Start With the Money, Not Just the Rent Number
Before anything else, find every dollar figure in the lease: monthly rent, the due date, and any grace period. Then look for every fee that isn't the rent itself — application fees, admin or move-in fees, pet rent, parking, amenity fees, and a late fee. If a fee isn't written into the lease anywhere, a landlord generally can't add it later just because someone mentioned it verbally — see can my landlord add fees that aren't in my lease. Add every recurring charge together and compare the total to what you were quoted before you ever saw the lease.
Also read the security deposit section closely: how much it is, whether any part is labeled "non-refundable," and what the lease says about how and when it comes back. See how much can a landlord charge for a security deposit for what's typical.
What Happens When Something Breaks
Find the maintenance and repairs clause and read it word for word. A fair lease keeps the landlord responsible for keeping the unit livable — heat, plumbing, wiring, structural problems — and only asks you to handle small things like light bulbs or a smoke-detector battery. A one-sided version tries to make you responsible for "all repairs" or says the unit is rented "as is," which pushes a landlord's legal duty onto you in ways that may not actually hold up. If this clause looks aggressive, read can my lease make me pay for all repairs and can a lease say I'm renting the apartment "as is" before you sign anything.
Read the End of the Lease Before You Read the Middle
The last few pages usually carry the clauses that matter most if there's ever a dispute: how the lease ends, whether it automatically renews into a new term, what breaking it early costs, and whether you or the landlord can collect attorney's fees in court. Look specifically for the words "renew," "automatically," "as-is," "waive," "hold harmless," and "attorney's fees" — each one is doing real legal work, not filling space. Is an automatic lease renewal clause legal and what does an attorney's fees clause mean walk through what to expect from each.
Who Else Is Bound to This Lease
If you're signing with roommates, check whether everyone is named on the lease and whether it says you're "jointly and severally liable." That phrase means the landlord can collect the full rent from any one of you if the others stop paying — not just your share of it. See what does "jointly and severally liable" mean for what that looks like in practice.
Clauses That Try to Take Away a Right Your State Gives You
Some leases include a clause where you "waive" a right — to sue, to a required notice period, or to a livable home. California, for example, makes a lease clause void as against public policy if it tries to waive a tenant's right to notice or a hearing required by law, or the landlord's legal duty of care to prevent injury or property damage (Cal. Civ. Code § 1953(a)). Other states have their own versions of this kind of protection. A lease can ask for a lot, but it generally can't make you sign away a right a statute already gives you — see can a lease make me give up my tenant rights.
The lease also can't include terms that discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, or disability — that's illegal under the federal Fair Housing Act no matter what the lease says (42 U.S.C. § 3604(b), (f)). And if the building was built before 1978, federal law requires the landlord to give you a lead-paint disclosure and information pamphlet before you're obligated under the lease, not after (42 U.S.C. § 4852d(a)(1)).
Before You Sign
Ask for a copy of the lease to read at home, not just in the leasing office — a lease you aren't allowed to take away and read carefully is a lease you shouldn't sign quickly. Walk through the unit and photograph any existing damage before move-in so it can't be charged to you later. And confirm every verbal promise — a waived fee, a repair the landlord agreed to make, an earlier move-in date — is actually written into the lease; if it isn't on paper, it generally didn't happen as far as enforcing it later goes.
Honestkey™ reads an uploaded lease and flags clauses and fees that may not hold up under your state's law, plus gives you free letter templates and a move-in checklist to document the unit's condition before you're responsible for it.