Lease Package #2: Customized Housekeeping and Ancillary Documents

Description

These stand alone (“housekeeping”) documents should be included with all leases to explain HOW you’re going to manage specific situations. If you attempt to explain all the details of how you handle operational issues in the lease you’ll end up with a 15-page document that you’ll keep tweaking over time as operational issues change and you grow. These housekeeping documents allow you to more fully explain to the tenant how you do certain things without ending up with a  lengthy convoluted lease. 

Often properties have unique situations that require the manager to have a separate document (“ancillary documents”) ready to fill out to protect themselves from the additional liability that comes with that property feature. You don’t need them till you need them but they are critical to your protection when you face HOA’s, hot tubs, personal property etc. 

These housekeeping and ancillary documents are CYA documents designed to protect you from the litigation coming your way. They add body armor to your business and keep you from getting sued. Protect yourself from lawsuits with these housekeeping documents. 

If you’ve watched the video training for these documents (Document Creep) you know that for 20 years we’ve taught managers to resist long leases and used “housekeeping” and “ancillary” documents to avoid a 15-page, legal size paper, type size 8 to fit it all in lease. We keep the lease to eight or nine pages and letter size (and type size 10) so the tenant isn’t intimidated by a long and tedious document. Smaller documents are easier to defend in court so SMALLER IS BETTER. Housekeeping and ancillary documents give us a chance to say everything we want the tenant to know without adding pounds to the basic lease agreement. Although some topics do need plenty of details, those details don’t need to be in the lease document itself. Managers too often add operational minutia to the lease when it really belongs in a separate document. Housekeeping and ancillary documents have the same weight in court as the lease (because the tenant executes them) and gives you plenty of space to flesh out the details of the topic. We encourage you to use every housekeeping document with every lease, every time. Ancillary documents are only used when appropriate. They are NOT exhibits or addendums. They are NOT incorporated into the lease like an exhibit. The tenant (not the manager) executes them so the manager is not making any promises in them. They are simply “housekeeping” documents designed to inform the tenant of all the details of how you intend to manage certain elements of the landlord/tenant relationship. 

What you get:

1. Housekeeping documents include: Pet Exhibit, Resident’s Maintenance Agreement, Landlord vs. Resident’s Maintenance  Responsibilities Chart, Mold, Mildew, Moisture Disclosure, Mold Information and Prevention, Official Notice of Approval, Lead Paint and Flood Disclosure, Utility Agreement and Property Visit Policy, Move-in Checklist and Report Card (in-house document), Audit Checklist (in-house document) and more (the list keeps growing).
2. Ancillary documents include such things as: Homeowner Association Agreement, Roommate Agreement, Hot Tub Exhibit to Lease, Limited Power of Attorney, Personal Property Schedule, Move me in even though the property is not ready for occupancy, Military Exhibit, Guarantee of Payment (Cosigner Agreement), Security System Disclaimer and more (this list keeps growing)
3. A library of studio-shot training videos by Monica and Robert describing each document and how to use it to protect yourself.

You’re not alone in this effort. Our mission is to help you customize these documents to work in your model. We’ll collaborate with you to make sure it’s exactly what you need to be scalable and profitable in your market.