What a Lease Can Hide in Translation
Picture a couple named Selma and Jon who have found an apartment they like and are handed a lease in the local language. They have an English translation from the landlord’s agent. It runs to four pages and looks friendly.
They ask a bilingual friend to read the original with them, and they pay a lawyer $100 for an hour to read it as well. Between them, they find five things the translation had softened.
Five clauses Selma and Jon asked about (an illustration)
| Clause | What it said | What they asked |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit | Three months’ rent, $4,500 | When is it returned, and for what can it be kept? |
| Rent increase | Raised each year by an index | Which index, and is there a ceiling? |
| Early exit | Two months’ rent as a penalty | Can a tenant who finds a replacement leave sooner? |
| Utilities | Paid by the tenant | In whose name are the accounts, and what are they usually? |
| Repairs | Small repairs by the tenant | What counts as small, and what is the limit? |
The landlord is not a villain. A deposit protects against damage, an index protects against rising prices, and an exit penalty protects against an empty month. Each clause answers a risk that a landlord has met before.
Some of their questions change the lease. The landlord agrees to a ceiling on the yearly increase and to return the deposit within thirty days. Others do not change, and Selma and Jon sign knowing what they have signed.
They also ask for an inventory of what is in the apartment, with photographs, dated and signed by both. A deposit is easier to get back when both sides agreed on what was there at the start.
You might say a lease is a lease, and everyone signs the same things. In many places that is close to true. The details still differ from country to country, and a translation may leave out parts of the original.
You could ask for the lease a few days before you sign, so you have time to read it. You could ask a bilingual friend or a local lawyer to go through it. You could write down your five questions on one card and ask them calmly, one at a time.
What was in your first lease abroad that you did not expect? Tell us in the comments. Someone reading may be holding a lease right now.
Tell us in the comments