Vacation Rental Contracts
Glossary
Abandon/abandonment. Vacating or giving up use of or rights in real property.
Agent. A person who represents another (a principal) by the principal's authority.
Amount of Advance Notice. The number of days' notice that must be given before a change in the tenancy can take effect.
Arbitrator. A neutral third person, agreed to by the parties to a dispute, who hears and decides a dispute.
Claim of Right to Possession. A form that the occupants of a rental unit can fill out to temporarily stop their eviction by the sheriff after the landlord has won an unlawful detainer (eviction) lawsuit.
Commission. Money paid to a real estate agent or broker for negotiating a real estate or loan transaction.
Commitment. A promise to lend and a statement by the lender of the terms and conditions under which a loan is made.
Contingency. A condition which must be satisfied before a contract is legally binding.
Discrimination (in renting). Denying a person housing, telling a person that housing is not available (when the housing is available), providing housing under inferior terms, harassing a person in connection with housing, or providing segregated housing because of a person's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, source of income, age, disability, marriage status, or when children under the age of 18 in the person's household or for a person with a disability.
Eviction. A court-administered proceeding for removing a tenant from a rental unit because the tenant has violated the rental agreement or did not comply with a notice ending the tenancy (also called an "unlawful detainer").
Eviction notice (or three-day notice) A three-day notice that the landlord serves on the tenant when the tenant has violated the lease or rental agreement.
Grace Period. Period of time during which a loan payment may be made after its due date without incurring a late penalty.
Guest. A person who does not have the rights of a tenant, such as a person who stays in a hotel for fewer than seven days.
Habitable. A rental unit that is fit for human beings to live in.
Implied warranty of habitability. A legal rule that requires landlords to maintain their rental units in a condition fit for human beings to live in.
Initial inspection. An inspection by the landlord before the tenancy ends to identify defective conditions that justify deductions from the security deposit. The landlord must perform an initial inspection if the tenant requests it.
Joint Liability. Liability shared among two or more people, each of whom is liable for the full debt.
Landlord. A business or person who owns a rental unit, and who rents or leases the rental unit to another person, called a tenant.
Late Charge. Penalty paid by a borrower when a payment is made after the due date.
Lease. A rental agreement, usually in writing, that establishes all the terms of the agreement and that lasts for a predetermined length of time (for example, six months or one year).
Lock out. When a landlord locks a tenant out of the rental unit with the intent of terminating the tenancy.
Lodger. A person who lives in a room in a house where the owner lives. The owner can enter all areas occupied by the lodger and has overall control of the house.
Mediation. A process in which a neutral third person meets with the parties to a dispute in order to assist them in formulating a voluntary solution to the dispute.
Negligence/negligently. A person's carelessness (that is, failure to use ordinary or reasonable care) that results in injury to another person or damage to another person's property.
Power of Attorney. Legal document authorizing one person to act on behalf of another.
Real Property. Land and any improvements permanently affixed to it, such as buildings.
Rent withholding. The tenant's remedy of not paying some or all of the rent if the landlord does not fix defects that make the rental unit uninhabitable within a reasonable time after the landlord receives notice of the defects from the tenant.
Rental agreement. An oral or written agreement between a tenant and a landlord, made before the tenant moves in, which establishes the terms of the tenancy, such as the amount of the rent and when it is due. See lease and periodic rental agreement.
Rental application form. A form that a landlord may ask a tenant to fill out prior to renting that requests information about the tenant, such as the tenant's address, telephone number, employment history, credit references, and the like.
Rental unit. An apartment, house, duplex, or condominium that a landlord rents to a tenant to live in.
Renter's insurance. Insurance protecting the tenant against property losses, such as losses from theft or fire.
Repair and deduct remedy. The tenant's remedy of deducting from future rent the amount necessary to repair defects covered by the implied warranty of habitability. The amount deducted cannot be more than one month's rent.
Retaliatory eviction or action. An act by a landlord, such as raising a tenant's rent, seeking to evict a tenant, or otherwise punishing a tenant because the tenant has used the repair and deduct remedy or the rent withholding remedy, or asserted rights.
Security deposit. A deposit or a fee that the landlord requires the tenant to pay at the beginning of the tenancy.
Sixty-day notice. A written notice from a landlord to a tenant telling the tenant that the tenancy will end in 60 days.
Sublease. A separate rental agreement between original tenant and new tenant to whom the original tenant rents the rental unit.
Tenant. A person who rents or leases a rental unit from a landlord.
Thirty-day notice. A written notice from a landlord to a tenant telling the tenant that the tenancy will end in 30 days.
Uninhabitable. The condition of a rental unit which has such serious problems or defects that the tenant's health or safety is affected.
Unlawful detainer lawsuit. A lawsuit that a landlord must file and win before he or she can evict a tenant.
Waiver. Voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some right or privilege.
Walk-through. A final inspection of a home to check for problems that may need to be corrected before closing.
Writ of possession. A document issued by the court after the landlord wins an unlawful detainer (eviction) lawsuit.