Should the lease agreement terms and conditions cover all rules and regulations as well as general landlord tenant duties and obligations?
The lease agreement is a legal contract between landlord and tenant that sets out the terms and conditions of the landlord-tenant relationship. The lease agreement must be compliant with landlord-tenant statutes and applicable laws of all relevant jurisdictions and sufficiently detailed regarding landlord and tenant rights, obligations, duties and responsibilities.
A lease agreement should incorporate the important rental policies and procedures that are required for tenant compliance. By incorporating the policies into the lease a landlord has the authority to evict a tenant for material lease defaults. The amount of detailed required for full understanding of the lease contract usually makes an adequate lease a lengthy document.
Typically rules and regulations cover day to day rental issues and the list of items can be quite lengthy. A landlord can choose to use a separate attachment to the lease for rental rules and regulations. The separate attachment may make it easier for the tenant to understand his duties and obligations and for the landlord to revise rules and regulations as needed. However, important issues are best covered within the lease agreement.
If the rules and regulations are covered in a separate document, whether attached to the lease agreement or not, the separate document should be referenced within the lease agreement document and should itself be signed and dated by landlord and tenant.