HOW TO CREATE A SOLID LEASE AGREEMENT: Part 1 of 4
by Wayne Gathright, developer of Tenant File Property Management Software and The Lease Designer Program
Make Your Lease Agreement a “Tenant Satisfaction Agreement”
The easy part is over, you’ve performed your tenant screening check and approved the tenant. Now comes the harder part, the lease agreement. Every landlord struggles to write a lease agreement that is airtight and covers every situation that might arise. “Landlords should strive to make it more — to make it a ‘tenant satisfaction agreement’, says real estate software consultant and developer Wayne Gathright. “The smart property manager crafts a lease that includes incentives and concepts that can turn average residents into productive, marketing, money-making partners.”
These ‘satisfaction clauses’ can be added to the basic lease to create a good relationship right from the start.
In this four part series, you will learn tips for creating your own lease. Here are some important considerations before we get started:
- Even if you create your own lease, you should still take it to a local real estate attorney for a final review before using it.
- You might want to start with a standard prewritten lease, and then modify or add to it as needed.
- Make sure you understand your local and state laws.
- Keep your writing plain and simple.
Part Two: The Basic Lease
Part Three: Tenant Incentive Clauses
Part Four: Nuts and Bolts Provisions
Wayne Gathright is president of WG Software, Inc., developers of the Tenant File Property Management Software. He has over 30 years experience in consulting and software development for real estate. Mr. Gathright also markets a product for easy creation of leases called The Lease Designer, that allows the user to select from several prewritten leases, choose from over 200 prewritten rental clauses, and add house rules templates to the lease. A user can write their own leases and clauses, modify the existing templates, or import leases from other programs.
American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment, including tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.
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