Searching for a rental agreement template free of charge is a sensible place to start and a poor place to finish. The structure of these documents is common property and there is no reason to pay for a list of headings. The risk sits in the specifics, and the specifics are the parts a downloaded template cannot know about your property. This page is four checks to run before you use one.
Check one: does it know where your property is
If the template does not ask you to select a state, it is not applying any state's rules, and residential tenancies are governed almost entirely at state level. That does not make the template useless, but it means every state-specific number in it is a placeholder: deposit limits, notice periods, the deadline for returning a deposit, and any disclosure the state requires. Treat them all as blanks to be filled rather than as answers you have been given.
Check two: is the deposit section complete
A complete deposit section says the amount, what it may be applied to, where it is held, and when and how it is returned with any deductions itemised. Templates routinely state the amount and stop there. The return process is where the money and the disputes are, and in several states the penalty for getting it wrong is a multiple of the deposit rather than the deposit itself, which turns a paperwork slip into a real number.
Check three: are the notice periods filled in
Notice to end the tenancy, notice to change the rent, and notice before entering the property are three different periods, and a template often leaves all three generic. They are set by state law, they are frequently different from each other, and they are the terms most often argued about because they come up during the tenancy rather than at its end.
Check four: does it contain anything that sounds too good
A clause waiving the landlord's repair obligations, waiving the tenant's right to notice, or allowing entry at will is a clause that is void in many states, and in some places including it has a penalty of its own. If a clause reads as though it buys you an advantage the law would not give, that is the one to ask about. The rest of the document usually needs no lawyer at all.
Questions people ask about rental agreement template free
Is it worth paying for a template instead?
Sometimes, if what you are buying is a state-specific document maintained by someone who follows that state's changes. Paying for a generic template is paying for the same headings you can get free.
Can I edit a template I downloaded?
Yes, and you will have to. The point of running the four checks is to know which edits are required rather than optional.
How often should the template be re-read?
When the state changes a rule that touches it, and otherwise every couple of years. Deposit rules and notice periods are the parts that move.