Fixed Term Lease

Revisions

• v7
  • Removed reference to "15. Resident will not m. House or harbor fugitives or other illegal individuals."
• v6
  • For satellite dish prohibition, incorporated statement of safety hazard to better comply with FCC regulation.
  • Added prohibition on clothes lines without landlord's permission.
• v5
  • skipped
• v4
  • Best Practices from the Rental Housing Association of Greater Springfield and Western Housing Court
  • Font changed from Arial 8 to Calibri 10, which allows for more readable text in less space.
  • Eliminated table layout to increase ease of editing and eliminate whitespace.
  • Separated cosigner agreement into separate, extended form.
  • Eliminated clauses designed to cover special cases. Made default agreement applicable to even more Massachusetts landlords. Added complete list of over 20 “optional clauses” to cover regional and business differences.
  • Eliminated legalese in phrases (for instance, “jointly and severally” replaced with explained Section 7e).
  • Added a utilities table to conform to subsidy best practice and increase readability.
  • Added emergency contact section.
  • Changed “Tenant” to “Resident” to emphasize customer service.
  • Clarified and combined Resident responsibilities with “Resident Will” and “Resident Will Not” sections.
  • Eliminated legal concern of “lease with mutable terms” by providing a process for Residents to object to subsequent house rules.
  • Eliminated paraphrasing of the law. For information on how to comply with specific laws or terms, visit MassLandlords.net/laws or contact an attorney.
  • Added prohibitions on the growing of marijuana using unsafe practices. (Optional clause prohibits growing of marijuana altogether.)
  • Added text reflecting new requirements for ten-year batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
  • Eliminated restrictions on the cable company. (It’s hopeless. We advise landlords to run cables into each room in each unit; the cable company will then restrict themselves to the basement.) Sustained prohibition on satellite dishes.
  • Made many, many minor additions and improvements.
  • Increased page count from five (including Addendum) to six (no Addendum required). Increased Flesch readability score from 37.0 to 39.8 (MS Word). Simplified sentence structure.
  • For a complete commented reference indicating which section of v3 ended up in which section of v4, see “lease v3 redline to 2016 review.docx”.
• v4
  • Internal version used during the Springfield review, not published.
• v3
  • In “vital information,” clarified that ages of occupants were being asked for in the case of minors only.Fixed a cosmetic paragraph numbering goof starting at paragraph 25.
• v2
  • In “Vital Information,” added a space to list the legally recognized ‘other occupants’. Also, added the word “Annual” to “Total Rent” to make it clear that the tenant is contracting for a total amount of money. Clarified wording of how rent is to be paid, and set the due date to be the first of every month.
  • In “Termination,” removed misleading language about tenant bankruptcy. There is a process to evict a tenant who declares bankruptcy, but it requires relief from the automatic restraining order against creditors and isn’t as simple as terminating the lease.
  • In “Occupancy,” gave the landlord the right to terminate for cause if the tenant brings in anyone to live in the premises for more than 20 days in a year and the visitor is not listed on the lease.
  • In “Trustee,” now called “Ownership,” added clarifying language to cover all possible types of corporate entity.
  • In “Legal Use Only,” broadly expanded the ability of a landlord to terminate the lease for crime, firearms, and drugs. Also, we now grant the landlord a power of attorney to seek restraining orders against the tenant’s guests.
  • In “Utilities,” brought the Addendum terms forward, in case the addendum is not used, and called for the landlord to pay water and sewer.
  • In “Copies,” landlord should have only 7 days to return a signed copy of the rental agreement.
  • In “Removal of Personal Property,” wrote some clarification about how the Massachusetts process works.
  • In “Fire or Casualty Loss,” added the phrase “force majeure” to cover unforseen circumstances.
  • In “Future Landlord Rules,” added requirements on landlord notices for maximum enforceability.
  • In “Tenant Default,” struck the part allowing the landlord to collect the difference between fair rent and lease rent. Based on experience this would not be granted by a court.
  • The section “Leaving the keys behind” has been removed. If a tenant leaves the keys behind, other provisions of this agreement take effect.
• v1
  • Original version.