Why You Need Legal Services When Writing A Lease

When you are writing a lease for a tenant at your real estate property, the lease not only exists to inform your tenant about their rights and responsibilities but also acts as a guide for the courts in the event that you must take legal action against the tenant. If you must evict the tenant or settle some other dispute, the courts will look at what your lease has to say on the matter and will use this to determine if your decision is justified.

Hiring Real Estate Legal Services

The purpose of a lease is to protect both parties from misconduct by either party. For example, if the tenant takes an action that you would like to evict the tenant over but which you have not explicitly forbidden in the lease, you may find it more difficult to take legal action against the tenant regarding this incident.

For this reason, you'll always want to speak with real estate legal services whenever you need to draft a lease at least to review it. If you will be negotiating your lease, hire real estate legal services to handle the negotiations for you to reach the best possible deal with the tenant. 

A real estate legal service will be able to spot weaknesses in the lease that you may not otherwise notice. The attorney might suggest wording you should replace with more legally appropriate wording. Make sure to hire a real estate attorney because other legal professionals do not have as much experience with landlord–tenant issues.

Writing the Lease

Create an outline of the provisions you would like to include in the lease. If you decide to use a template, compare the template to the list you created and make changes to the template based on what you would like to see in your lease. For example, you might choose to not rent to those with a criminal history.

One of the most important aspects of the lease is to determine whether it will be a short-term lease, a month-to-month lease, or a sublease. Make sure to include all parties in the lease. 

Once you have written the lease, a real estate legal service will help you determine if it is in compliance with state and federal laws. Any provisions that violate a law cannot be enforced in court. For example, there might be a limit to the amount of rent you can charge, and the entire lease might be illegal and unenforceable if the tenant does not pay the rent.

For more information on real estate legal services, contact a local law firm.

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