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To Change A Lease

There are sometimes specifications in a lease that you may not want (see Reading Your Lease). Whenever possible, have your landlord rewrite or delete them. All parts of a lease are open to negotiation until the lease is signed. Any changes in the lease are not official unless BOTH the landlord and tenant agree to them (agreement is demonstrated by signing the lease).

• To delete a phrase, simply draw a line through it. Then both you and your landlord must INITIAL and DATE the change.

• To add a phrase, settle on the wording with your landlord and then write it in the margin if there is space; again, both you and the landlord must initial and date it. If there is no space, simply attach a separate sheet with the changes (indicate that it is an addition to the lease). Both you and the landlord must SIGN and DATE the attachment.

• Above all, KEEP A COPY OF THE CHANGED LEASE for your records. 

• Any agreements that follow should be IN WRITING.  If an agreement is not in writing, follow it up with a letter to the landlord stating the agreement, who made it, and when. KEEP A COPY of this letter (there is a Model Letter for this under Appendices). You must give the landlord a chance to respond.