The simple lease contract is the official record of the conditions that have been negotiated between the lessor and the lessee of a property. It is he who guarantees that both will comply with everything that was agreed upon, including with regard to the amounts to be paid, the adjustments and the conservation of the property. With the rise in sales in Blue World City , it is important to make sure of all your legal documents are in order.
In case of non-compliance, it is also the simple rental agreement that defines the fines and other sanctions that will result from contractual breaches. Therefore, it is essential to pay maximum attention to this document.
But these rules that exist in a lease are not random.
The Tenancy Law № 8.245/91 regulates the business relationship between the tenant and the tenant, although it does not establish exactly everything that must be included in the document. On the internet itself, there are simple residential rental contract templates to fill out and print.
If you want to resolve your doubts about the clauses, both the Brazilian Civil Code and the Procon (Consumer Protection and Defense Foundation) will provide a good basis for evaluating whether everything is in accordance with the law.
If you still want to be more secure than what is set out in the rental agreement you are signing, it is very convenient to have a legal advisor to identify whether everything contained in the simple rental agreement model is in accordance with the law.
So, we at businessworld have brought out today’s post how to make a simple rental contract with 10 precautions you should take before signing.
How to make a simple rental agreement?
When a person is looking for a property to rent, it is common to have a certain anxiety to resolve the situation soon.
For this, prospective tenants look for various ways to find a property. Therefore, let’s exemplify some situations in which it would be essential to be aware of what should be included in a simple rental contract model:
- An acquaintance who is going to live abroad decides to give his apartment for rent to you, but it’s all by word of mouth. Apparently it can be great and free of bureaucracy, but then it comes to charge a lot of fees and expenses that you didn’t even know existed.
- You are a student, who will live far away from your parents’ house, and will soon have to sign your first simple rental agreement, but you also have no idea what should be on the document.
- A person is going to undertake and also does not know what to have in a commercial lease. Suddenly, he finds that there are a series of requirements in a simple commercial lease that he had never even imagined.
There are many cases where people are not aware of this business relationship between the owner of a property and the tenant. You do not know about your rights and duties as a tenant or the rights and duties of the tenant.
Know what to watch out for:
1. Simple rental agreement: attention to property choice and value
Before starting the lease, make sure the property meets all of the criteria you’ve set, or at least most of them. Remember that after signing the residential or commercial rental agreement, it will not be possible to change, for example, the location of the property or the layout of the rooms.
Also remember that repentance may result in the payment of a termination penalty, if you decide to leave the property before the contract expires.
At the same time, make sure the rent is compatible with your ability to pay. After all, delays will lead to fines and prolonged defaults can result in an eviction order.
2. Check the mandatory terms of the rental agreement
In addition to the identification of the lessor, the lessee and the property itself, every model of the rental agreement must clearly contain the following information:
- Rent amount;
- Due date, form and location of payments;
- Index and periodicity of readjustment;
- Guarantee presented (guarantor, surety bond, surety or security deposit);
- Tenant payment obligations (IPTU, condominium, water, electricity, etc.);
- Type of use of the property;
- Contract duration;
- Possibility of renewal;
- Inspection Term;
- Termination fine.
Check that all this information has been included in the residential or commercial lease agreement and that it matches what was negotiated. If not, please request a review for your safety.
3. Check if the administrator is identified in the contract
If the lease is intermediated by an administrator, the company must have a power of attorney from the owner of the property to make the intermediation. Otherwise, the act constitutes an ideological falsehood.
In this situation, check if the power of attorney exists and if there is proper identification of the real estate agent in the contract, which is necessary. If it does not exist, it is not advisable to sign the contract, as its validity will be questionable.
4. Pay attention to required forms of guarantee
It is worth mentioning that the lessor can only demand one form of guarantee among those mentioned above: guarantor, surety bond, surety or security deposit. More than that, it configures an unfair clause.
5. Do not accept unfair terms
Special attention must be paid to all clauses that constitute abuse. After all, there is a maxim that a negotiation is only really good when it is good for both parties.
Therefore, when the property owner includes simple clauses in the lease that are contrary to the law, the contract should not be signed until the terms are withdrawn or revised.
For example, if the lessor includes in the lease agreement model a clause that obliges the lessee to waive the legal right to withhold part of the rent to cover expenses with repairs and necessary maintenance on the property, roof repairs and electrical system, infiltration repair, among others, is characterized as an unfair clause.
After all, this type of maintenance is essential for the property not to deteriorate.
6. Check the inspection term
The inspection term is a mandatory document, which must be included as an integral part of the contract. It is prepared by the lessor or a person authorized by him, and must be done in the presence of the candidate for the lease.
Therefore, it is essential that you accompany the inspection. During this procedure, all details of the property must be observed and noted. Thus, a report is made on the situation of the paintings, the floors of the rooms, the electrical and hydraulic installations, the external areas, the furniture that is already present and all the other components.
This term must be checked before the simple residential lease agreement is signed.
7. Carefully analyze the condition of the property
It is the lessor’s obligation to deliver the property to the lessee in full conditions of use. Therefore, during the inspection, try to make sure that these conditions are complete. Which is why the developers of Capital Smart City make sure that there are no ups and downs in their property.
If any defect is detected, electrical or sanitary installations that do not work, leaks, stuck doors and windows, etc., request the repair and make the signing of the simple lease agreement conditional on the solution of the problem.
8. Observe what is required about conservation
The tenant’s obligation is to deliver the property under the same conditions as they received it, that is, under the conditions set out in the inspection term. Therefore, any requirement to hand over the property in a better situation than the one it was in should not be part of the simple rental agreement.
9. Understand the obligations of each party
The contract entails obligations for both parties, and it is necessary to understand what each of them must fulfill.
For example, although the landlord cannot require the tenant to cover expenses with renovations and improvements related to the security and structure of the property, he does not need to bear additional expenses that have an aesthetic or decorative nature.
The payment of taxes and fees, in addition to fire insurance, is guaranteed to the owner for inclusion in the simple lease agreement for payment by the lessee in accordance with article 22 of the Tenancy Law.
But the same article also provides for the transfer of payment of these same charges to the lessor.
Therefore, it is necessary to clearly know the reasons for the expected expenses and the obligations that each party has with them and the proper negotiation between the two parties to know what will fall to whom.
10. Seek professional advice
Using the advice of a professional or a qualified company to advise on property leasing can be very advantageous.
After all, those who work professionally in this area maintain a property portfolio with a large number of offers, and one of them, possibly, will be in accordance with what you are looking for.
In addition, it should be noted that a self-employed broker or associated with a real estate company is also able to advise on the rental values and on the contractual terms that must be observed in your simple rental agreement.
In addition to the knowledge on how to make a simple rental contract, there are applications for realtors that can make it much easier for this professional to present the best property for you.
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