How to Draft a Lease for Your Rental Property

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Damon Thompson, I've been a landlord for over ten years and I have five multi unit buildings. This is how to draft a lease for your rental property. The first thing you need to do is speak with an attorney. You want to understand what your legal issues are in terms of being a landlord. You want to talk to him in terms of whatever the state and local regulations are and you want to know what your tenants rights are. The next thing you want to do is get a sample lease, you can get one of these either from the Internet or from an office supply store. It's going to have all the information that you're going to need, that's going to be required of you and your tenant. You want to get one of these, you can use this as a template in terms of filling out your own lease. After you get this lease and it says, it's filled out the way you like it, you want to have an attorney look this over again because you want to make sure that you are protected. The most important thing in being a landlord is that you are protect, you're protecting yourself as well as your property and your family, you want to make sure that everything is spelled out. Then you, or you can speak with other landlords, because other landlords will also have lease agreements, you can see how theirs are drafted, it can also give you an idea of what you might, the way you need to fashion and draft your lease. You also want to make sure that all the information is very specific, you want to make sure it is clear and concise, you want to make sure that you understand and your tenant understands, you don't want there to be any questions, you want to make sure everything is clear, I cannot express that enough. I'm Damon Thompson and that's how to draft a lease for your rental property."