Where is the best place to get a lease written?

Question

Hi, everyone. I've been using a lease I found and modified since I got started. However, it is a pdf file, and is a huge pain to edit. It also looks kind of hacked up after adding in everything extra that I wanted to include.

I've decided its time to have someone write me a lease.

I thought about purchasing the landlord forms from biggerpockets, but then I read that they come in pdf files, so it sounds like they won't work for me, because I might want to make changes to the lease in the future.

All of the other sites with leases that I've found won't actually give you an editable file for the lease, they just tell you to go on their website and fill out a questionnaire, and then they generate you a lease. I don't like this, because this means if I want to add anything to the lease, I will have to manually add it EVERY time I get a new tenant.

Is there anywhere that I can pay to get a good reusable and editable lease? I really want to just get a good lease in a word file, add a few additional terms, and use it for all my tenants. This seems pretty practical, but I haven't been able to find it anywhere!

Is this something I can find, or will I need to pay an actual lawyer to write my lease?

Diana Flores · Answer

Yes, I used the Microsoft Version of the Bigger Pockets rental contract & pasted it onto the Tenant Cloud template. Also, I suggest going to Google & search for rental applicantions in your state. By doing that, I was able to find several online rental applications from other apartment buildings in my area & found additional clauses that I also added to my rental contract.

I am using TenantCloud for everything: for the rental application, contract, screening, accounting and online payment. TenantCloud uses RentPrep to screen prospective applicants which I like because it’s incorporated into the system.

TenantCloud allows my tenants to pay their rent online using Paypayl, Stripe and Dwolla. I also use it so my tenants can submit Maintance Requests.

Diana Flores · Answer

I bougt lease forms from BiggerPockets and I received them in PDF and Microsoft Word formats. I used the Microsoft Word version because it is easy to modify.  Also many apartments buildings in your state will have their leases online. I recommend doing a google search  so you can add anything else that may be useful to you.

After I had the final version of my lease, I copied & pasted the lease into my Document Template section of my TenantCloud account.

The template allows you to use the lease for several properties & when the lease is sent to the Tenant for signing, you can put the rent amount, tenant name, security deposit amount, etc and it will be populated into the lease automatically. It is super easy to use. My tenant signed everything electronically via TenantCloud.

P.S. TenantCloud is a property management software.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

1. You can convert PDF to Word with free web sites.

2. The documents provided by BiggerPockets are available in Word format and are fully editable.

3. Go to a local attorney that specializes in real estate. Take your "custom" clauses along with you and the attorney can build you a lease for a reasonable price and  you'll know it's accurate for your state.

Mike Healey · Answer

@Rita Dee Great advice. I hadn't heard of Tenant Cloud before, but I just created an account and it seems really user friendly. Question for you - are you saying that you can use the lease from Bigger Pockets and copy/paste the text into the Tenant Cloud template?

Do you use Tenant Cloud for rent payment as well? If yes, which service? I was going to use Zelle but the Tenant Cloud option seems easy.

Thanks again!

Kyle J. · Answer

Find an experienced landlord-tenant attorney in your area.  They can write one for you.  However, if they're experienced and regularly practice and specialize in landlord-tenant law, chances are they already have a lease written that they use.  You can just ask them to customize it for you and provide it to you in Word if that's how you want it, though you probably won't want to change it too much (beyond the basics like address, rent amount, dates, etc).  When you start messing with the actual language of the lease, you run the risk of putting something in there that isn't legal or at least hasn't been vetted by the attorney that originally drafted it.

Peter M. · Answer

If you upload the pdf file through google docs it can convert it to a text file (googles version of Word) which you can copy into MS Word. It does not keep formatting so you will have to do some editing but it is much faster than retyping it yourself. Plenty of tutorials online on how it is done.

Where is the best place to get a lease written?

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