A lease agreement is a binding contract between landlord and tenant. It's also one of the most state-specific documents you can sign — landlord-tenant law, required disclosures, and notice rules differ dramatically from state to state.
Residential vs. commercial
- Residential leases must include habitability protections, required disclosures, and state-mandated notice rules.
- Commercial leases add a "use of premises" clause (what the tenant is allowed to do there) and typically shift more maintenance risk to the tenant.
Pick the right one up front — they're different documents with different obligations.
The terms every lease needs
- Rent, deposit, and due date — plus late fees and a grace period.
- Lease term — fixed start/end dates, or month-to-month.
- Entry notice — how much notice the landlord must give before entering (24h vs 48h by state).
- Pets — allowed or not, and any pet deposit.
- Utilities — who pays for what.
- Maintenance — who handles structural vs. appliance issues.
- Subletting — allowed with consent, or not at all.
The state-specific disclosures that catch people out
- Lead paint — federal rules require a lead-paint disclosure for *all* pre-1978 housing.
- Mold — states like TX, CA, NJ, OR, and ME add mold-specific disclosures.
- Premises alerts — some states (NJ) require notice of unresolved code violations.
- Security-deposit caps and return deadlines — set by state law, and they vary a lot.
Skipping a required disclosure doesn't just cost goodwill — in many states it can void your right to evict or expose you to statutory damages.
Make it legal
- Both parties sign (check your state for any wet-signature requirement).
- Deliver the move-in inspection checklist and lead-paint disclosure (if pre-1978).
- Issue the security-deposit receipt where your state requires one.
A state-specific lease with the right disclosures built in is what our drafting team does — start here.
Related lease variants
- [Commercial Lease](/legal-documents/commercial-lease) — office, retail, or industrial space with triple-net and gross lease structures.
- [Sublease Agreement](/legal-documents/sublease-agreement) — renting all or part of your leased space to a subtenant with landlord consent.
- [Lease Amendment](/legal-documents/lease-amendment) — modify specific terms of an existing lease without replacing the whole agreement.
- [Lease Termination Notice](/legal-documents/lease-termination-notice) — formally end a month-to-month or periodic tenancy per state notice rules.