After reading about other peoples' policies, I'm curious how many of you don't sign your own leases or even have your own name/business name on them. I'd like to move into that direction, but I'm a bit weary.

Why do you want to remove your name and signature from your rental agreements?

A judge will want to know who the LL is, who is renting the premises to the T.

I scribble mine, but I don't understand the point of not signing them. If to claim they aren't valid in court due to no signature, I think the judge would rule they're valid simply by asking you how long you've received rent at the house.

A contract can be made, not only by signature, but also by the parties' behavior.

In probably ALL Common Law states (ALL US states except LA [not L.A]), if the parties look like they made a contract, act like they made a contract, behave like the made a contract and exchange money like they made a contract, then the court will conclude that the indeed made a contract, signature or not.

What are the terms of this contract? Again, if the parties look like, act like, behave like and exchange money like they would have according to the contact which is unsigned by one side, but working to the advantage of that party that drafted the contract, induced the other side to sign, but didn't sign themselves, then what SHOULD a judge conclude? Remember that a principle of law is that a contract should be interpreted AGAINST the party that drafted the contract.

Do you suppose that practices like a landlord drafting a contract, inducing the tenant to sign it, evading signing the lease himself and then, claiming in court that the TENANT promised to abide by the terms of the lease, not him, does it help to give landlords a good name? How would YOUR judge react?

Jason,

First take YOUR name off everything for the safety of you and your family. Use a business/company name.

Me lease is clear: My management company name is shown plainly at the top. The lease uses the terms Management and Resident as proper nouns throughout the lease.

The signature portion has blanks for

Resident ____

Resident ____

Manager ____

Office ____

The "not signing" policy is to protect my business for PITAs or Crazies.

Situations are rare but this HAS saved me a few times.

Sometimes we discover something after lease signing. Here are some real life examples:

-a reference finally responds negatively,

-we discover an alias,

-a police friend gives a warning,

-they say something which was not on their app like animals or family moving in

-they make a negative post on FB about their new home or new LL after we hand them the keys,

-the previous LL files eviction AFTER we signed this new lease...

-Most common: they divorce or split the night of signing.

-In a single month I had 2!! couples sign leases and once the girl and her kids were moved in the guy with the job drove away.

-As I remember in my friend WMH's case the woman called before moving in and begged to be released due to domestic violence.

-I recently had one who become a very different person (bi-polar?) She was kind and quiet then turned into a ragging maniac after I handed her the keys. She emailed a long list of demands for repairs and painting, mold, rot, bugs, the usual. (we turn over perfect homes)

In each case I was able to state "The office did not approve your lease. Your deposit will be returned by mail immediately."

They don't call back.

Their copy won't have our signature on it. IF IF IF we go to court we take a signed copy.

BRAD

Keep in mind that it is required to have the name & address on the lease where the landlord can be served.

DJ,

Often folks don't move in for several days.

We instantly run over and change the keys - thanks LandlordLocks.com!

In one case they had simply set some boxes inside the door. We said if they will remove the boxes within 24 hours we will refund their entire deposit. They did.

In another case the res moved in some boxes which contained bedbugs. My maint guy spotted that and alerted me.

Gotta protect our biz and out homes!

DJ,

"not approved by the office" is a lot better than "We just realized you are a liar and a jerk so get out".

DJ,

Often folks don't move in for several days.

We instantly run over and change the keys - thanks LandlordLocks.com!

In one case they had simply set some boxes inside the door. We said if they will remove the boxes within 24 hours we will refund their entire deposit. They did.

In another case the res moved in some boxes which contained bedbugs. My maint guy spotted that and alerted me.

Gotta protect our biz and out homes!

Last week I came to a singing for an apartment, I had two "originals" of all the documents to be handed out. The tenant and I filled out both originals together and signed or initialed where appropriate. I allowed the tenant to choose which ever original she wanted.

Then in court when a judge will ask for the tenants copy, I will correct them, we both have 1 original copy. We used different colored pens.

Ken,

They can simply sue the company named on the lease.

My personal name is none of their business. I don’t want them keying my car or showing up with a gun in the night.

To run a business we must deny or evict or fire some people. We cannot please everyone. Some get upset. Some retaliate.

But they don’t wear signs.

BRAD HAS

Can't get most of what this post is getting at. The paper trail is the security deposit. Link that to the lease- which we all know it is-- and your toast.