The Realities of a Rental Lease Agreement

In theory, if we lived in a perfect world, then the use of a rental lease agreement would eliminate all of our problems as landlords. Tenants would follow the rules and regulations of the lease, and if they didn't, then the problem situation would be corrected as specified by the lease, and both landlord and tenant would live happily ever after. Sounds a little like a Walt Disney movie, right?

The reality of the situation with lease agreements, however, is a little less rosy, and here's why…

The Realities of Lease Agreements

According to contract law, whenever the terms of a contract are breached by one of the parties to the contract, the party suffering damage (injury) can seek appropriate compensation (in court if necessary) from the offending party. This is accomplished by enforcing the terms of the contract that were breached. In this manner, the injured party is "made whole" again.

However, in reality there are certain obstacles that may exist which make attempting to enforce a contract a loosing proposition.

As an example, consider a situation where a landlord attempts to recover lost rent by bringing a deadbeat tenant to court after he or she has moved out in the middle of the night owing back rent of $700. Obviously, the lease didn't prevent the deadbeat tenant from creating the problem, and the landlord may have to spend at least the amount of lost rent ($700) to hire a lawyer, track the tenant down, and bring him or her to court.

And, if the tenant is found and brought to court, a fraction of the lost rent may be all that can be collected without having to go through a whole new court process, and additional expense, to collect the money. In this situation, the landlord would definitely be "throwing good money after bad". Unfortunately, this is how the legal system works in the real world.

So, if a signed lease agreement isn't enough, then what can be done to prevent situations such as this from happening? That's easy - screen your tenants thoroughly before renting to them, and chances are that situations like the one described above will be very rare indeed. A good tenant coupled with a good lease agreement is a formula for success.

For more in-depth information about rental lease agreement realities, please visit The Landlord's Library book collection. It's the ultimate, one-stop source for practical, comprehensive information on the entire subject of residential landlording.

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