Do Landlords Need to Share a Copy of the Signed Lease Agreement with Tenants?
Landlords, you should absolutely give your tenants a copy of the signed apartment lease agreement. For starters, the law requires you to provide the tenant with many pieces of information that will be found in the lease, such as contact information for the landlord or their agent, various disclosures about bed bugs, recycling, radon and lead, and, if applicable, a summary of the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance, among many others.
Why Do Tenants Need a Signed Copy of the Apartment Lease?
Landlords want tenants to know their responsibilities under the lease. They are more likely to be familiar with those responsibilities if they have a copy of the apartment lease agreement on hand. It is also helpful if the tenant knows where the landlord’s responsibilities end. Imagine any one of the following scenarios: the tenant’s pet bites another tenant, the tenant’s bike is stolen from the apartment, the tenant wants you to terminate the lease early because they're moving to another city...
When the tenant calls you to discuss, the conversation should quickly turn to the lease agreement terms. If you used the 2022 Domu Apartment Lease, you’d soon find that the liability for any of those issues was decided on the day both parties signed the lease.