Q&A: How do you write up an official contract?

Question by Caesarion: How do you write up an official contract?
I’m going to be subletting my apartment for all of next year (signed lease early – stupid). However, I obviously need to write up a contract to avoid all damages and unpaid rent.

My question is, what makes a contract official? What’s the difference between signing a contract to pay for say, a membership somewhere, and some dude just writing something and someone else signs it and it has no meaning? Do I need to get a lawyer involved or something? I know that I definitely need to get a unrelated witness to sign it as well.

Basically, I just want something to ASSURE myself ZERO liability once that subletter signs my contract. How do I ensure that?
Yes, I do have permission to sublet. It is a large, corporate student housing complex built less than two years ago.

Basically, I just want to know, if the subletter doesn’t pay, what happens to him? Does that need to be stated in the contract? Do I need to get collateral or something, like a car lease?
The tricky thing is, I’m not really dealing with a typical landlord…this place is run by a management group, and the land is owned by a wealthy landowner in the area that has nothing to do with the place besides funding. There is a leasing officer that does the leasing, but she works under the property manager.

Best answer:

Answer by Stewart H
Well, you have signed a contract for the rental on the apartment and in doing so have accepted some responsibilities. You cannot get out of these by signing a contract with a third party. What you can do is to protect yourself as well as possible by having a lawyer draw up a contract and explain it to you. These sort of contracts are very much standard documents and should not cost you very much, but do use a lawyer.

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