Making The Tenant/buyer Responsible For Repairs
Is it legal to specify in a lease-option contract that the tenant/buyer is responsible for ALL repairs to a property? Is there a chance a court might see this type of contract as acting more like a sale than a lease and force an owner to foreclose instead of evict a tenant for non-payment of rent?
You can never request that a tenant\buyer pays ALL of the costs for any repairs done to a home. This is simply because of the fact that many repairs go above and beyond what a judge would consider to be normal wear and tear and or minor repairs. Until the property is purchased you are in the position of LandLord. If you are doing a double lease lease you can offset any future repairs by stating in the original owner's contract that you will pay anything under say $100 per month. And then insert into the tenant's contract that he or she is responsible for any repairs under $100 per month. You are just the middle man and this therefore closes the gap. If you are the original owner, just make the request high enough to cover most problems that may occur. You may want to add a clause stating that carpets and windows must be cleaned upon termination of the lease. (and painting is necessary). Whatever is takes to keep you in clear, you can say just about anything as long as you are specific and the tenant understands. The use of the word "ALL" would be disputed in the courts, because a "tenant" should never be responsible for ALL repair costs (which would include malfunction of heating and hot water, roofing, etc... things that usually go above and beyond normal wear and tear).
Ervan[ Edited by edickens82 on Date 08/04/2003 ]