EXPLANATION OF THE MERLIN LEASE DOCUMENT
POLICY/INTRODUCTION
A lease is a binding, legal contract in which the resident agrees to pay rent and other charges for a specific unit, for a specific period of time. It is important that property associates understand the components of the MAA lease. In Yardi 7S, MAA uses a proprietary lease form produced through MERLIN. If you have any specific questions about lease language that are not answered in this policy or suggestions for new language, please contact your Property Manager or RVP. When going through this policy it would be helpful to have a recent MERLIN lease from your Property and read the lease and the policy together.
PROCEDURE
How is a lease is generated?
In order to generate a lease at MAA, the Property associate enters the resident’s information into Yardi. Then the associate logs into MERLIN through OKTA and chooses the Property, Apartment, primary resident and finally the lease agreement. MERLIN creates the lease and any applicable addenda. Through MERLIN, the associate will either send the Lease via email for electronic signature or print the Lease for signature. Because the Lease contains information from Yardi, making sure the information is entered correctly into Yardi is critical. If there is any incorrect Resident or Lease term information in MERLIN, the associate must correct that information in Yardi and then refresh MERLIN and generate a new lease.
LEASE SUMMARY AND SPECIFIC TERMS
This section of the Lease discusses specific information related to the Residents, occupants, guarantors and lease term. It includes the Property name, Property address, Apartment address, Lease Start Date and the Lease End Date. Everyone financially responsible for the Lease who will live in the Apartment should be listed as a Resident, everyone who will live in the Apartment (regardless of age) who is not financially responsible should be listed as an occupant, and everyone who is financially responsible but who will not live in the Apartment should be listed as a guarantor. Note that guarantors must sign a separate guaranty agreement which is also generated through MERLIN. This section also sets forth the rent, one time charges, security deposit, rentable items and other recurring charges. If the Resident has an animal, the amount of any pet fees and deposits will also be shown. If the Resident has a service animal, there should be no pet fees or deposits. If the Resident has received a rent concession, the amount of the concession and the terms of the concession will be stated in this section. In particular, the Lease specifies that if the Resident fails to fulfill the term of the Lease, the concession will be revoked and any previously granted concession must be paid back.
If the Resident is also leasing garage, storage or parking, specific provisions related to these items will be included. Note that the Resident may not terminate garage, parking or storage mid-lease.
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