What to know before you sign

LEASE LENGTHS

Most Bloomington leases are signed for one year, but some are open-ended, meaning both the tenant and the landlord reserve the right to terminate the lease at any time.
Some leases include an automatic renewal clause, in which the lease is automatically renewed unless tenants give written notice 30 to 60 days in advance of the end of the lease.

LEASE CLAUSES TO LOOK FOR

Joint and several liability clause
Under most leases, roommates are “jointly and severally liable,” which means that if one roommate doesn’t pay his or her share of the rent, the other(s) will have to pay it or be evicted.

If your lease doesn’t have a jointly liable clause, it generally means that landlords rent individual rooms and will often have the right to replace any person who has been evicted with a roommate of their
choosing.

Savings clause
Some leases will have a savings clause making you liable for rent after you’ve been evicted, meaning you will have to pay your monthly rent until the lease ends even though you can’t live in the house or apartment.

Acceleration clause
This clause says once a tenant breaches the lease terms, he or she owes the rent for remainder of the lease term immediately. However, when a tenant breaches a lease, the landlord legally must re-rent the property as soon as possible in order to minimize the amount of money they will lose.

Attorney’s fees clause
This is written into most leases and means that if a landlord hires a lawyer for any reason, brings suit against the tenant and wins, then the tenant will be responsible for all of the landlord’s attorney fees.

'Lock-out' clause
Allows a landlord to gain
possession of a home without an eviction order. These clauses are rare, especially since lock-outs are illegal under Indiana law.

Co-signer clauses
These require a co-signer, typically a student’s parent. Some landlords require a co-signer for international students; however, this practice may violate
Indiana law.

Source  IU Student Legal Services, www.indiana.edu/~sls.