Teaching · Life Skills
Read a Lease
A lease is the first money document most people ever sign — and the one they are least likely to read. This pack slows that moment down while it still costs nothing: students name every clause of a residential lease, work out what signing really costs from the lease’s own numbers, and catch three leases that contradict themselves before anyone picks up the pen. Grades 9–12 and adult ed, no prep, answer key included.
How It Works
Read it before you sign it
A lease is a stack of promises, and once your name is on the last line every clause is binding. The pack moves in a deliberate arc: name every part of the document, learn to read it, use its own numbers to work out what a signature really costs, and catch the leases that do not agree with themselves. Pages work in order or on their own.
Name every clause
A labeled residential lease with fourteen numbered callouts — the parties, the term, the rent, the grace period and late fee, the deposit, utilities, pets, notice, early termination, and the signature line — plus a plain-language glossary of what each clause means and why it matters.
Find it & do the numbers
One worksheet has students locate every clause in a second lease, no math. The next asks the five questions every renter faces — the cash due before keys, what the whole term costs, a late month, the last day to give notice, and whether breaking the lease beats riding it out — each answered from the lease’s own clauses.
Catch the problem
Three unsigned leases, three real problems — a move-in fee that no clause creates, a deposit that calls two months’ rent “one month,” and a term whose dates say six months while the clause says twelve. Each one is caught by reading, before the signature, when asking still costs nothing.
What’s Inside
Twelve pages, from diagram to answer key
- Anatomy of a Lease — the labeled reference page, all 14 clauses
- Parts of a Lease — what each clause means and why it matters
- Find It in the Lease — reading only, no math
- Check the Numbers — move-in cash, whole-term cost, a late month, the notice deadline, break vs. stay
- Spot the Problem — three leases that contradict themselves
- Label the Lease — a quiz or exit ticket, with a word bank
- Why Read Your Lease Before You Sign? — five reasons + what the term really costs
- Before You Sign: Questions to Ask — a keep-this checklist for their own first lease
- Two-page answer key — every figure worked out
- Low-ink version — the whole pack in black and white
Get It
Try the free sample, or get the full pack
Free with a free account
Free sample — the labeled diagram
Four pages that stand on their own: the how-to, the full Anatomy of a Lease reference page with all fourteen clauses labeled, and the Find It worksheet with a complete sample lease. Enough for a full lesson today. Create a free Money Instructor account to download — already a member? Just log in.
Included with paid membership
The complete pack
All 12 pages — the clause glossary, Check the Numbers, the three Spot the Problem leases, Label the Lease, Why Read Your Lease, the keep-this Before You Sign checklist, and a two-page answer key — with a low-ink black-and-white version too. Free and logged-out visitors are prompted to create an account or upgrade.
Who It’s For
For anyone about to rent their first place
Life skills
The most important document of moving out — taught on the actual page you sign.
Personal finance
Rent, deposits, fees, and a notice deadline — the real cost of a signature.
Adult ed & transition
A reading task where catching one clause can save a month’s rent.
Consumer math
Percentages, a term total, and a date deadline with a real reason to be right.
Keep Going
Compare it, read it, then budget it
This pack is the middle step of moving out. Before it, Money Instructor’s Renting an Apartment lesson helps students compare places and pick one. After it, the First Apartment Budget printable pack answers the other half of the question — can I afford it? — with move-in costs, a monthly budget, and a roommate agreement. And the sibling packs Read a Utility Bill and Read a Bank Statement do the same job for two more documents every renter has to read.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What grades is this for?
Is this printable free?
Is the sample lease a real lease?
Is this legal advice?
How is this different from your Renting an Apartment worksheet?
Do students need to bring in a real lease?
Is there a low-ink version?
Ready to Teach It?
Print the labeled diagram and teach it before anyone signs anything
Try the free sample, or get the full 12-page pack — the clause glossary, Check the Numbers, three spot-the-problem leases, Label the Lease, Why Read Your Lease, the keep-this Before You Sign checklist, and a two-page answer key.