6 Important Guidelines to Writing your Vacation Rental Contract

Aug 20, 2012

A vacation rentals contract is a document of small period of lease when the owning party rents their house out to people for spending their holidays. It is an important legal document that comes in handy if any issue arises regarding the vacation home. Some clauses like dates of renting and the costs are absolutely mandatory in an agreement of rental. Many other clauses can be incorporated at your will, for example, if you don’t want loud music being played after 10 in the evening, you can mention it on the contract papers.

To begin writing a lease document, you must first get familiar with an acceptable format. Try downloading some templates from the Internet if you are writing a contract for the first time. The contract must ideally contain the following fields:

1. Traveler names

Ask your tenants the names of each and every person who is expected to stay in the vacation home. It is not just the head of the party whose name is required.

1. Dates and times of arrival and departure

Confirm the exact dates of arrival and departure of the tourists. These should not be tentative at the time of writing the contract. Also mention the extra charges per day that shall be applicable in case the tenants stay longer than they were expected to stay.

1. Amount of rent to be paid

Calculate the amount of rent, costs of using cleaning and other services, as well as the amount deposited as security, and mention the total costs in the contract papers. It is advisable that you also mention the date by which all payments or some part of the payments should be made, failing which the deal would be nullified.

1. Mode of payment

Inquire your guests about how they will be making the payments and put the information on the contract. They can choose to pay cash, checks, cashier checks, credit card, or debit cards.

1. Penalties chargeable in case of damage to property

This is a very important and should not be missed out. Any damage to your property should be declared liable to penalties depending on the amount of damage costs.

1. Clarify the use of the house as a vacation abode only

Write in the documents that the house is strictly meant to be used only as rental properties for your holidays, and not for any commercial purposes.

Renting your house to unknown people can have serious implications if you are not careful with who you are renting to and how the property is meant to be used. To avoid any hassles, it is required that you make an organized contract. Also, get it checked once by a legal expert who can advise you further on matters that you may have forgotten to address.