Tip: Have your lease reviewed by a RE attorney - my experience

[Joe Henry]

Just a quick tip to always have your lease template reviewed by an attorney. This can save you lots of $ down the line.

My experience:

Within the first 5 minutes of my lease review my attorney told me about specific verbiage to use for any fees (late payment, utilities, pet, etc). e.g. "a late penalty of $10 will be applied to the total rent amount, and such amount is considered additional rent". Turns out in Florida if fees are not specifically considered as rent you can have a very hard time recouping those fees in the event of an eviction or court case. This is due to specific FL law syntax.

Adding up late fees, bounced check fees, utility fees, etc, could total hundreds, so getting your lease reviewed is well worth the investment.