Lease agreement template

What is a lease agreement?

Also known as a rental agreement, a lease agreement is a legal document outlining the terms under which one party agrees to rent property from another. It guarantees the lessee, also known as the tenant, use of a property or asset in exchange for a regular payment.

While lease agreements can seem daunting, they are a critical tool for landlords and tenants alike, providing a legally enforceable framework for the rental relationship. They are also among the most common business contracts, with applications everywhere from residential and commercial real estate to equipment hire and vehicle leasing.

But with that in mind, start by asking yourself: what type of of lease agreement do I actually need?

Which type of lease agreement do you need?

"Lease agreement" covers a lot of ground. The same label applies to a residential tenancy, a 25-year commercial property lease, an equipment hire, and a vehicle rental.

Be clear about which category you are in, because the applicable law, the required clauses, and the level of legal review each demands are quite different.

Residential leases

Residential leases are among the most heavily regulated contracts in most jurisdictions. In England and Wales, most residential tenancies are assured shorthold tenancies governed by the Housing Act 1988. In Scotland, most are private residential tenancies under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016.

In the US, residential landlord-tenant law is state-specific and in some cities (New York, San Francisco, and others) is further layered with local rent control and tenant protection ordinances. A general template will be insufficient for residential use without jurisdiction-specific review and amendments. A tenancy agreement template will be a better fit.

Commercial leases

Commercial property leases cover offices, retail units, warehouses, and industrial space. These are less regulated than residential leases, which means more room to negotiate, but also more responsibility on both parties to get the terms right.

Commercial leases in England and Wales carry statutory rights for tenants under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, including the right to renew, which landlords often seek to exclude. In the EU, commercial lease frameworks vary significantly by member state.

Switch over to our commercial lease agreement template if this is what you're looking for.

Vehicle and equipment leases

Equipment and vehicle leases use the same basic contractual structure but apply it to personal property rather than real estate. If you are leasing equipment specifically, the equipment lease agreement template page covers those considerations in more detail.

Short-term and periodic arrangements — month-to-month rentals, pop-up retail, or temporary office space — have different dynamics from long fixed-term leases and may call for a lighter agreement or a different structure altogether.

The template on this page is a good starting point for straightforward commercial arrangements. But as always, you should work with a lawyer (or be one) to get these over the line.

What a lease agreement needs to cover

A lease agreement needs to answer, clearly and specifically, a set of questions that will determine how the relationship works in practice and what happens when things don't go to plan. The following are the ones that matter most.

Who are the parties, and in what capacity? Full legal names, addresses, and — for companies — registration numbers and jurisdiction of incorporation. For commercial leases where the tenant is a company, consider whether a personal guarantee from a director is required.

What exactly is being leased? For property, this means the full address and a precise description of the demised premises, including any areas excluded from the lease such as shared parts of a building. For equipment or vehicles, include make, model, serial number, and condition. Vague descriptions create disputes; specific ones prevent them.

For how long, and on what renewal terms? Fixed-term leases provide certainty but create obligations. Periodic leases offer flexibility but can be harder to plan around. Whatever the term, the process for renewal, extension, or termination needs to be clear, including how much notice is required and in what form.

What does it cost, and how does the cost change? Rent, payment frequency, payment method, and late payment consequences. For longer commercial leases, the rent review mechanism deserves careful attention: open market reviews, RPI-linked increases, and fixed uplifts all work very differently and can have a significant financial impact over the course of a long lease.

Who is responsible for what? Maintenance, repair, insurance, utilities, rates, and service charges all need to be allocated. The more specific the agreement is about where the boundary lies between the landlord's obligations and the tenant's, the less room there is for dispute when something goes wrong.

What can the lessee do with the asset? Permitted use, restrictions on alterations, subletting, and assignment. For commercial property, a permitted use clause that is too narrow can prevent the tenant from adapting their business; one that is too broad can create problems for the landlord. Getting this right matters for both sides.

What happens at the end? Return conditions, dilapidations, security deposit terms, and any option to purchase or renew. End-of-lease obligations are frequently under-specified and disproportionately the source of disputes when the arrangement concludes.

What happens if things go wrong? Grounds for termination, notice requirements, break clause conditions, and dispute resolution. For commercial property leases, the concept of forfeiture — the landlord's right to terminate for breach — and the tenant's right to seek relief against forfeiture are important and vary by jurisdiction.

The clauses most likely to cause problems

Most lease disputes don't arise from the obvious terms. They arise from the clauses that felt straightforward at signing but turned out to be ambiguous or one-sided in practice. These are the ones worth paying closest attention to.

The rent review clause

‍In a longer commercial lease, the rent review mechanism can have a bigger financial impact than the initial rent itself. Open market reviews tend to move in one direction in rising markets.

"Upwards-only" rent reviews, which are common in UK commercial leases, mean rent can never decrease on review regardless of market conditions. Tenants sometimes sign without fully modelling what this means for their cost base over a 10 or 15-year term.

The dilapidations clause

‍ At the end of a commercial property lease, the landlord can seek to recover the cost of putting the property back into the condition required by the lease.

Without a schedule of condition documenting the state of the premises at the start, the tenant has limited ability to argue about the baseline. A

Agreeing and attaching a schedule of condition before the lease begins is one of the most practical things a tenant can do to protect their position.

The break clause

‍A break clause that cannot be exercised cleanly — because of arrears, incomplete reinstatement, or a technical failure to comply with conditions — is a break clause that may not work when needed.

The conditions attached to exercising a break right are often strict, and there is a body of case law in England and Wales where tenants have lost their right to break for minor technical reasons.

The service charge

‍ In multi-tenanted commercial buildings, service charges (contributions to the costs of managing shared areas and the wider property) can be significant and are often poorly understood at the outset.

Caps on year-on-year increases, transparency about how costs are calculated, and audit rights are worth negotiating for any lease where the service charge is material.

The assignment and subletting clause

‍"Subject to landlord's consent, not to be unreasonably withheld" sounds reassuring, but the definition of unreasonable is frequently disputed.

If there is any realistic prospect that the tenant's circumstances might change — through growth, contraction, acquisition, or restructuring — it is worth trying to specify the criteria for consent more precisely rather than relying on a general reasonableness standard.

Managing leases when volume grows

For a landlord managing a handful of properties, or a business with one or two office leases, a manual process works adequately.

For businesses with material lease portfolios — property companies, hospitality groups, retail chains, or fast-growing businesses with multiple sites — the administrative and compliance burden scales quickly.

Placemakr, a US apartment hotel operator managing over 2,000 units, found this out firsthand. Before implementing Juro, their sales team had to navigate a fragmented process for every new lease.

As Tom Carlton, Associate General Counsel, described it: "A sales rep would have to go into Word to find a template, manually input all of the client's information, send it for negotiation, move it into DocuSign for signing, and then store it in Sharepoint."

The result was slow turnaround, version control problems, and risk of inconsistency across agreements.

Since moving to Juro, Placemakr has halved the time spent on lease creation and management, and consolidated what had been 12 separate templates into one, with their commercial team generating leases directly from HubSpot in a few clicks.

Teams using Juro manage lease agreements alongside all other commercial contracts in a centralised contract repository, with AI-extracted data, automated reminders for critical dates, and approval and negotiation workflows that keep things moving without legal becoming a bottleneck.

If that sounds relevant to where your business is heading, you can see how it works here.

Want more free lease agreement templates?

It's worth noting that different states will have different laws around leasing, and your lease agreement templates should comply with, or be varied to comply with, these. Below are some state-specific, simple lease agreements to help you get started:

Arizona lease agreement template

California lease agreement template

Georgia lease agreement template

Illinois lease agreement template

Massachusetts lease agreement template

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a lease agreement and a tenancy agreement?

The biggest difference is that a tenancy relates to a renting a property, while lease agreements can also include the renting of other things, like equipment, or vehicles.

Can a lease template be used for commercial properties?

Yes, lease templates can be used for commercial properties, but they must be tailored to address the specific requirements of commercial leases, which are often more complex than residential leases. Commercial leases may include additional terms related to property use, maintenance obligations, and business-related clauses. We also offer a separate commercial lease agreement template.

Do lease agreements need to be notarized?

Notarization of lease agreements is not typically required, but it can provide an additional layer of authenticity and protection. However, some jurisdictions or specific agreements may require notarization, so it's important to check local regulations.

Is it legal for tenants to sign a lease agreement remotely?

Yes, tenants can legally sign a lease agreement remotely. This practice is increasingly common, especially with the rise of electronic signatures.