What to Include in a Lease Agreement: A Landlord's 12-Point Checklist

For most landlords a lease is a “fill in the standard form, sign it, put it in a drawer” job. The problem is that the paper in that drawer only ever gets read when there’s a dispute, and on that day, everything it doesn’t say is arguable.

This isn’t legal advice. It’s a landlord’s list of the gaps that cause trouble later. Rules differ by country and change over time, so have your own lease checked by a lawyer where it matters.

1. Full identity and contact details for both parties

A name isn’t enough: ID number, phone, email and a service address for notices. Once a tenant has moved out, you can’t send a demand to someone you can’t reach. Recording an email address also opens the door to keeping things in writing — I covered which landlord-tenant conversations belong in writing separately.

2. A precise description of the property

Full address, unit number, floor, area. “The flat on the third floor” is useless when there are two of them.

List the extras separately: storage room, parking space, garden share, loft. None of these count as a natural part of the flat. When it isn’t written down whether they’re included, both sides assume in their own favour, and that’s among the worst things to be discussing once the tenant has moved in. If there’s a parking space, give its number too; “space for one car” is worth nothing on the day the building runs short of spaces.

3. Start and end dates

If the tenancy start and the handover date aren’t the same day, write both. If you hand keys over a week early, whether that week is free or part of the term will be asked about later.

Write the end date as an actual date, not a duration. “One year” can point to two different endings depending on which day of the month the term started. Having the date written also makes it far easier, eight months later, to answer “when is the increase due”.

4. Rent amount, due date and payment method

All three. The payment method matters: “by bank transfer to this account” leaves a record. Cash payments leave the “I paid / you didn’t” argument entirely unprovable.

5. The basis for rent increases

Write down how an increase will be calculated. Caps and permitted rates are set by local law and change over time, so define the basis in the lease rather than hard-coding a percentage, then check the current rules when you apply it. In the year you do raise the rent, record the new amount too — three years later you’ll be glad you know what this unit started at.

6. Deposit: amount, deduction rules and return window

Three things need stating: how much, what can be deducted, and how many days after move-out it is returned. When the return conditions are vague, the deposit becomes a dispute almost every time.

7. Inventory list and condition

As an annex: a move-in inventory. Boiler, air conditioning, built-in appliances, wardrobes, blinds — each with a “working / not working” note and a photo. This single annex kills most deposit arguments before they start. Here’s how to build one.

8. Meter readings

Electricity, water and gas readings on the day of handover, with photos. When a transfer bill turns up later, this number is the only thing that decides whose it is.

9. Who pays which bills

Service charges, whether heating is included, who covers major repairs. Leave these out and every single item becomes a separate conversation.

Two distinctions are worth settling upfront. First: the service charge and a capital contribution aren’t the same thing. Routine lift servicing comes out of the service charge; replacing the lift outright is usually the owner’s line. Collapse both into “service charges are the tenant’s” and you’ll have an argument the year the building replaces the roof. Second: service charges go up. A clause saying they’re the tenant’s covers the increase too, but saying so out loud at signing sets the expectation correctly.

10. Permitted use and limits

Residential or commercial, subletting, pets, alterations. Discussing these later means discussing them once the tenant has already moved in — when your negotiating position is nil.

On alterations, one sentence earns its place: whether permitted work has to be reversed at move-out. The tenant asks to paint a wall, you agree, and at move-out the wall is still dark. If “to be returned to a light colour on exit” wasn’t written when you gave permission, that paint is now your job.

11. Guarantor terms, if there is one

Identity, type of liability, amount and duration. Guarantees are formally sensitive; get professional input on any lease with one.

A practical note: keep the guarantor’s contact details current as well. Finding out on the day the guarantee matters that a phone number taken two years ago no longer works is a very common experience.

12. Termination and exit conditions

Notice period, what happens on early exit, whether the lease auto-renews. When a tenant wants to leave three months early, the difference between having this clause and not having it is worth more than a month’s rent.

Three of these belong in an annex, not a clause

Three of the twelve points above — inventory (7), meter readings (8) and the payment schedule (4) — go into separate documents rather than sentences in the lease. The reason is practical rather than formal: all three are tables, and all three get filled in a second time when the tenant leaves.

The lease text is never rewritten after signing. The annexes are written twice, and that’s where their value comes from: a move-in inventory on its own is a piece of paper; placed beside the move-out one it becomes evidence. The same holds for meters — a move-in reading only means something because it can be compared with a move-out reading.

Binding the annex to the lease is a job of its own: number them and list them individually in the text, sign each one separately, initial every page, and produce two copies. I covered what each of the three must carry, how they’re bound and how they’re used at move-out in the three lease attachments, with three printable forms.

Signing day: copies, initials, dates

Even with the text ready, four things get skipped at the table:

• How many copies? Two, and both wet-signed. A lease where the tenant holds a photocopy is a weak document for both sides.
• Initial every page. On a three-page lease, a signature on the last page alone doesn’t show that the first two weren’t changed afterwards.
• Leave no blank fields. Strike through anything not filled in. A blank amount field is a field that can be completed later.
• Initial every handwritten correction. If a figure on a template was crossed out and rewritten, two sets of initials belong next to it.

And keep a digital copy: a photo of the signed lease answers “what was the deposit again” three years later in under a minute. Losing the paper is more common than you’d think.

After signing: a lease lives in tracking, not in a folder

Even a well-drafted lease is useless if it’s forgotten in a drawer. If you don’t notice the end date arriving, if the increase window passed, if you can’t remember the deposit amount — the problem isn’t the document, it’s the tracking.

RentMind joins the two halves: you can generate a signature-ready lease inside the app and share it, and the lease dates, deposit, inventory and rent day then live on the same record. It reminds you weeks before the end date. I wrote about the record-keeping side in how to track rent payments.

If you’d rather take these 12 points to the table, there’s a printable checklist to tick clause by clause before signing.

As the term nears its end the increase conversation arrives. That’s what the 5-step renewal plan is for.

The most expensive gap: verbal side deals

What ends up costing more than any of the 12 clauses is usually something that never appears in the lease at all: the promises made at the signing table. “You can use the parking spot too.” “I’ll have it repainted.” “I’ll put in air conditioning.” Said in good faith, sealed with a handshake — and a year later, both sides remember the same sentence differently. A verbal promise doesn’t work in favour of whoever remembers it; it works against whoever can’t prove it.

The rule is single and non-negotiable: every promise goes into the lease or its annex; a promise not written down doesn’t exist. It’s easy to apply, too — saying “we discussed this, let’s add one line” on signing day is a diligence that offends nobody. One sentence and two sets of initials buy out the entire “but you said” conversation a year later. And if the other side won’t put it in writing, that’s information as well: a promise that can’t be written is a promise that isn’t planned to be kept.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a standard template lease enough? Usually fine as a skeleton, but templates leave the dispute-generating items blank — inventory, meter readings, deposit return terms. The protection is in filling those in.

Does a lease need to be notarised? Generally not; a signed written agreement is valid in most places. For high-value, long-term or guaranteed leases, notarisation makes proof easier — check what applies where your property is.

Can I write a fixed increase percentage into the lease? Increase rates and caps are usually regulated and change periodically. Defining the basis and checking current rules at the time of application is the safer approach.

How many copies of a lease should be made? Two, both wet-signed, with each party keeping one. Initial every page, strike through fields you don’t fill in, and initial any handwritten correction. Keeping a digital copy as well saves you hunting for the deposit amount three years later.

Fuat Çakır — management consultant and the developer of RentMind. He has been hands-on with real estate and rent management since 2014.