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Renting a home: whether the unit is a single detached house, a two-storey apartment, a modest condominium or a swanky penthouse suite, is not as easy as everyone perceives it to be. It involves more than having money change hands every week or month, depending on what payment terms have been agreed upon by both parties. Renting a home is about working together. It's about understanding the requirements of one another, and adapting to the codes of conduct specified by each.

In some instances, especially if the landlord and tenants have known each other for long periods of time, a gentleman's agreement (a verbal contract) would normally suffice. However, sometimes, even the best of friends have falling outs due to money matters so, to prevent this from happening and to clearly spell out the duties and responsibilities of each, it is still best that a formal contract be written and that these be signed by all the parties involved.

Formal contracts for properties that are rented out as private dwellings are called residential lease agreements. Not only do these specify how much the unit will be rented out, all the other terms and conditions: from the rules and regulations that shall govern the new tenant, to the responsibilities that shall be borne by the landlord, and the appropriate 'penalty clauses' are to be specified in writing on this document.

Generally, there are two kinds of lease agreements, and these are based on the duration of one's stay in the residential unit. For short-term and/or indefinite leases, the contract both parties normally use is called a month-to-month rental agreement. Long term leases, or those wherein the tenant will stay in a property for years at a time, are covered by a more comprehensive contract called a Lease Agreement.

These two contracts, the Lease Agreement and the Month-to-Month Rental Agreement, are both considered legal documents and will stand in any court of law. Thus said, it is very important that the contents of these documents are well written and easily understood, most especially by the parties involved.

In previous years, residential lease agreements could only be prepared by real estate agents or lawyers. Not only was this process time consuming, it was also an additional cost that usually had to be factored into the rental rates. Luckily, tenants and landlords no longer have to go through this tedious process as they are now able to prepare residential lease agreements by themselves by downloading an editable version from one of many real estate related websites found on the internet.

Many are apprehensive about using downloadable forms because they fear that the content and format may not necessarily conform to the standards set by local or state government offices. However, the developers of such sites have invested much time and energy to ensure that these documents, although considered somewhat generic, meet the requirements of any official business or government entity. Because these forms can be opened using any standard word processing program, the contents can easily be modified to suit the specific needs of the users.