What to Look Out for When Entering into a Lease Agreement
At Wakefield Law, we have lots of landlord and tenant clients. The questions of what makes up a lease, what provisions must be in a lease, and what to make sure is not in a lease are ones we examine every day. To be frank, most landlords just Google a lease agreement and present it to their prospective tenants for signature after filling in a few basic details. This is an excellent way to get into trouble in the leasing realm. It’s really important to review all the provisions in a lease for both the landlord and the tenant. Further, it’s necessary to review new and relevant law to make sure if additional documents or considerations need to be included in a new or renewed lease. These questions should be reviewed with an attorney – every lease and every situation is different, but the purpose of this article is just to point out frequently raised issues we face with clients. This is by no means a comprehensive list of what must be in a lease!
1) Term of Lease: This one is obvious, right?? Whether you’re the landlord or the tenant, this surely is in every lease….WRONG! We’ve seen too many leases where the term of the lease is either vague or absent. All parties involved in a lease need to know exactly what the term of lease is. Options for leasing most frequently are either a set term (six months, one year, three years, etc.) or “month-to-month”. These formats result in drastically different leases, so making sure your intended term is included in a lease is vital.
2) Breach Language: We’ve reached the first uncomfortable reality in leasing. When you have a contract, and a lease is just a contract, you have to plan for what will happen if one of the parties breaches the contract. Can you terminate the lease? How much notice do you have to provide to terminate it? Can the other party remediate the breach? How must notice be delivered to the other party? Can you pursue your attorney’s fees if the other party breaches? We face and litigate these issues every week, and making sure you have clear and comprehensive language tackling these concepts is the number one way to avoid conflicts or address them once they occur.
3) Peripheral Documents. Okay – I know this caption is vague, but that’s because it’s a moving target. You can have a perfectly written lease, but there will be holes in it if you don’t have the peripheral documents you need for your unique situation. For example, do your tenants have pets? What are the details of how pet issues will be handled? Are there required disclosures you need to make to your tenants about lead paint or other potential hazards? Every landlord and tenant should make it a priority to ensure your lease and addenda are fleshed out fully. The more detailed an agreement is, the less vague it will be and hopefully some conflict will be avoided.
4) Statute Specific Requirements. This one is timely – we are in a post-COVID pandemic legal atmosphere, which means a few things. First, many leases from the past three years have COVID specific language that should either be removed or updated. Many protections afforded to tenants and landlords have been rescinded by the Virginia legislature. This issue needs to be discussed with your lawyer ASAP. Your lease could be defective and you wouldn’t even know it until it’s too late. One requirement that has survived the COVID protections is the requirement that all leases entered into must be accompanied by the form titled the “Virginia Statement of Tenant Rights and Responsibilities under the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act as of July 1, 2022.” The form can be found on the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development website. There was a version that was applicable from 2020 through June, 2022, and now there is an updated version that is universally required for all residential leasing. Failing to get it signed when the lease is signed can prevent a party from enforcing the lease as they might hope to if there is a breach.
There you have it – a quick look into a few important considerations when dealing with leasing. As mentioned, this is not an exhaustive list of pre-leasing issues. It’s important to talk to your attorney about your own situation and landscape before entering into a lease. Give us a call at Wakefield Law if you’d like to set up an appointment! 703-771-9740.