Walk It Through: The Lease Fine Print
A new lease, the clauses the law will not enforce, and a repair bill.
A tenant reading a new lease finds a clause waiving the tenant's rights under the landlord and tenant chapter.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One lease and one landlord. The return of the deposit, the servicemember waiver, and what becomes of the rest of the lease 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.
- Prohibited provisionA clause a rental agreement may not contain, such as waiving the tenant's rights under the chapter, authorizing a confession of judgment, paying the landlord's attorney fees except as the chapter provides, or limiting the landlord's liability under law.
- Security depositA deposit of no more than two months' periodic rent, applied at the end of the tenancy only to unpaid rent and late charges, damage beyond reasonable wear and tear, other charges in the agreement, and actual damages for breaking it.