Special Clauses to put in Lease

[Tony Schober]

After reading through the landlord forum and taking notes, I have a list of recommended clauses to put into leases. Some were just copy and pasted, so there is some added "commentary" to them. Some of them are also going to already be in basic leases. Can anyone think of any that could be added or should be amended? I'm not necessarily using all these...just gathering ideas.

-if the tenant sues and loses, they pay your legal fees.

-property abandonment clause

-if allowing pets, "normal" pest control is tenant responsibility

-define what constitutes a guest and an occupant

-right to enter quarterly for pest spray and/or filter change

-emergency provision to enter with zero notice in certain situations

-only cars registered and functional can park in driveway, and no working on cars such as installing a new engine. Minor repair OK (ie. oil change)

-lease also says that the tenant is responsible for damage caused by their invitees or guests

-sign off on "end of lease checklist". send 30 day letter spelling out what needed to be done to prevent charges. ex broom clean (100) no stains on carpet (50 per), lawn mowed within 2 days of vacating (50), oven (50), tubs (25), sinks and tile floors " sparking" , no dog poop in yard (5/pile), all light bulbs working (10), all light fixtures clean (10), windows " sparkling", no cobwebs, auger toilet, rekey locks (per cylinder), painting (per room, or SF), cleaning appliance, stripping/waxing per room, carpet shampoo per room, light cleaning, heavy cleaning, trash removal per pickup load, etc-----Have several LLCs and hire one of them to do the work and subtract from deposit.

-require that any renter that owns a dog (of any breed) provides documentation that they have been to some form of obediance class. Obediance classes are great for training the OWNERs of the dogs.

-lease has a towing statement. Lease states that unregistered, non running vechicles etc will be towed. Post a 72 hr warning of tow and then have it towed. You can purchase these notice stickers thru Great American business supplys etc

-contingency for their failure to move in due to any reason, or no reason. Failure to move out on the part of old tenants.

-NO PAINTING OR DECORATING, without your prior written approval

-ALL UTILITIES in tenant's name

-make "security" deposit a different (higher) amount than a month's rent. Otherwise on the first day of the last month of the lease, the tenant calls you, says they're moving out and says you've already got the last month's rent so everything is "even".

-A separate paragraph stating in all capital letters that "owner's insurance does not cover tenant or tenant's possessions". Put a place for each tenant to sign this paragraph.

-A full checklist for move in. Note that there are DOORSTOPS on each and every door, that there are NO HOLES in sheetrock, that STOVE AND OVEN are clean, windows are clean, no cobwebs hanging from ceiling and no dog poop in the yard

-Spell out the tenant's responsibility for mowing, edging and trimming shrubs. Spell out that on the SECOND WARNING from either you or the HOA that YOU will take over responsibility for this and that the rent will increase by ???$ to cover you doing so

-Pictures and other things may only be hung using appropriate fasteners which you preapprove! It's a pain in the butt to remove 16d coated sinkers and fill the holes after they were used to hang 3 X 5 pictures and christmas tree lights on the outside

-Furnish sliders for the feet of their furniture and make sure they're in the threshold when they move in their furniture. Fines during quarterly inspections if not in place

-That nail hole fee needs to be in every lease. Automatic amount paid up front, non refundable. Apartment complexes have always had that policy around here

-When new tenants moved in I gave them and had them sign for TWO KEYS. Their move in checklist said that there was a $5.00 charge for any key not returned

-Something I am adding to all my new leases is an incentive for the tenant to pay by the 1st. The lease shows two rent amount. Ex. $995/mo if paid on or before the 1st (which is the current rent amount for the property). Or $1,020/mo if paid after the 1st. You cannot say the higher amount is a penalty for not paying by the 1st, BUT YOU CAN say the $995/mo is an discount. And then I also put in the lease if the rent is ever past due, the discount is null and void for remainder of the lease

-charge a $200 administrative fee to process a substitution, and this is clearly spelled out, in the original lease, AND DISCUSSED at the time of original application when dealing with this type of situation

-No boats, RVs etc stored

-NOISE: All radios, television sets, stereos, etc. must be turned down to a level of sound that does not annoy or interfere with neighbors