I'm new to biggerpockets forum and also new in leasing/ renting here in Tacoma. As mentioned in the title, is there a standard lease rental agreement in Tacoma? if so, where i can get a copy from?
Real Estate Broker · Renton, WA · Member since 2017 · 23 posts · 21 votes
7y
Andrew, whether you’re self managing or hiring a PM- i think it’s always a good idea for you to be an educated consumer, and an educated landlord.
I strongly recommend joining a group like: www.RHAWA.com and check out their leases, addendums, etc and get to know the rules to the best of your ability. Washington is screwy- but Tacoma and Seattle are especially challenging for landlords- so do all you can to get the knowledge base and be a high quality, good, compliant landlord.
Rental Property Investor · Lake Forest Park, WA · Member since 2015 · 127 posts · 57 votes
7y
@Andres Fung Zhang Welcome to BiggerPockets. There aren’t really “standard” leases. Leases vary wildly from landlord to landlord, PM to PM. I suggest looking at a handful of local leases and seeing what you like/don’t like. Also, get with some local property managers to discuss what type of things to add/omit from your lease based on the area. Finally, I would pay the money for a real estate attorney to review your lease to make sure you aren’t breaking any laws and are covering your bases.
Another thing to note is BP has leases you can buy that are state specific that we’re drafted by local attorneys. You could look into that.
Real Estate Broker · Renton, WA · Member since 2017 · 23 posts · 21 votes
7y
Andrew, whether you’re self managing or hiring a PM- i think it’s always a good idea for you to be an educated consumer, and an educated landlord.
I strongly recommend joining a group like: www.RHAWA.com and check out their leases, addendums, etc and get to know the rules to the best of your ability. Washington is screwy- but Tacoma and Seattle are especially challenging for landlords- so do all you can to get the knowledge base and be a high quality, good, compliant landlord.
I'm new to biggerpockets forum and also new in leasing/ renting here in Tacoma. As mentioned in the title, is there a standard lease rental agreement in Tacoma? if so, where i can get a copy from?
Thank You
Hi Andres! Welcome to BiggerPockets. There are a lot of tools out there which can help to automate some of this process for you (ie. uses the property address to pull that local residential lease, including all of the necessary clauses, disclosures, and pamphlets). If you need any recommendations, please feel free to reach out. Again, welcome to the BP community!
Investor · Seattle WA · Member since 2019 · 11 posts · 10 votes
6y
The NWMLS has a standard lease agreement that I can give you. If it's approved by them, it's good for most of Washington State. Send me a pm and I can shoot that over to you.
Tacoma, WA · Member since 2015 · 9 posts · 4 votes
6y
In Tacoma you'll have to include a tenant information packet with your lease. You will want to consider these City regulations when crafting your lease. You can use mine, feel free to DM me, but I am a rookie property manager myself. It will give you a fine starting point though.
Lender · Renton, WA · Member since 2018 · 215 posts · 216 votes
6y
@Andres Fung Zhan
Another vote for Rental Housing Association of WA. (Full disclosure, I'm on the Board of Directors) They have state wide forms and also variations for one-off municipalities like Tacoma and Seattle with special requirements. They update their forms with every new regulation passed (which seems like way too often lately) and also have training workshops (mostly virtual now) to help educate you on how to stay compliant and other landlording topics.
As part of you annual membership, you also have access to a free Resource Desk where they can answer your questions at a moments notice. A few years ago we had a tenant in Tacoma that called an emergency plumber on a Sunday to fix a sump pump issue that wasn't super critical and then tried to charge us the full bill. It was helpful to be able to call the RHAWA resource desk to confirm we weren't liable since the tenant did not give us 24 hrs to respond.