Examples of Lease Contracts

[Austin Cai]

Hi BP,

I'm starting to look for an investment property and mainly focused on triplex for quadplexes. As this will be my first investment property and will mostly be tenant occupied when I purchase, I was wondering if there's examples of lease contracts I can base mine off of. The property will be in the Bay Area, specifically in Oakland, CA. Also, should I be getting a lawyer to edit it before sending it to the tenants?

Any advice will be helpful on this matter! Thanks 

[Houston Garcia]

@Austin Cai Generally, a standardized lease agreement such as one from CAR (California Association of Realtors), or for Oakland in particular (from the East Bay Rental Housing Association) should suffice. As these lease forms have been thoroughly crafted, reviewed (and constantly updated) by attorneys. PM me if you'd like to see some standard lease forms.

Overall, an attorney isn't usually necessary to edit or review the forms as they're fairly thorough & ironclad. However, talking to an attorney is great from risk mitigation standpoint (evictions, owner move-ins, nuances in landlord-tenant laws to be aware of, etc) in discussing short term & long-term options w/tenants you'd be inheriting in a triplex or fourplex. I also have a few landlord attorneys if you'd like to pick their brains on Oakland landlord-tenant matters.