Landlords- lease agreement resources?

[Bernadine]

We're going to be renting out our basement, and I need to work on a lease.  Is that something I can do myself, and then just have a lawyer review?  Any good resources for getting started?  Anything else that we should be thinking of?

[Deleted]

This is state dependent. I would look up rental/tenant laws in your area and make sure your basement is legally habitable. Legal Zoom can be a jumping off point. I have rented all my life and am in contracting. I feel like I could write a pretty solid lease but probably would pay the money to get it reviewed by a lawyer (if their fee is reasonable). I would think of worse case scenarios and make sure it's in the lease to address it.

[tarzanswife]

It is very state dependent but your department of real estate should have form documents for you to use.

[sofamonkey]

You have your 3 people, your step son, and and exchange student there. Is there really enough room (physically and mentally) for another person there?

Also, I’d check with the exchange people to see if that’s ok with them to do while you have a student there. They may have firm opinions on that.

There may also be local laws or regulations about home capacities that you should check out.

Past that, I might get a real estate attorney at first to help you set things up, including running background checks etc in potential rentals. Once you have things in place, you can just duplicate things going forward.

[ellipses84]

I would talk to a lawyer and ask how much it will be and your options. Chances are a real estate attorney has a good state compliant template and could draft it up for not much more than it would cost to review what you draft up (assuming there’d be revisions and you’d want a final review). You could ask if the fee would be less if you provided the first draft.

[hazelden]

When we had a rental we paid a few dollars for a lease form from our state multi housing association www.mmha.com/STORE/Download-Rental-Documents

[scout8]

This isn't just state dependent, but may be city/county dependent as well. Many places have very pro-tenant laws. I would not attempt to draft a lease yourself. I've rented out a lot of places and in my area would use the local real estate association drafted lease. Do you have a relationship with a local real estate broker who might be able to send you a local lease? If not, I would recommend you reach out to an attorney.