Read the lease before you sign
Locate the terms that control money, duration, occupants, repairs, notices, renewal, and ending the agreement.
Things to Consider When Renting a Home
From Khan Academy. Watch here or open it on YouTube .
During the course primer, listen for ideas that change how you approach “Read the lease before you sign.” Pause once to capture a useful point, then apply it while producing an annotated sample lease with a one-page money, duties, deadlines, exit terms, and questions summary.What this lesson is really solving.
Locate the terms that control money, duration, occupants, repairs, notices, renewal, and ending the agreement. This is lesson 4 because later decisions depend on an annotated sample lease with a one-page money, duties, deadlines, exit terms, and questions summary. The lease is the operating manual for the rental relationship; verbal promises must be added in writing. Use your own numbers, files, environment, and constraints so the result survives outside the course.
Understand the idea before touching the steps.
The lease is the operating manual for the rental relationship; verbal promises must be added in writing.
Follow these steps in order.
Take the action in each step; then use the deliverable below to prove the lesson is finished.
- 1
Mark the parties, unit, dates, rent, due date, grace terms, deposits, utilities, fees, and every attachment.
- 2
Find rules for occupants, guests, pets, entry, maintenance, alterations, subletting, insurance, renewal, notice, and early termination.
- 3
List unclear or conflicting language and request written answers or revisions before signing; seek local legal help for high-stakes terms.
See the standard in context.
Jordan notices an automatic-renewal deadline ninety days before move-out and adds it to the calendar before signing. The learner saves an annotated sample lease with a one-page money, duties, deadlines, exit terms, and questions summary and notes the evidence or assumption behind the choice so it can be reviewed and improved later.
Inspect before you move on.
- The finished work visibly includes an annotated sample lease with a one-page money, duties, deadlines, exit terms, and questions summary.
- You tested the work against this common failure: Signing on a phone without reading attachments or relying on a verbal promise that conflicts with the written lease.
- Another person could verify this mastery standard: You can state the total amount due, key deadlines, repair process, renewal rule, and cost of leaving early from the written terms.
Your deliverable
An annotated sample lease with a one-page money, duties, deadlines, exit terms, and questions summary.
Watch for this
Signing on a phone without reading attachments or relying on a verbal promise that conflicts with the written lease.
Prove it—don’t just recognize it.
You can state the total amount due, key deadlines, repair process, renewal rule, and cost of leaving early from the written terms.
Quick knowledge check
Answer from the lesson—not from confidence alone. Score at least 2 of 3 to unlock completion.
This curriculum-aligned check is scored automatically and stored with your account when signed in. It is an objective learning signal, but it has not yet been independently validated as a standardized assessment.
Tools, templates, and references
Pass the knowledge check above first.
Completion unlocks after a score of 2 out of 3. Then confirm that you produced the lesson deliverable.
Go to the knowledge check