickel-dime nuisance maintenance items. We’ve learned the precise balance between pushing off repair issues to them (which is illegal in many states) and holding them responsible for nuisance maintenance calls.

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3. Move-in Checklist and Report Card

The tenant signs a move-in inspection and this checklist. We want them to testify that the window locks work as do the door locks; the smoke detectors are working (they never check them); they got two keys and garage door openers. This has 27 items on it that we have messed up over the years and don’t want to mess it up again. We do 40 move-ins per month and we’ll get it wrong if we don’t have this checklist. It keeps growing as we continue to learn. This also serves as a report to the owner of any deferred maintenance that needs attention and documents both urgent and not so urgent needs.

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4. Landlord vs. Resident’s Responsibilities Maintenance Chart

Some tenants like visuals so we made up a chart of who is responsible for what. It’s all in the lease but no one reads the lease. This is something they can tape to their refrigerator to remind them of what they can call us for and what they need to take care of themselves. Like everyone else, we like it simple. This makes it simple.

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5. Audit Checklist

6. Mold, Mildew, Moisture Disclosure

Pay close attention to this as it is the topic of tension and litigation. Make sure you’re on the right side of this and disclose, train, warn and follow up. This document is both a training piece and a CYA document for you regarding the claims of mold, what they have to do and how you’ll respond if they feel there is more than the normal moisture in the property.

$12.00Add to cart

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7. Mold Information and Prevention

This is an educational piece we give our residents to prepare them to deal with issues of mold. It prevents them from claiming mold the last month they are there or because they want a way out of the lease without paying the early termination fees. You want to be able to tell the judge “we did everything we could to prepare the resident to address these issues before they moved in.”

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8. Official Notice of Approval

You need an enforceable document that lets the tenant know they are approved. This identifies the start date; move-in date, rent, deposits, fees, utility companies and other critical data for the occupancy. It puts their deposit at risk and identifies what happens if they change their mind. If you get the lease signed immediately you probably don’t need this. We don’t get the lease signed until just before move-in so we use this to “lock them in” without having to sign the lease immediately.

$19.00Add to cart

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9. Lead Paint and Flood Disclosure

Houses built before 1978 often used lead paint which has been discovered to be toxic and a serious health hazard. Federal law requires that you have the owner and tenant sign this to disclose the presence of (or lack of) this poison in the home. The owner signs this document to reveal to you (and the tenant) any knowledge they have regarding any lead paint in their home. Copy the original the owner signs and have every tenant sign (a copy) before you move them in. Use the same original over and over. Just have the tenant sign a copy and keep it with other important tenant documents.

Pay close attention to this as it is the topic of lots of debates and litigation. Make sure you’re on the right side of this and disclose, train, warn and follow up. This document is both a training piece and a CYA for you regarding the claims of mold, what they have to do and how you’ll respond if they feel there is more than the normal moisture in the property.

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10. Smoke Detector Release and Renters Insurance Disclosure

This two sided document is CYA by introducing (and counting) the number of smoke detectors in the property and addressing renters insurance. You want to document that there are smoke detectors and remind them that “we provide them … you have to keep them with batteries.” You also want to remind them that the owner’s insurance doesn’t cover their personal belongings. We don’t require renters insurance but we do inform them of their need to get coverage. They sign this at move-in, documenting the discussion so they can’t blame us when all their stuff burns up in a house fire or gets stolen.

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11. Utility Agreement and Property Visit Policy

Clearly state the fines they pay if utilities are off at move-out or they leave a balance due with the utility company when they leave the property. Give them the utility company name and phone number to help them get service turned on before move-in. Outline your property visit policy including surprise visits when there is cause to believe there is a problem brewing.

Note: Any of these topics/documents can be inserted in the lease but it will have 2 affects.
1. It will get lost in all the other language and no one will read it.
2. It will spread your lease over too many pages. Fight document creep and give emphasis to those issues that you want to draw special attention to in a Housekeeping document.

$14.00Add to cart

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Housekeeping Support Documents Package # 2

Buy Package # 2 Includes items 1-11

You can download this document package by itself or bundle it up with other packages offered below.

Every document comes fully editable, with a sister copy filled out so you can train your staff; plus, instructor notes where appropriate; plus, a “list of changes to make to adapt the document to your model.” Add your name to the original and you’re up and running.

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Special (Ancillary) Documents (items 1-10)

to be used WHEN APPROPRIATE

Ancillary documents are needed from-time-to-time when circumstances require them. Instead of writing a special stipulation on-the-fly you're better off 'having a document prepared in advance, saying all you want to say.' Often you'll want to put a lot of words on a separate documents to protect yourself or explain how something will be managed. These documents should be prepared and ready to use so you can pull them out and have the tenant execute them. We've faced these issues many times over 35 years and have developed them as we needed them, having attorney Monica Gilroy review them when required. .

1. Homeowner Association Agreement

This is a big CYA document. If the HOA does stupid by booting the tenant’s car because the owner hasn’t paid his dues or threatened to evict the tenant you need to be protected from litigation. The owner will ignore the HOA to get it leased and you’ll deal with the battles when the HOA wakes up to the reality that there is a new tenant in the community. You want the tenant giving you a hold harmless agreement when the HOA can’t open the pool or tennis courts because not enough owners have paid their dues. You need to protect yourself against the possibility of being sued for constructive eviction, wrongful dispossessory, loss of quiet enjoyment or harassment by the HOA. Tenants want to blame you for everything no matter whose fault it really is. Protect yourself.

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2. Roommate Agreement

When three guys want to move in together make sure you get them on a separate document outlining your requirements for roommates. Remind them that you’ll only take one rent check (not three) and that you’ll only cut one check back to them after move-out. Make sure you disclose that you’ll go after the one with great credit no matter who trashed the property. Let them know up front that you’ll never drop anyone off the lease whether they still live there or not. Roommates love each other when they move in but like other community efforts they go astray more often than you think.

$19.00Add to cart

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3. Hot Tub Exhibit to Lease

The last thing you want is to suggest to a tenant that the hot tub will stay hot or keep working. Disclose your lack of knowledge with hot tub maintenance and your general unfamiliarity with how they work. Put the entire burden on them and warn them about the dangers of it getting to hot and someone getting burned. You may even require they get renter’s insurance with you (and the owner) as additional insured. See our document on the owner sign up documents for the other side of the hot tub issue.

$12.00Add to cart

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4. Limited Power of Attorney

Often only one tenant will be able to attend the move-in inspection or will not be around to sign the lease. For many reasons you need to get comfortable completing a POA. One tenant can sign for the other tenant if you have a POA. We use them often. You just email this document to them, they fill it out (or you fill it out in advance), they print, execute, get a notary and you’re up and running. This is a very common document and you’ll find lots of uses for it. This is not the practice of law so don’t let your broker or attorney talk you out of it. It’s just filling in the blank like you do on every lease or sales contract. It’s a standard operating document for property managers.

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5. Personal Property Schedule

When the owner leaves behind their lawn furniture, pool table, lawn tractor, counter top microwave you need a form to list everything and language that has the tenant promising to leave it behind when they leave. They won’t, but you need to make a stab at it to impress your owner. There is little you can do to protect the owner from this stuff growing legs and walking away but the owner wants you to make an effort. This document fulfills that duty to the owner.

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6. Move me in even though the property is not ready for occupancy

Occasionally the house is not clean enough, repairs have not been completed, carpets didn’t get clean enough or the handy man (or owner) didn’t clean up his mess. Some tenants want to hold your feet to the fire for five years and remind you what a bad job you did at move-in. This document takes all the air out of them by saying “you shouldn’t take this property now. Let’s retry this inspection in a couple of days so we can get this right.” Many can’t wait and will press to take it “as is”. This document says “you’re recommending they not take it today, but wait, and let us make it right.” Sometimes they must have possession today, and will agree to ‘not hold it against you.’ This is “the moving van is in the street and I’ll take it anyway” document to cover the manager. This document is a result of getting beat up many times when we let people take a property that is not ready.

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7. Military Exhibit

When you know the tenant is military, or works for a military support company, and qualifies for a military out clause in their lease, you want to make sure they don’t take advantage of that federal out privilege. They have requirements to fulfill and just saying “I’m being transferred and you can’t hold me to the lease” doesn’t cut it. This document lays out the rules for military release of tenancy without your giving up your rights.

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8. Guarantee of Payment (Cosigner Agreement)

When there is a cosigner you need a document for them to sign promising to pay what the tenant left owing when they move out. This is their personal guarantee for the tenant’s obligations on the lease. We have made lots of mistakes with this idea over the years and now have it down pat. We get co-signors on about 20% of our leases and it works like a charm. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Let our mistakes make it easier for you.

$23.00Add to cart

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9. Security System Disclaimer

When a tenant previews a property and sees a security system it is reasonable that they expect it to be up and running when they move in, and that it is included in the rent. You need to dispel that expectation and protect yourself from the liabilities of what happens if it fails. This is a CYA document letting the tenant know that it is their responsibility to deal with the monitoring system and the cost belongs to them. You are not making any representations as to its reliability, its functionality or its cost. You know nothing, see nothing and they agree to hold you harmless if the system does not function properly.

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10. Security Deposit Promissory Note

We often get more than one month’s rent as a security deposit. Depending on their credit we will agree to take installments on some of that deposit. We did it badly for many years and struggled with getting judges to enforce our documents. We finally went to our attorney and paid to get it right. Now we are able to enforce this document and evict for failure to pay as agreed. It’s not 100% but we are successful 85% of the time. Taking installments on the deposit probably needs the owner’s approval depending on your model.

$21.00Add to cart

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Special (Ancillary) Documents Package # 3 (items 1-10)

Buy Package # 3 Includes Items 1-10

You can download this document package by itself or bundle it up with other packages offered below.

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SUPER Package Including Packages # 1, # 2, # 3

Buy the SUPER Package

All four packages bought separately total $869.00 (or about 3 hours will a decent lawyer). Buy them all as one package for $795.00 (or $636 if you're a Subscriber). Several users testify that "the package pays for itself in about three months when you consider all the new revenue streams you'll discover."

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Video Training Package Coming Soon

We recently (Summer 2016) held a three-hour study group with the managers using these documents and captured it on video. We got "down into the weeds" so to speak, just on owner sign up documents and process. It was not open to the general population of managers; just those using our management documents. We've produced a video (and audio) of this workshop.

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