Rental contracts (aka leases) is something we do quite a bit around here. Most of Guam utilizes a standard rental contract from a service that makes standard forms which seems 10748941-shark-businessman-holding-a-flaming-bad-contract-in-his-handto work pretty well.
Some parts of it are a bit wordy and slightly confusing, mostly the legal "mumbo-jumbo" that causes normal people to get their dictionaries out.
What we've found over the last 8 years of being, at least primarily, in the rental business, is that there are a few things that need to be spelled out a little more clearly. Here are a few of the items that you should make sure are included in your rental contract. We'll start with a few here and save some for a later post.
Employment Clause: The first and possibly most important step of tenant management is a solid screening process for tenants. Property managers need to be keenly aware of how they market, advertise, and select prospective tenants. Ideally, prospective occupants are willing to occupy the space long-term, possess the capacity to pay rent on time, and use their leased space responsibly. Credit checks and rental references are par for the course, as they are objective measurements of a potential client's financial situation. Another good way to assess a potential tenant is to invite them over for interviews. This way, property managers can get a proper sense of their potential tenant's as individuals. This is extremely important, as financial stability alone does not dictate whether the prospective tenant has the potential to cause trouble in the future, whether in the form of disruptive use of their leased space or even in missed rental payments.
Specific Time Limits to Respond to Maintenance Problems: Often a "reasonable amount of time" is referenced when it comes to the landlord's responsibility for performing repairs. "Reasonable" leaves a lot open to interpretation, so we recommend a finite period of time be included in the lease for the landlord to respond to your report of a maintenance issue. Normally we suggest 48 hours for routine matters, but an immediate response is required for situations that render the property dangerous or unlivable. You should be provided with contact information for the person to call in case of trouble.
Appliances: Verbiage should be included which reflects the landlord's responsibility for maintenance of appliances not caused by tenant misuse or neglect. Also, routine or preventative maintenance should be addressed, particularly for air conditioners and filters. Generally, we would normally specify the landlord is responsible for preventative maintenance of appliances including air conditioners, with the tenants responsibility limited to cleaning or replacing filters and providing their own supplies such as salt for water softeners or chemicals for pool maintenance.
Please let us know if you have any questions or comments!
