The Parties

Definitions

The Party to a lease contract is one who holds the obligations and receives the benefits of a legally binding agreement. When two Parties enter into an agreement, each accepts the benefits and obligations specified therein.

The Lessor is the person or entity who leases a property to another. Another term for this is Landlord. In farm leases, you may also see “Landowner” used.

The Lessee is the person or entity who holds the lease of a property. Another term for this is Tenant. In farm leases, you may also see “Farmer” used.

In this Build-a-Lease Tool, Landlord and Lessor are used interchangeably, as are Tenant and Lessee.

Purpose

The purpose of naming the Parties to a farm lease is to make sure that the proper individuals or entities are identified and responsible for the terms they agree to by virtue of signing the contract.

FAQs

The legally responsible parties should be listed in the lease as landlord (or landowner or lessor) and tenant (or farmer or lessee). It’s important to clearly state the name and contact information for each party’s primary point of contact. Sometimes the contact person is a representative of the landlord, a land manager or lawyer handling the lease.

Before entering into a lease, both landowner and tenant should confirm that they are who they say they are and that they each have the authority to enter into the lease. For example, if a corporation or trust owns the property, then the tenant should confirm that the corporation or trust legally exists and that the person signing the lease has the power and authority to enter into the lease.

Most landlords are careful to check the credit and reputation of prospective tenants before entering into a lease. Tenants also should determine that their prospective landlords actually own the premises and are solvent. To avoid unintended personal liability, the named parties in the initial “recitals” should be consistent with the forms of the signature lines at the end of the lease.

The landowner is the entity (for example, a person, company, agency, trust, or organization) that legally owns the property being leased. All owners should be listed in the lease as the landowner. The tenant is the entity (person, company, or organization, etc.) that is acquiring use rights and using the leased property. Here too, all tenants must be named. If the tenant is a group of farmers leasing as one entity, that entity must be named. If the farmers are leasing separately, each will have his or her own lease and be named as tenant on that lease. The parties named as landlord and tenant are jointly responsible for the terms of the agreement

Example Text

These text examples (in italics) illustrate what you might include in parts of this section. Example text is not intended as “sample” or “model” language, or as “best practice.” You may copy and paste example text into the template, then modify it for your working lease document. Or you can learn from the examples in order to develop your own text.

Here are examples of how Parties can be named in a lease:

Text box “Lessor’s name”

  • Edward C. Smith
  • Edward C. Smith and Candace P. Jones
  • Candice P. Jones, P.O.A. (Power of Attorney) for Edward C. Smith
  • The Estate of Edward C. Smith
  • Edward C. Smith Family Trust
  • The Town of Amherst, Massachusetts
  • The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
  • Smith and Jones, LLC
  • Smith and Jones, Inc.
  • The Hilltop School
  • Farm and Forest Land Trust

Text box “Lessee’s name”

  • Charles L. Fields
  • Charles L. Fields, Susan P. Thompson and Mary Adams
  • Mary Adams dba (doing business as) Hillside Fruits
  • Springdale Farm LLC
  • Rootless Farm Cooperative
  • Mytown Community Farm, Inc.
  • Charles L. Fields, P.O.A. for Susan P. Fields