I have found a form for rental agreement I would like to use in a book I have read. It is by Mike & Irene Milin. I can’t seem to locate them online anywhere to get an ok to use their form. Anyone have any info on getting ok for copyrighted materials?
I have also found (and used) rental agreement in books before, but it was stated in the books that you COULD use the form (or change it to suit you). I’ve even seen books that have perforated pages so you can tear it out and make copies… Your book may have an authorization for use somewhere.
Not that this is the way you want to go, but…the chances that an author of a book:
- reads your lease (why and how would they ever read your lease?)
- recognizes it as their copyrighted material
- wants to sue you
- hires a lawyer to send you a “cease and desist” letter
- expects to gain a significant monetary reward
are almost infinitely small if your intent is only to use the forms for your personal rentals. If, however, you work at a major PM firm and want to use it for 10,000 leases, then it might be an issue. Or, if you intend to repackage or resell that lease online, then you will want to seek permission.
I am going to contact the publisher to check it out. It doesn’t exactly say clearly that it is ok and the book mentions that it is copyrighted. I think it would be best to get permission on this one. Thanks for your input. Graciez
Go to your local Office Depot and ask fo rthe legal contracts deartment .They have leases, sales agreements , all kinds of forms for you to use.
…
I have done this & then typed my own using theirs as a guiline & adding a few of my own rules & deleting some of the non-relavent stuff. That is not plagerism. You are notselling the lease form for profit.
You should be careful about doing this. If you ever have to go to court and some of your terms are against the law, I think they can just throw out the whole lease and then you have nothing. I just use the standard lease from the local real estate board, it pretty much covers most things and meets all the federal and state laws. They only charge $1 for a copy.
First, the forms at Staples or Office Depot are hopelessly generic and non-specific. The advice to get a lease from your local Realtor’s association is VERY GOOD. That, at least, will be specific to your state and maybe even county/city. You could also contact the leader of a local real estate investment club (just google it) and ask what they use–a lot of these guys and gals will share it with you for free; theirs are forged through years of tenant trials, will be MUCH more comprehensive, and are also likely to have been reviewed by a lawyer at some point. Also, in your lease (certainly in the Realtor’s association lease) should be a severability clause that states if any portion of your lease is found to be invalid by court finding or judgment, that does NOT invalidate the remainder of your lease. If your lease does NOT have that clause, you are using a terrible lease. Honestly, copywriting will never be an issue for you anyway if you are using the lease for your own personal rentals and you only have a handful of properties, for the reasons I stated above.
Lastly, if you are concerned about copyright then why don’t you go to a lawyer and have them draft up a tailored lease for you? As expensive as $200 sounds to do so, you’re trusting your quarter of a million dollar asset (or liability) to people you’ve never met before, but you’re trying to save a few bucks by going to Office Depot for a crappy lease that won’t protect that asset? You’ll pay more for insurance against tornados than you will for a lease (insurance) against a tenant defaulting on rent? That’s just craziness. Pay some money and get a good lease that will protect your specific situation. This is not the place to cut corners.