How to check an apartment lease before signing
What the tenant and the owner should look at: deposit, utilities, term, and early move-out
How to check an apartment lease before signing: go through the parties, the property, the rent, the deposit, and the way out of the deal. The same approach helps you check an apartment tenancy agreement, a residential-premises tenancy, or a premises lease — the logic of the text is similar; the details of the property change.
An apartment lease is often signed in a hurry, and disputes later arise over the deposit, utilities, repairs, and early-termination terms. Below is a practical checklist for checking a lease clause by clause, without going into Rosreestr registration or Interior Ministry databases.
Upload the lease as a PDF or Word file and get a clause-by-clause breakdown of the risks:
1. Parties and the leased property
- The parties’ names and passport or company details match reality
- The apartment address, cadastral number (if stated), area, and number of rooms are described unambiguously
- The basis on which the owner is letting it is stated (ownership, a power of attorney, consent of co-owners)
- There is a list of furniture and appliances with their condition on the handover date
What to watch:
If the property is described vaguely (“an apartment at the address…”) and the handover certificate has no inventory, disputes over damaged furniture are almost inevitable.
2. Term, rent, and deposit
- Lease term: start and end dates, and whether renewal is possible
- Amount of rent, payment deadline, and method (transfer / cash plus a receipt)
- Indexation: whether the owner can raise the rent, and on what terms
- Deposit (security payment): amount, what it can be withheld for, and when it is returned
Dangerous wording:
- “The landlord may change the rent at any time”
- A deposit with no return rules, or “is not returned under any circumstances”
- Payment “a month in advance” without stating which period the payment covers
3. Utilities, internet, and repairs
Separate what is included in the rent from what is paid separately:
- Cold and hot water, electricity, gas, heating, capital repairs, and internet
- Who contracts with the provider, and in whose name the bills are issued
- Who does routine repairs, and who does capital repairs
- Whether cosmetic repairs are allowed without the owner’s consent
4. Occupancy, guests, pets, and sublease
- How many people may live there permanently
- Rules for guests and overnight stays
- Pets: whether they are allowed, and on what terms
- A ban on sublease and on nightly re-letting
5. Early termination and penalties
This is the most common source of conflict. Check:
- How many days’ notice is required to move out / to evict
- Whether there is a penalty for early withdrawal, and whether it is proportionate
- Whether the owner can evict without a material breach
- What happens to the deposit on early termination
Short checklist
- The property and the parties are described specifically
- Rent, term, and deposit are clear and mutual
- Utilities and repairs are split by responsibility
- House rules and sublease are fixed
- An early exit is possible without punitive terms
- There is a handover certificate with an inventory
A general lease checklist (including non-residential premises) is “How to check a lease agreement”. The method for checking any contract is in “A contract-checking checklist”. If the owner sent edits to your draft, compare the two versions.
Check a lease online
DocumentCHEK will read the text for risks: one-sided terms, the deposit, penalties, and vague wording.