How do I create a lease on Apartments.com?
With Rental Tools, you can create a lease and have your renters sign it all from your Apartments.com account.
View a sample lease to see how leases work on Apartments.com.
Important: You must set up a resident prior to creating a lease. For more information on setting up a new resident refer to our article: Introducing Residents on Apartments.com
Creating a lease
Note: Leases created on Apartments.com must be Fixed Term. Leases can be updated to month-to-month after the initial lease term is renewed.
- Log into your Rental Manager account. Select Residents & Leases under the Home tab.
The Residents & Leases page appears.
- Select the resident you want to create a lease for. The resident page appears.
- Locate and select the Draft a Lease button.
The Create a new lease document wizard begins. This wizard is a step-by-step walkthrough of the lease creation process and takes roughly 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
Note: Use your signatories' legal names as indicated on their driver's license or other valid identification.
The wizard includes information and preferences such as:
- What type of property you're renting: Single Family Home or Multi Family Home (such as an apartment or condo)
- Property Contacts
- Recurring rent amount, when it’s due, any late or insufficient funds fees, security deposit amount
- Pets and any restrictions around breeds, weight, or number of pets. You can also add a monthly pet fee and any violation fees
- Details about your property’s parking situation and utilities
- Additional fees or other move-in costs here that aren’t part of your monthly rent payments
- Specify the payment methods you’ll accept (check, EFT, or online payments through Apartments.com)
- Utilities included in the rent
- Special stipulations and property disclosures
- After completing the wizard, review your lease by selecting the Download Lease button. When you are ready to send it to your renter(s), select Confirm and Send to Renters.
How renters sign a lease
After you finish creating your legal lease and send it to your renters, we’ll email your renters so they can login to their Apartments.com account to view and sign it.
You can also send your renters a reminder if they haven’t signed it yet.
Important: Editing a lease that is pending signatures requires both parties to re-sign the document. If the lease is signed by all parties and is considered complete, the property manager must create an entirely new document if edits are needed.
Tracking your lease status
On Residents & Leases, you can:
- See the status of the lease
- Cancel or continue editing the lease
- Send a reminder to your resident to sign the lease
Note: Apartments.com provides you these leases as part of the service however, Apartments.com is neither a law firm nor a substitute for an attorney or law firm. Apartments.com cannot provide you legal advice, opinion or recommendations. We suggest that you have your own lawyer review your lease agreement before finalizing it with your residents, especially if you add your own stipulations to the lease.
Create leases online with Apartments.com
Build a personalized lease agreement, access 50 state-specific templates, and sign leases on one online platform.