Leases & Rental Agreements (Quick & Legal Series) [Paperback]

Marcia Stewart (Author), Ralph Warner (Author), Ralph E. Warner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1996 | ISBN-10: 0873373553 | ISBN-13: 978-0873373555 | Edition: 1st

Here's a quick and easy way for landlords to create the key documents necessary for owning or managing rental property--a legally valid residential lease or a rental agreement. The book also shows how to comply with state and federal laws when renting or leasing residential property and provides legal and practical advice on dealing with deposits, inspections, habitability, and much more. Includes tear-out forms.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Aimed at owners and managers of residential rental property, this new collection of forms and guidelines is designed to help with the creation of leases, rental agreements, and related documents. The authors' legal advice is accompanied by sound suggestions for managing rental arrangements. Stewart and Warner build the documents from the ground up by defining terms, enumerating issues to consider, offering alternative clauses, and highlighting problem areas. In an especially good discussion of choosing tenants, readers will find counsel on advertising property, checking references, and avoiding discrimination. Forms for consent to background check, rental application, and tenant references complete the discussion. The plentiful tables include references to state laws on security deposits, landlord access to rental property, and lists of states that limit security deposits. An appendix offers tear-away forms that cover a number of common landlord/tenant situations. This book works well with the authors' Every Landlord's Legal Guide (LJ 4/15/96), a comprehensive look at state and federal laws governing landlord-tenant relations. Recommended for most public libraries.?Joan Pedzich, Harris, Beach & Wilcox, Rochester, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Binding legal agreements are part of every contemporary American's life, and advice on them can be welcome and valuable. Stewart and Warner provide some in a nicely laid out and well-organized guide mostly for landlords. They explain the renting game clearly and with many sample forms (which may tempt some to use the guide as a workbook, so libraries may want to keep a reference copy for single-use photocopying, at least until subsequent editions--legal advice publisher Nolo updates its wares regularly--come out). They promise to help turn the property holder into a successful landlord with useful advice on such matters as whether to prefer a lease or a rental agreement and changing or ending a tenancy. Since they also describe how to avoid illegal discrimination, renters may find the book well worth perusing, too. Indeed, the good overview they afford of all the legal ins, outs, ups, and downs of the landlord-tenant relationship might be the spur that goads balky readers to buy rather than rent. Mike Tribby

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Nolo; 1st edition (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873373553
• ISBN-13: 978-0873373555
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,853,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Seasoned Landlord Recommends this Book (5 stars) / Forms (3 stars), October 14, 2009

By 

Carrie, "Formerly "Sister Carrie"" (Midwest) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Leases & Rental Agreements (Paperback)

(What's this?)

I have been a hands-on landlord for 17 years and a specialty real estate lawyer for 11 years. It is from this perspective that I review "Leases & Rental Agreements".

If you are a new landlord or contemplating becoming a landlord, this is a good book to read and own.

Chapter 2: The lease agreements, written for a nationwide audience, are basic but a good start. I do like the way the authors break down each lease paragraph and explain the logic behind the language.

Chapter 3: Choosing Tenants: Your Most Important Decision. This chapter is well written and contains great information. My only complaint is that it only explains credit reports and doesn't give other options if the landlord is unable to obtain a credit report because the landlord can't qualify to pull credit reports. A paragraph or two on "social security traces" should have been included in this chapter.

Chapter 4: Getting the Tenant Moved in: Excellent & useful chapter.

Chapter 5: Changing or Ending a Tenancy: Excellent & useful chapter.

Appenix A: State Landlord-Tenant Law Charts: Nice information to compile into one book, but keep in mind that laws are not static. Be sure to keep yourself updated on your state & local landlord/tenant laws & case law. A good landlord's organization will be helpful in this area.

Appendix B: How to Use the Landlord Rental Forms/CD-ROM - not sure why this chapter is in the book since most people know how to open files that are on a CD

Appendix C: Tear Out Landlord Forms: Some forms are useful and some just are not practical at all. The forms are generally ok. The lead paint form & brochure are federal forms and available on-line in a pdf format. My biggest complaint is about the Rental Application Form. The rental application form is the form that you will use the most, and, at 5 pages long, it is just not practical to hand out to prospective tenants. Your local landlord organization is also a helpful resource for landlord forms.

All in all, this is a very good book for a new landlord or a landlord to be. I recommend the book mostly because it explains the language in the lease paragraphs & tells you why they are important. I cannot recommend all of the forms.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Well Done, June 11, 2007

By 

Kentucky "Tech user" (Kentucky) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Leases & Rental Agreements 6th Edition (Paperback)

I actually thought I was purchasing the software which would have typed up many of the sections for me - which would have been nice, but I was very impressed with how well organized and informative the book is.

Many items include the actual state laws regarding rental property which is very helpful because many of the websites are not easy to navigate.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A quick do-it-yourself handbook for renting, April 24, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leases & Rental Agreements (Quick & Legal Series) 2nd Ed. (Paperback)

Leases & Rental Agreements provides owners of real estate with a quick do-it-yourself handbook for renting out a property, including tear-out legal forms and tips on preparing different types of rental or lease agreements. From making disclosures on hazards to complying with laws covering security deposits and privacy, this provides all the details necessary.