7 Must Have Rental Documents

It is important for a landlord or property management company to have good processes, procedures and to update and maintain the rental documents.  Having a great relationship with your tenant saves both time and money and reduces your stress as landlord.  Well thought out documents and reviewed by a professional real estate attorney helps ensure your rental business runs smoothly and you spend time on scaling the business and not on the day-to-day problems. If you have all the proper paperwork to handle your rental properties, you will not get overwhelmed when your property becomes vacant. All these things mentioned here will help you reduce legal issues, reduce taxes, and increase transparency with tenants and promote a good relationship. Here are some key documents that are needed but this is not an all-inclusive list.

1.  Rental Application
2.  Tenant Screen Documents
3.  Lease or Rental Agreement
4.  Smoke Detector and Carbon Dioxide Detector Policy
5.  Pet Agreement
6.  Move-In Move-Out Form
7.  Tracking Spreadsheet for Communications with Tenants

Rental Application

Screening potential tenants is key to finding out if someone is who they say they are. We use TransUnion SmartMove because it’s designed to be used by small landlords, and you can get credit reports, criminal background checks, and eviction history insights in just minutes. Your rental application is designed to inform you of a prospective tenant’s qualifications and is often used as a first step.  Requiring a rental application can reduce the risk of placing the wrong tenant.  Even if your tenant screening process goes smoothly, you may find yourself in a dispute with a tenant who you thought he/she was a great fit.  Typical rental application includes contact information, references, employment history, current residence and landlord information, proof of income and authorization to run credit and criminal report.

Tenant Screening Documents

You need to have a general screening criteria that you can apply to all applicants to remain objective.   It is a good idea to call the prior landlords (even though most of us would rather skip this step).  There are many screening companies for prior evictions, criminal records, and overall credit.  Companies like Smartmove, Cozy (which is now Apartments.com), MyRental, RentPrep and many others that will get all this information for you. 

Lease or Rental Agreement

The lease agreement spells out all details of the payment, dates due, term of lease, insurance requirements, what happens for nonpayment, etc.  It is essentially a document that a tenant can occupy a property for a specified period of time. It also defines the rights and responsibilities of both landlord and tenant. As noted earlier, the lease can be your ally when it comes to future litigation or tenant disputes.  The agreement should include landlords and tenants’ responsibilities and rights, dates and term of lease, payment terms, tenant accountability, what happens if payments are not made, and what happens in case of fire, windstorm or if property destroyed.

Smoke Detector and CO Detector Policy

It is super important that you have the tenant sign and understand what steps you have taken with respect to safety.  You need to have a smoke detector, carbon monoxide and a fire extinguisher policy that explains what is currently in the property and how often the tenant is to inspect and replace the batteries, etc.  It is also important to tell the tenant that they can buy any of these protective devices without your permission at any time and you will reimburse. 

Pet Agreement

If you decide to make your rental property pet-friendly, then it’s wise to have a documented pet policy/agreement on file. Tenants should be required to sign this landlord document, which may include the need for an additional pet deposit, pet rent, or expected pet owner responsibilities.  It is especially important to have the tenant have renters’ insurance and some form of liability insurance for the pet.

Move-In Move-Out Form

Move-in Move-Out checklists helps you keep track of the condition of your property and holds your tenants accountable for any damage that occurs while they live there. Without the checklist, it’ll be your word against theirs after move-out.  The tenants also like this document since it assures them, they won’t be charged for something they did not do.

Tracking Communications with Tenants

It is important to track your communications with tenants from the moment they apply until the moment they move out. This will include texts, emails, notes on conversations, etc.  Should you ever need to contest a conversation, having these detailed records on file could help protect you.  There is a lot of software systems that you can purchase that you could use for this purpose which removes much of the physical paperwork and tracking and brings it all online.  You could also create a simple tracking spreadsheet in excel to track all conversations, repairs, etc.