Information on a Residential Lease Agreement

Young professionals or those who are starting a family can't afford to buy a house and lot right away. Instead, they rent an apartment or lease a house until such time they can pay for it. There are even residential places that collect rent from you for a certain number of years before they give you the option of owning the place. Either way, renting a house, apartment or any residential area will require a residential lease agreement.

There are essentially two parties to a residential lease agreement: the tenant and the landlord. The tenant id the person renting the place while the landlord is the owner of the land and infrastructure the tenant will be renting. Sometimes, the term landlord also refers to the sublessor or the person who owns the infrastructure but is paying for the rent on which the infrastructure is built upon.

A residential lease agreement is a contract between these two parties. It stipulates the terms and conditions, meaning the rights and obligations, that these two parties must follow. Unless contrary to law, it is the binding force between the tenant and the landlord. As a contract, it is considered as the law between them.

A residential lease agreement normally contains a definition of terms, what is to be rented, the mode of payment and conditions in case of breach of contract. A breach occurs when one of the parties is not able to follow what has been agreed upon in the contract. Usually, it is either that the contract is terminated or aside from instant termination of the contract before its maturity date, the person responsible for the breach must also pay for damages he or she caused the other party.

The residential lease agreement generally also has a renewal clause. The renewal cause states that the tenant can renew renting the property for a certain time. It means that preference is given to the tenant by the landlord to re-rent the property aside from other people who want to rent the place.