Resident Rental Agreements: Length of Lease
Your resident rental agreement must contain the length of the lease. It is up to the organization to determine if they would like to use an annual, monthly or weekly rental or lease agreement.
Putting a end-of-term text in your agreement does not necessarily mean that the resident needs to move out at the end of the term, because the lease can always be renewed.
There can be an assumption that residency will continue after the length of lease has been reached, until one party provides notice ending the agreement.
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Length of Stay vs. Length of Lease
However, recovery homes are not permitted to place arbitrary time limits on the length of stay of individuals within the recovery housing residence.
“A recovery housing residence shall not limit a resident’s duration of stay to an arbitrary or fixed amount of time. Instead, each resident’s duration of stay shall be determined by the resident’s needs, progress and willingness to abide by the residence’s protocols, in collaboration with the residence’s operator, and, if appropriate, in consultation and integration with a community addiction services provider.” Section 340.034
This means that policies that require individuals to move out of the home within a specific time period are not appropriate for recovery housing settings. Consequently, to meet the standards for quality, recovery homes may not require that residents move out simply because they have completed their treatment services.
Learn more from the Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules about recovery housing in Section 340.034 – Ohio Revised Code | Ohio Laws.
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Considerations for Length of Lease Term
As you consider your lease term, there are several factors to keep in mind. A longer lease term may mean more financial stability, as the resident is agreeing to pay your rent over a longer period of time. If you have this arrangement, the organization can be reasonably confident that it will have a source of revenue over the rental time period.
However, the organization (landlord) is required to provide the resident housing for the length of the lease, so it may be difficult to end the lease early. If the organization wants to end the lease early, it will need to come to a mutual agreement with the resident or have a good enough reason to participate in the legal eviction process.
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Seek legal and financial advice with appropriate professionals to help you determine which length of lease is the most appropriate for your program and ensure that the renewal language is appropriate for your program.