California Lease

California Lease Forms

California Lease forms are used for renting to tenants in California. The California lease agreement is the most common type of lease form and can be used for leasing rental property over a fixed period. For "tenancies at will" that can be terminated at any time by the landlord or the tenant, you should use the California rental agreement instead. Other similar forms include the California Residential Lease and the California Apartment Lease. Download the free sample California rental lease forms below and be sure to let us know what you think!

California Leases VS Tenancy Agreements

A signed written lease agreement is a legal and binding document which can be used in a court of law. Tenants who don't have a written California lease contract ("tenancies at will", weekly and monthly rentals, etc...) are governed and protected by California state law, which always takes precedent over any other existing agreement, written or unwritten.

In other words, all tenants are entitled to natural rights granted by the state of California, even if they have signed them away in their lease contract. So of course it is always a good idea to clearly specify the terms of your tenancy agreement in a written contract to work in your favor, but it is equally just as important to make sure your lease contract abides by the tenant laws in California. Many California property management companies have gone through the eviction process in California and would agree that a well written tenancy agreement is the best way to protect yourself from future headaches in court (see California Eviction Notice). Below you can see examples of different California lease forms that have been tailored to fit specific needs:

California Lease Contracts - What should I know?

In the absence of a written lease agreement, California law requires landlords and property management companies to terminate the tenancy by providing tenants with a notice to vacate LLNOTIFY. A written lease contract may explicitly state different terms, but only as long as they do not conflict with California law. For example, the notice period can be increased to 90 days to benefit both parties (tenant would have 90 days to find a new place after receiving the California Notice to Vacate and landlord would have 90 days to find a new replacement tenant after receiving notice) - but it cannot be decreased beyond the minimum required by state law. So even if both parties agreed to change the notice period to 1 week (which would allow the tenant to move faster and the landlord to raise the rent faster, etc...), these terms will not be enforced in court because they conflict with California tenant rights.

California Leases - What should I do next?

The process of leasing your property begins with getting your prospective tenants to fill out the California rental application. Once you have conducted a background check and decided on the tenant, then you are ready to sign a lease contract. If you need help managing your leases or tracking rental payments, you should consider using property management software to make things easy. In addition generating monthly owner statements and collecting rent online, many property managers in California use Simplify'em for property management because it makes it easy to maintain a tenant payment history and stay on top of rent balances. If a tenant ever violates the lease agreement by not paying rent on time, you should use the California Notice to Quit to inform the tenant to quit the lease and vacate the premises if they cannot remedy the issue within the specified time period.

Get started now! Download the FREE California Lease right now and let us know what you think!