Walk It Through: The Lease Fine Print
Clauses a rental agreement must not include, an accelerated rent clause, and changes only with written consent.
A tenant reading a new lease finds a clause waiving any jury trial and another making the tenant pay the landlord's attorney fees.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One tenant and one lease. Clauses a court had already struck down, and what follows when a landlord relies on a void clause, are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Durable power of attorneyA power of attorney that survives the principal's incapacity. One the principal signs is durable only if it is acknowledged before a notary public or signed in the presence of 2 witnesses who also sign it.
- Fit for the use intendedThe landlord's promise, written into every residential lease by statute, that the premises and all common areas are fit for the use the parties intended, kept in reasonable repair during the term, and in compliance with state and local health and safety laws.
- Security depositA deposit a landlord may require for a rental unit, which may not exceed one and a half months' rent.