A lease agreement is a written document that officially recognizes a legally binding relationship between two parties — a landlord and a tenant. This page covers residential agreements — click the following link if you’re looking for information about commercial lease agreements.

A simple residential lease agreement in writing will identify the following basic elements:

• Premises: a house, apartment, condo, basement, or attic
• Landlord: the owner of the Premise, aka “Lessor”
• Tenant: renter who wants to live in the Premises, aka “Lessee”
• Rent: amount of money paid by the Tenant to the Landlord
• Term: length of time the Tenant has the right to stay on the Premises