Three forms every PA landlord should already have.
Free. No card. Instant download, editable Word and PDF.
- Rental ApplicationThe questions that actually predict whether someone pays rent, plus the consent language you need to run a screening.
- Tenant Screening CriteriaYour standards, written down, so you apply the same test to every applicant. This is the one that keeps you out of fair-housing trouble — and it's the most valuable page in the whole bundle.
- Move-In / Move-Out Inspection ChecklistRoom by room, with photo log pages and signature blocks. This is the document that decides whether you keep a security deposit or hand it back.
I'm Scot. I own and manage rental units in Coudersport, Pennsylvania while working full time. I'll send the pack, then a short note every week or two about what's working and what blew up. Unsubscribe any time. These are templates, not legal advice.
Nobody loses a rental over the lease.
They lose it over the paperwork around the lease. These are the three places it goes wrong.
Screening
The tenant you shouldn't have approved costs more than every other mistake combined — unpaid rent, damage, and a Pennsylvania eviction that can run months. Written screening criteria, applied the same way to every applicant, is the cheapest protection there is.
Move-in condition
No dated, signed, photo-backed move-in inspection means no defensible security deposit deduction. You will eat the damage. I learned this trying to justify a deduction from memory.
Notices
A notice with the wrong period, the wrong delivery method, or the wrong wording can get thrown out and you start over. Small details, large consequences — and the details are set by statute and your local ordinance, not by preference.
The Pennsylvania lease I use on my own units
Written for Pennsylvania rentals rather than adapted from a 50-state form. It's the lease on my own four units in Coudersport.
- 49 pages, including the landlord guide and lead-paint disclosure
- Editable Microsoft Word (.docx) plus a print-ready PDF
- Written for Pennsylvania, referencing the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951
- Use it on every property you own, for as many tenants as you have
- 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions
What's in it
- Parties, property, and term
- Rent, late fees, and returned payments
- Security deposit handling
- Utilities and services
- Maintenance and repair responsibilities
- Tenant obligations and house rules
- Lead-based paint disclosure language
- Radon and mold acknowledgment sections
- Pets and assistance animals
- Smoking policy
- Parking and snow removal
- Guests and occupancy limits
- Renters insurance requirement
- Entry, inspections, and showings
- Subletting and alterations
- Keys and locks
- Violation and default procedures
- Termination, holdover, and abandonment
- Severability, notices, and entire-agreement clauses
- Move-in inspection addendum
- Landlord guide (how to use the lease)
- Federal lead-paint disclosure form
What this is, and what it isn't
What it is: a 49-page Pennsylvania residential lease in editable Word format, written for small landlords by someone who rents property in Potter County and works a full-time job. It exists because generic 50-state templates didn't account for how things actually work here.
What it isn't: legal advice. I'm a landlord, not an attorney. No lawyer has reviewed this document. Buying it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Pennsylvania landlord-tenant law changes, and local ordinances vary by borough, township, and city — this document cannot account for yours. Have a Pennsylvania-licensed attorney review it before you rely on it.
I'd rather tell you that up front than have you find out in front of a magisterial district judge.
Questions
No. I'm a landlord, not an attorney, and no lawyer has reviewed this document. It's a template built from my own experience renting property in Pennsylvania. Have a Pennsylvania-licensed attorney review it before you rely on it — that's true of any template you buy anywhere, including the ones that don't say so.
Yes. It was written for Pennsylvania rentals rather than adapted from a 50-state form, and it references the Pennsylvania Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951.
What it can't do is account for local ordinances. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and plenty of smaller boroughs and townships have their own rental rules on top of state law. Check your own municipality, and have an attorney confirm anything you're relying on.
Yes. It comes as an editable Microsoft Word (.docx) file. Change clauses, rent amounts, fees, and terms as you need. If you make significant changes, have an attorney look at the result.
Immediately. You get a download link at checkout. Filling in your property details takes most people 15–30 minutes.
Yes — 30 days, no questions. Email contact@smkrproperty.com and I'll refund you.
Yes. Your purchase includes a lifetime license to use the template across your own rental properties and tenants. You can't resell or redistribute the file itself.
Fair question, and I'd rather answer it than dodge it. I'm not a law firm or a national brand. I'm one landlord in Potter County with four units and a full-time job, selling the paperwork I built for myself.
Start with the three free forms instead. Look at the quality, read a few posts on the blog, and decide from there. Nothing about this requires you to spend money first.
Start with the free three.
Rental application, move-in/move-out checklist, and the occupant sheet. No card, no catch.
Get the free pack