Contracts of Lease is a common bilateral agreement between the Lessor (the landlord), the party who leases a space or a property for a fee (more popularly recognized as rents) and the Lessee (the tenant), the party who leases the property and is obliged to pay rent. Lease, as a contract mandates each party, the lessor and the lessee to abide by standard contractual relation over which the terms and conditions of the said lease contract must be mutually followed by them.
The responsibilities of the lessor and lessee are essentially separate but mutual. Verbal forms of lease are already abolished from the mainstream. Instead, it is narrowed down into writing that should be notarized. In order to forge a valid lease contract, there must be meeting of the minds. This means that the parties must bilaterally stipulate the terms and conditions of the lease. It is discouraged that the contract should be stipulated by the lessor only because otherwise, the contract will become a “contract of adhesion” which is given less respect by courts against the lessor.
In whatever case, the liabilities of the landlord and the tenant depends on the terms and conditions stipulated by the contract usually separated as the duties and responsibilities of the parties, which specifically deals with the span and duration of the contract, grounds for recession of the contract, prohibition against subleasing, installation of improvements, payment of bills. These are just some of the major key elements that both the land lord and the tenant are obliged to comply in good faith.
This is the reason why both the parties must see to it that they must sit and talk about the major stipulations in the contract, draft stipulations that are fair and commensurate to both parties and incorporate it as a whole integral part of the contract itself. Once the contract is done, both the parties affix their signature, thereafter signed by two disinterested witnesses and thereafter it will be acknowledged before a notary public. Once the instrument is notarized, it becomes a public instrument that is binding between the land lord and the tenant. This would mean that both the landlord and the tenant are duty bound to comply and perform their part of the bargain. The reason is that, their already exist a landlord-tenant relationship and as such, they are mandated to follow the stipulations in the contract because this is the law by and between the parties.
