Provide the Overall Handout before beginning the module.
Note to Instructor: It may be helpful to invite a landlord, an attorney, a court commissioner or a consumer protection agency representative to participate in this session. During the session participants may have specific situations/issues that they want to have discussed. While such discussion may be lively, it will take time away from the module and will not be useful to other participants because they (and the instructor) are hearing only one side of the issue and are not in a position to give advice. Do not encourage such discussion; refer participants to other community resources.
In presenting the module, it is imperative that the presenter NOT give legal advice.
Suggested Introduction
Anytime you rent a place to live, you have a rental agreement with the landlord. Oral or written, it is a legal contract between you and the landlord. The rental agreement sets forth your rights and responsibilities as a tenant, as well as those of the landlord. In this module we will look at a sample rental agreement and review the terms of the agreement – terms you will want to look for in the agreement you sign.
This module also covers steps in ending a rental agreement. You may wonder why we are going to discuss moving on when you are thinking about moving in. How you move out of where you are living now can affect your landlord reference when you are looking for a new place. If you want your full security deposit back when you move out, there are some things you need to do when you move in. We’ll also touch on the eviction process and actions landlords take if they want a tenant to move out.
Activities
Activity 1: Completing the Rental Agreement
Activity 2: Rental Agreement Language
Activity 3: Written Rental Agreements
Activity 4: Moving On Quiz
Activity 5: Security Deposit Deductions
Activity 6: Eviction Process
Activity 7: Notice and Eviction Language
Activity 8: Rental Records
Learning Assessment
Have participants learned the key concepts of this Rent Smart module? The following questions or activities are recommended to assess participant understanding of the information covered in this module.
- Activity 2: Rental Agreement Language and/or Activity 7: Notice and Eviction Language may be used as a learning assessment.
- Identify at least five things they would look for/check on a rental agreement.
- Ask participants to identify at least two reasons to avoid an eviction.
- List at least three rental documents that should be kept.
- Identify two or three ways in which you can keep rental documents and communication.
