First, I had a tenant who called and gave notice on the 3rd of the month. I told her that she was still responsible for the next month’s rent unless we could find someone to take over the lease. She wasn’t happy about this because she was only two days late giving notice. We were able to rent the apartment for the first of the following month, and we didn’t charge her. Just I’d rather not deal with this anger and frustration on both of our parts.
Second, Legal Aid put on a seminar in town to go over Tenant’s Rights. There was an unbelievable amount of confusion from tenants and other landlords based on what is and isn’t allowed in the lease. We use the standard form of lease put out by our Province, but it is still a written legal contract. If you’re not comfortable reading legal documents it can be difficult to understand what your rights and requirements are.
Third, we met with a local transition house yesterday to discuss managing a few apartments for them. The Executive Director was telling us about how at the shelter women have to sign a large amount of paperwork before they are allowed to have a room. She said that the women will sign anything because they are typically escaping a nasty situation and just want to move in and feel safe. Our tenants aren’t necessarily escaping violent situations, but they are focused on moving in and will more or less sign anything. They don’t necessarily take in all the nuances of the paperwork.
This raised the question of creating and giving a one-page lease summary.
This would include the basics such as:
- • Anniversary date of the lease
- • Explanation of how to give proper notice
- • What the rent is and what it includes
- • What the tenants’ responsibilities for the apartment are
- • What the landlords’ responsibilities are
- • What will happen if they are late paying their rent
- • Any other items that have typically caused confusion with other tenants
This one-page letter would be written in simple, straightforward language so the tenant can reference it anytime they have questions. When we do the other paperwork we’d have the tenant initial every point and sign the bottom.
Has anyone else done this? Is there anything else you added to your summary page? Is there anything that I’ve missed?