I am a new landlord and have finished preparing a new lease for our prospective tenants. We have a unique situation in that we will be mailing the original lease to our tenants to sign. What should be the date in the first line of lease that says "...entered into agreement on this ___ day of _____" Do I write the date that I mailed and signed my portion of the lease?
Looking forward to an expedient answer...

The effective date of an agreement is the date that it was signed by the last person. So you should send 2 copies of the lease to the tenant, let them sign both and return them to you. Then you should sign both copies, date them and return one fully signed copy to the tenants.

Hello Donnalee:

Lisa, of course, is right on.

Although you didn't ask for business advice, in the landlord business, it's hard to separate BUSINESS advice from LEGAL advice.

However, I DID notice that you're a new landlord.

All your business practices should be based upon your states landlord/tenant law. They are the RULES for the landlord business. I'd become INTIMATELY familiar with them.

Fortunately, we have a copy of them right here for your perusal at the top of the real estate page on a sticky note.

The next thing I'd do is rent the movie Pacific Heights.

excon