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Signing a Lease

  • Updated

Overview

Zillow Rental Manager allows landlords and property managers to upload an existing lease, collect electronic signatures from tenants and co-landlords, and securely store completed lease documents.

This article explains how to upload a lease, collect signatures, troubleshoot common signing issues, and understand the signing process.

Upload a lease for electronic signing

  1. Sign in to Zillow Rental Manager.
  2. Open your rental property.
  3. Select the Leases tab.
  4. Select Upload lease for e-signing.
  5. Upload your lease documents.

Supported file types include:

  • PDF
  • Microsoft Word documents
  • Image files

Each uploaded document must be smaller than 100 MB.

  1. Select Start electronic signing.
  2. Choose either a Fixed term or Month-to-month lease.
  3. If you selected a fixed-term lease, enter the move-in date and lease end date.
  4. Enter your tenants' names and Zillow account email addresses. You can add up to eight tenants.
  5. Add the landlord information.
  6. If the property has a co-owner, select Yes and enter the co-landlord's information.
  7. Select Next.
  8. Drag and drop signature, initial, date, and other required placeholders onto the lease.
  9. Ensure every signer has at least one required signature field.
  10. Select Save, then Request signatures.
  11. Optionally, add a personal message to your tenants.
  12. Accept the lease use terms.
  13. Select Request signatures.

How the signing process works

Signatures are collected in the following order:

  1. All tenants receive an email requesting their signatures.
  2. After every tenant signs, the co-landlord (if one was added) receives an email to sign.
  3. After all tenants and co-landlords have signed, the landlord who created the lease receives an email requesting a final countersignature.

The lease becomes active after all required parties have completed the signing process.

Sign as a co-landlord

If the property has multiple owners, the landlord creating the lease can add a co-landlord during setup.

To add a co-landlord:

  1. When asked whether anyone co-owns the property, select Yes.
  2. Enter the co-landlord's name and email address.

The co-landlord will automatically receive a signing request after all tenants have signed.

Download the completed lease

Once all required parties have signed:

  1. Sign in to Zillow Rental Manager.
  2. Open the completed lease.
  3. Download the signed PDF for your records.

Store an already signed lease

If all parties have already signed a paper lease or another electronic version, you can store the completed document in Zillow Rental Manager.

  1. Sign in to Zillow Rental Manager.
  2. Select your property.
  3. Open the Leases tab.
  4. Select View all leases.
  5. Select Create +.
  6. Choose Store your signed lease.

  1. Follow the prompts to upload the completed lease.

Make changes before signing is complete

If tenants request changes before everyone has signed:

  1. Cancel the current signing request.
  2. Update the original lease document.
  3. Upload or edit the lease.
  4. Send the updated lease for signatures again.

Important: Any signatures already collected will be canceled, and all parties must sign the updated lease.

Make changes after a lease is fully signed

Once all parties have signed, Zillow Rental Manager does not support editing, amending, or terminating an active lease.

If changes are required, you must:

  • Complete a lease amendment outside Zillow.
  • Or upload the lease amendment to Zillow Rental Manager.

Note: Terminating a lease outside Zillow does not automatically update the lease status in Zillow Rental Manager. The original lease remains listed as active until it expires or is otherwise removed from the platform.

If you have legal questions regarding amendments or lease termination, consult an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.

Troubleshooting

A signer did not receive the email

If a tenant or co-landlord cannot find the signing email:

  • Verify that their email address was entered correctly in the lease.
  • Ask them to check their spam or junk folder.
  • Confirm they are signing in with the Zillow account that matches the email address entered on the lease.

A signer receives an error

Each signer must be logged in to the Zillow account associated with the email address entered on the lease.

If they do not already have a Zillow account, they must create one using that same email address before signing.

The landlord cannot sign yet

Landlords cannot countersign until:

  • Every tenant has signed.
  • Every co-landlord, if applicable, has signed.

After all other parties have completed signing, the landlord who created the lease receives an email requesting the final countersignature.

My tenant wants to review the lease before signing

Tenants can review the lease before signing.

If changes are needed, cancel the signing request, update the lease, and resend it for signatures.

Legal information

Electronic signatures collected through Zillow Rental Manager comply with the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (ESIGN) Act and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA).

In most cases, a lease becomes legally binding once all required parties—including landlords, tenants, guarantors, and co-landlords, if applicable—have signed the agreement.


 

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