OK so using Calibri 11 my rental agreement is now at 8 pages.

I've heard some are much longer than 8 pages but at what font?

Times New Roman, 11 point. Lease is 4 "pieces of paper" front and back. Aka, 8 pages.

Here's the thing I've found useful: MOST important issues are covered. There is no lease that can cover every issue. The K.I.S.S. principle applies. Better than having a 50+ page lease... just find a GOOD TENANT!

That solves 99% of problems.

No one is going to read a huge lease. I'm pretty sure many tenants don't read (or remember) my relatively short 8 page lease. So the best bet to have a successful tenancy is screen carefully and find someone who doesn't need "How to be a good tenant" spelled out for them in detail.

One thing that may lengthen some leases are prices for repair lists. If those are required by you local judge to compensate you fairly, then go for it of course. I charge invoice cost + 10% admin fee or $40, whichever amount is greater. That's what the lease says. So whatever the invoice is + 10% or $40. Easy cheesy. Never had it challenged.

I try not to change my lease too often. The last thing I need is 5 versions of my lease floating around and I fail to remember which tenant is on which lease. Almost every time I've changed my lease to include something, it was due to the fact I let a bad tenant in. Solution: screen harder.

K.I.S.S.

Pa has some strange laws about this. The font has to be a certain size to avoid the fine print. I am not sure what the exact font is supposed to be, but I use the regional Apartment Association lease. I do add my own addendum page to it though.

You bring up an excellent point that I need to look into. Thanks.

Most of mine is Times New Roman 10. Michigan law actually requires some of the text to be in a larger size -- so some is in 14.

Oh, and mine is 4.5 pages including the signature section.

I like clear, easy to read font - like Arial. Normally 12, but I will squeeze a page a little using 11 or 11.5 - primarily to shorten spaces between clauses, if I want to get that last line to fit on the same page. : )

40 pages, including lead info, tenant's rights, prices for damages, etc.

Got word from NWPA Apt Association - Miniman font requirement is 10 in a readable font for Pennsylvania .

Arial 10

Right now mine is Arial 10.

Seven pages of which the last one is an Initial walk thru and noted problems page. That has anything the tenant and I see that should not be held against them. Maybe a scuff on the tile, or a small stain in a spot of carpet.

I have been adding stuff to my lease from info gathered here. I agree that maybe less is more.

Now I am worried about the convention and what all I will want to add then.

Times New Roman 10. Eight page lease; 14 page Tenant Handbook that includes information that answers questions often asked to stop all the inquiries I would get after move in.

I sat down with an attorney (who wrote the WI LL/tenant law at that time and since retired) to go through my previous lease. At that time it was 11 pages long w/o the Handbook. He told me the judge would throw out a lease that long so we got it down quite a bit. But then new laws came in around 2000 requiring anything that wasn't standard to be put on a separate page entitled Non Standard Rental Provision, and my lease expanded once again.

8 point old English :0