I need a standard rental lease agreement because I am renting a room in my house. Where might I find one?

I would like to find a standard month-to-month lease agreement. I would like to just fill in the blanks and have basic language about terms, rent, damages, etc.I need a standard rental lease agreement because I am renting a room in my house. Where might I find one?
I just took a look at that ';free'; standard agreement, and there are a boatload of problems with it. My office gets landlords in all the time who have managed to screw themselves royally with those free forms, Staples leases, landlord.com crap, etc...





Many clauses in those leases are unenforceable because they go against state or local law. People can't sign away their rights. It just doesn't work that way. Those agreements aren't written with your best interests in mind nor do they protect you or your rights in many instances. They are like sugar pills ... you feel all secure but in reality it's worthless.





This lease doesn't include the all important term ';right of reentry'; which allows you to legally reclaim the unit using the notices and causes for eviction provided by the laws of your state if the tenant fails to abide by the terms of the lease. If you didn't reserve the ';right of reentry'; in your lease, you have given up your right to evict for anything other than non-payment of rent.





Some other problems with this lease:





';A finance charge of up to 10% of rent not paid will be automatically charged to the Tenant鈥檚 account after the fifth day of the month.'; Many places have laws that limit the amount of late fee that can be charged, no matter what the lease says. This amount may or may not be legal where you are. And many states have laws (either statutory or case) that protect people who are on pensions and such from being charged late fees at all if their checks are issued on the 5th or whatever.





';If the tenant鈥檚 rent is past due and the landlord exercises his legal right to seek a judgment against the tenant in court, a $xxx fee shall apply in addition to court costs, late fees and rent due.'; That's basically a usury charge, and I'll bet it's unenforceable in almost every state.





Also this lease doesn't state that the court costs or late fees are considered ';additional rent';, and as such you probably won't be able to claim them on a non-payment complaint.





';If the tenant abandons the property, the landlord may enter and relet the property. In this case, the landlord may also remove and dispose of any personal property left behind by the tenant.'; Want to get sued? You need to take legal action to regain posession of the apartment, and you must follow the law in your area regarding abandoned property. You can't just toss it out. Let's say your tenant disappears. You think he abandoned the place, dump his stuff and re-rent the unit. Your tenant shows up in a month or two and guess what? YOU are the one in trouble. You didn't regain legal posession of the apartment. Those people are living in his apartment. You threw out his stuff. You are going to pay for this through the nose, and the few hundred dollars he owes you will be deducted from the thousands of dollars you will owe him. We had one tenant as a client who was wrongfully detained for over a month in a foreign jail while on vacation. He came back to find new people in his place and all his stuff gone. The settlement our office got for him was probably twice what most people reading this make in a year. The landlord could easily have avoided this by taking the legal steps required to reclaim the unit and by placing the tenants belongings in storage as required under the law.





'; will return the balance within 30 days. The tenant must give the landlord written notice of the tenant鈥檚 new address or make other arrangements with the landlord for the return of the security deposit.'; If state law say you have fewer days, then that's all you have. In many places, if you don't return the deposit or a written statement why it is not being returned (unpaid rent, damage, etc) within the time frame allowed by law, the tenant is awarded 2 or 3 times the amount of the deposit.





I could go on and on and on about these stupid forms (and this one in particular). They aren't worth the paper they are printed on. When and if you ever end up in front of a Judge, the fact that you have a lease or agreement that repeatedly violates state or local law will affect your credibility. No matter how honorable you are, you will look like a crook.





Do yourself a favor. Go to a lawyer who specializes in Landlord/Tenant law in your area and ask them to draw up a simple roommate agreement that is in your best interests and is enforceable under the laws of your area. Landlord/Tenant lawyers also know case law which can affect your situation. It won't cost a lot, and will be worth its weight in gold if you have a problem tenant or an unexpected situation come up.I need a standard rental lease agreement because I am renting a room in my house. Where might I find one?
They are also available at any Staples store. And an excellent idea by the way,
Your local office supply store should have one, Office Depot Staples, even Wal-Mart. Just be vary careful using those forms, they can start you out, but normally have nothing in there to cover your butt.
you can get them online [if you have a printer] and if i'm not mistaken kinkos or office max.
Here's one you can copy/paste to print out.


http://www.usalandlord.com/stanleasfor.h鈥?/a>





Here's one you would pay for.


http://www.lawdepot.com/contracts/reslea鈥?/a>





Hope these help! :)
You can check with your local apt. association or go on line to your landlord tenant law for the state you live in and you should be able to print a copy.