How many pages is your lease?

[Mindy Jensen]

I don't currently have a rental property, so I also don't currently have a lease. I see forum posts all the time with "I downloaded this lease for free" or "I put this into my lease to protect me".

So how many pages is your lease? I think @Darren Sager's lease runs 23+ pages, and @Marcia Maynard's is at least that long. Both have worked with attorneys to draft a proper lease that conforms to their respective state laws. 

So how many pages is your lease? Did you have an attorney draft it? Did you just download it? What sort of addendums do you have?

[Marcia Maynard]

I actually schedule two hours for the tenant move-in. This time is used not only to discuss and sign the rental agreement, but also to demonstrate the use of appliances, water/gas shut offs, orient the tenant to the property and orient them to our management style, etc. We also complete a move-in condition report at that time. By investing the time at the start of tenancy, we minimize misunderstandings and develop a rapport with our tenants. It is not one sided, they have an opportunity to share with us their needs as well. We take a genuine interest in our tenants. We intersperse the giving of move-in gifts while going through the terms of the rental agreement, so that makes it more interesting.

Our tenancies tend to be long term, most over 5 years, some over ten years, some over twenty years. Turnover is low and our properties rent up quickly, even with our extensive screening process and lengthy rental agreement. Some of our tenants are not literate in the English language, so those move-ins can take longer as we navigate language/cultural differences. We also accept tenants who have never rented before as well as seasoned renters. Depending on the tenant's needs and ours, we don't need to read through every line of the rental agreement with them, and we don't require initialing of every clause and page. Most of the time is taken up by the discussions we have with our new tenants.

But in the end, it's all good and seems to be working well for us and for our tenants!