The Benefits of Electronic Rental Agreements

Landlords who have been renting and managing rental property for years can tell you how physically signing and possessing a paper copy of a rental agreement feels more “legit” and “real”. Some have succumbed to the curiosity of converting their rental agreements to electronic formats. Some, just plain out refuse.

The younger, newer property owners don’t seem to have a big issue with it. Some don’t know any other way. The truth is, with technology advancing more by the day, the benefits of having tenants eSign your rental agreements grow along with the times. Here are some of the benefits.

eSign holds up in court

Among the concerns for the more traditional landlords who like to have physical copies of signed agreements, is whether or not eSign holds up in court. In other words, is it really considered a legal document?

The U.S. Electronic Signature in Global and National Commerce Act of 1000 (ESIGN) ensures that any signature obtained through an electronic platform or mean is considered legal.

Both sides can legally be held responsible for holding up their end of the agreement when both the landlord and the tenant eSign a rental agreement.

It saves everyone time

The traditional way of signing a rental agreement involves taking time out of your busy day to meet with a tenant and having them sign your rental agreement. Printing two or three copies. Making copies after they sing. Scanning your RA to have a digitally backed copy. Email your tenant a copy. eSignatures make all of this a thing of the past.

You only have to set your contract up once through the many available eSign platforms. Once you’re ready to have a tenant sign, you can usually log into the platform of your choice and fire off an email to your tenant. Your tenant can then read, review, fill out, and sign the electronic document. The platform will automatically email you and your tenant a copy and also store a copy on the platform itself. How convenient!

Are you a long distance landlord? Are you afraid of having personal contact with people due to COVID? Switching to a paperless eSigned rental agreement may be the best solution for you.

Manage your business better

Popular eSigning platforms keep track of who signed your contract. These contracts will always be available to download as you wish. Keep all of them in a nice, safe secure location on some sort of cloud service, like Google Drive. You can keep digital copies of their ID’s and information they provided during the screening process.

Convenient..for you and your tenant

When coupled with other online platforms, such as rent payment services, the convenience just grows and grows! Using popular eSign platforms will ensure you always have the rental agreement at your fingertips. No more filing through a rusty cabinet which is in your office that you forgot to bring with you to a meeting.

Save money

Depending on the size of your operation, printing rental agreements that are 40 pages long can add up! Wear and tear on your printers, toner and paper alone can start becoming a big business cost. Moving to a paperless solution for your rental agreements can be a smart solution to reducing business expenses.

Things to consider when looking for an eSign solution

There are many platforms out there. Some things to consider when shopping around include

• Does the platform ensure your information is secured? Look for companies that use https on their website and offer 2 step verification when signing in.
• Do they have options for notifying you when someone signs the rental agreement or when there was an issue?
• How well does the platform integrate with other solutions such as dropbox, google drive etc?
• Do they offer cloud storage for your rental agreements? If they do, how much? Is it enough?
• How easy and straightforward is it to use for you and your tenants?
• Do they offer templating systems? Can you personalize the templates such as providing the ability to put your own custom logo and colors?
• Do they have apps that sync with their web application?

There are many benefits of switching to paperless rental agreements and using electronic signatures. They save time, money and most importantly, are legally binding. They can also offer other benefits such as making you look more professional and tech savvy. Do you use electronically signed rental agreements?