Finalizing a Lease Agreement: Look Before You Sign

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Finalizing a Lease Agreement: Look Before You Sign

Staff Writer · Sep 1, 2009

Before you sign a lease agreement, or any legal document for that matter, you should read it carefully. Once you have read it, read it again. It is a legal document, and you need to understand every single clause within the document, because once you sign it becomes binding and forms an agreement between you and your landlord for a specific length of time. If you are not comfortable with legal language, make sure to friend a family member or friend you trust to look over it carefully as well.

Lease Will Not Include All Verbal Agreements

The fact of the matter is, and while most times it is perhaps done unintentionally, agreements made between you and the landlord may get left out. Once the lease agreement is signed, the landlord can—with your agreement—change the lease, but he is not legally bound to do so.

Lease Can Include Undiscussed Agreements

On the other hand, the lease may include things that you and the landlord never discussed. If there is something within the lease and you do not agree to it, and you sign anyway, you are bound to it. If problems arise and for one reason or another you find yourself facing the landlord in court, telling the judge that you never read the lease is going to go over very well. The reason for this is that your signature on the lease attests to the fact that you have indeed read the document thoroughly and that you agreed in the end to everything contained within it.

Don’t Assume the Landlord Can Be Trusted

When you are searching for an apartment, you have to go into it with both eyes wide open. This is especially so if you are young and striking out on your own for the first time. For the most part people are honest and upfront, but there are a few landlords who are more interested in money than they are the safety and upkeep of the properties that they own or manage. Knowing exactly what is in your lease agreement can go a long way to preventing any problems that may otherwise arise in the future, and knowing what is contained in it will prevent any surprises down the line.

Make Sure You Understand the Terms

If you arrive at a word or section of the lease that you do not understand, you need to take the lease to a competent professional who will be able to explain what each point in the lease agreement means. That’s not to say that you have to run down to the local attorney’s office. Any real estate professional will be able to explain what everything means within the document, and what you are expected to do to stay within the parameters of the agreement.

Get an Explanation of the Lease From a Third Party

It is not advisable to ask the landlord to explain the lease to you. This advice is the kind you should get from a third party, even an experienced family member, and not the person that you will be renting from. As was mentioned previously, there are a few who will not be looking after your best interests, and you will not know this yet if you are not able to fully understand what each clause in the lease means.

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