Individual Lease Clauses?

[Mason Carter]

Curious as to the thoughts of the group on lease clauses.  What clauses have you written in your rental leases that provide more protection to you as the landlord above and beyond the typical lease (ie. kick out, late payment penelty, etc...)?  Do you all have individual clauses pertaining to maintenance issues, maybe something like anything under a certain amount is the responsibility of the tenant?  This is my first rental and I am a bit aprehensive and would like the lease to be as protective as possible.   I want this to be a positive experience.  At this point I have run a background and credit check and the credit is alright in the mid-600's, but there were two felony convictions in 2006 and 2009.  Since serving his time, he has had a steady job for the past 3 years and, according to his references, has been a model tenant.  Employment has also been verified.  I need to make a decision soon on this.  Thank you all!!

[Nathan Gesner]

Go to www.google.com and type in "Lease agreement". You will see approximately 175,000,000 results. Start clicking through them and you will find hundreds upon hundreds of leases. Take the clauses that you like the best, put them all together in a word document, and then take it to an attorney for review/revision/approval.