Rental contract

[thx1038]

Hey there.

I'm looking to take off for the summer and I going to rent my condo with furniture for 4 months. I have already found a tenant on Craigslist and I'm wondering where I can get rental contract/agreement. Any advice?

 

[elook]

I'd suggest a lawyer. Might cost you a few bucks, but then again, it may save you that later on. Other than that, try Google.

 

[andreapalladio]

Grand & Toy used to sell lease forms, but you're better off going to a lawyer. Try the lawyer you used to buy the place and put your mortgage on.

 

[TdotTrickyRicky]

Nah, the lawyer would be a waste of money just use a standard form lease. You can buy one on disk at any business supply retailer. The most important thing is to make sure you properly size up your tenant. "Is this person reasonable?" is the most important issue. Are you prepared to deal with them reasonably? is the second.

The law cannot really protect you in the scenerio where your tenant screws you either through non-payment of rent or damage to your property. There is a monetary and hastle break even point where in order to enforce the law you will likely exceed the proceeds of your 4 month rental contract. So in essence by law your lease is a binding document but in practice it is largely just a framework to guide the dealings between two reasonable people. This is why a standard form is perfectly fine.