Lease agreement: what it is, and how to send a complete copy
By Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak · Published
In short
A lease is the signed agreement between a landlord and a tenant for a home or a commercial space. It sets the rent, the term, the parties and the rules. A complete copy has every page, every signature and every addendum. Find it in your e-signature email, your tenant account or with your landlord or property manager.
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What is a lease?
A residential or commercial lease names the landlord and tenants, the property address, the start and end dates, the rent and when it is due, the security deposit and the rules both sides agreed to.
Addenda are part of the lease: renewals, rent changes, pet or parking terms and the disclosures your state or local law may require. A lease without its addenda can tell a different story from the one in force.
Who sends it, and when
The landlord or the property manager prepares the lease, and both sides sign it before the tenancy starts. Renewals and amendments are signed later, often each year, and belong with the original.
Where to get a lease
- Your email: leases signed online come with a final copy from the e-signature service (DocuSign, Dropbox Sign and similar).
- Your tenant or landlord account with the property manager, often under Documents.
- Your landlord or property manager, who keeps the signed original and can send a copy.
- Your own files, for a paper lease: scan every page, including signature and addendum pages.
- For a renewal, the renewal agreement or amendment, sent together with the original lease.
Wrong files people send instead
- An unsigned copy, or one signed by the tenant only.
- The first pages without the signature page or the addenda.
- An expired lease when a renewal is in force.
- The rental application or a listing instead of the lease.
- Phone photos with cut edges or unreadable pages.
Questions people ask
Can a lease be used as proof of address?
Often, yes: many offices accept a current signed lease as proof of address, though some ask for a utility bill or bank statement as well. Check the list you were given.
What if I never got a copy of my lease?
Ask your landlord or property manager for a copy of the signed lease and every addendum. If you signed online, search your email for the e-signature service’s completed copy.
Is a month-to-month tenancy a lease?
It can be a written agreement that renews each month, or an oral arrangement. If there is a written one, send it; if not, a rent ledger or rent receipts may show the tenancy instead.
Ask once. DokuTrak does the chasing.
- Your client uploads from one link, with no account and no password.
- Reminders go out on a schedule, by default 2, 5, 10 and 14 days after the request, until the file arrives.
- With AI review switched on in your workspace (it is off by default), each upload gets a first pass that flags a file that is not a lease, an unreadable or blurry scan or a copy where one of these is missing or cut off: the tenant’s name, the property address. It says so when it is not sure.
- You accept every file or mark it for re-upload, and your client gets the note by email. The AI never accepts a file.