Legal Terms You Should Know In Your Apartment Lease Agreement

If you’re moving and heading out on your own for the very first time, you have a lot to learn about striking out solo. While you’re soon to get a crash course in keeping up with a home, shopping, cooking and paying bills, there’s another major area you will need to know a thing or two about. As you look at your lease agreement, there are things you should know about the legalities of renting.

Photo by: Priya Deonarain

Some of the legal terms you may come across in your lease agreement will very likely be unfamiliar to you if you’ve never studied law or signed a lease before. Here are a few of the most common terms and their legal definitions to help you make certain you fully understand everything before sign:

Arrears – You might find this term in with a long explanation of what will happen if payments aren’t made on your apartment. While you won’t likely need to know what happens when you don’t pay, arrears simply means being behind in payments.

Breach – This term doesn’t just apply to babies. If you see it among the legal terms in your lease agreement, it simply means being in violation of a provision of your contract.

Dispossess – This means nothing more than eviction. By the way, eviction is the legal way to remove a tenant from a rental by going through the court system.

Exculpatory clause – This clause removes one person or party from liability that might result from the negligence of another party.

Holdover tenancy – This takes place when a tenant hangs onto possession of a property after a lease term has transpired.

Lessee – This is a fancy legal term for you – the renter.

Lessor – This is another fancy term that defines the landlord or the agent who acts on his or her behalf.

Periodic tenancy – If you choose to rent month-to-month, you might see this term in your lease agreement. It means that you can rent the property indefinitely until the agreement is terminated by one of the parties.

Remedy – This is the legal term that pertains to the stated path for resolving disputes or grievances.

Security deposit – This is the money that you’ll have to pay to cover any damage to an apartment while you’re living there. This is a payment of good faith.

Moving into Fresno apartments will take a little bit more than money, boxes and the resolve to unpack. To understand your lease agreement, it helps to have a handle on the legal terms within the document. Look into anything you don’t know before you sign to protect yourself down the road.

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