Leases & Rental Agreements
Jul 2025 · Nolo
Ebook
208
Pages
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About this ebook
Create a solid, binding lease that complies with your state laws If you rent out residential real estate, you need to create documents that are legally valid where your rental property is located. Every state has its own rules when it comes to what landlords must include in their leases, and one-size-fits-all forms simply cannot comply with every state’s laws. This book gives you a template and several 50-state law charts, which you can use to create a lease or monthly rental agreement that will work in your state. You’ll also get customizable versions of key rental forms you need, including:
- a fixed-term lease
- a month-to-month rental agreement
- a rental application
- tenant reference and credit check forms
- move-in and move-out letters, and
- a property inspection checklist.
The 16th edition is completely updated to reflect the latest landlord-tenant laws—find out what your state requires regarding security deposits, entry to rental property, disclosures, termination notices, and much more. This new edition also covers topics relevant to today’s landlords, such as the wisdom of asking for applicants’ criminal history, the issues to consider when asking for attorneys’ fees, and how to evaluate tenant screening reports.
About the author
Ann O’Connell is a legal editor at Nolo specializing in landlord-tenant and real estate law. Before joining Nolo as an editor, Ann was a freelance writer for Nolo and other publications and law firms. She has passed the bar exams in California, Nevada, and Colorado, where she is both an active attorney and a real estate broker. Ann practiced civil litigation in California and Colorado, and had her own firm in Colorado. At her firm, she focused on real estate, landlord-tenant, and small business cases. Ann earned her B.A. from Boston College and her J.D. from UC Berkeley Law.
Janet Portman, an attorney and formerly Nolo’s Executive Editor, received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford and a law degree from Santa Clara University. She is an expert on landlord-tenant law and the coauthor of Every Tenant’s Legal Guide, Renters’ Rights, Every Landlord’s Legal Guide, and First-Time Landlord.
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