Why do I need to provide a form allowing my tenant to install _____?  There are a lot of reasons why you want to do this.  First, tenants quickly adjust to their new home and begin to mistaken their rental unit as their ‘owned’ property.  They may begin to replace plumbing fixtures (ie. shower heads, faucets, etc), install shelving, satellite dishes, cabinets, etc.  Sometimes ‘install’ means removing fixtures that came with the rental property (ie. light fixtures, kitchen/bathroom cabinet, door hardware etc.   We usually provide this declaration form at the start of a new tenancy and use the opportunity to explain that they need the landlord to sign off on ANY permanent change to the rental unit.  That way all permitted work has the documentation backing it up.  Anything without a declaration is not sanctioned and may mean liability on the part of the tenant to fix/repair/replace/restore the unauthorized installation. This form is also good to have on hand in case of requests from 3rd party installers (ie. trades, telephone, cable, satellite service people, etc.) who are often trained to require building owner permission for any installation.

Note: As with most of our products, this application form is designed for use in Canada, but can easily be edited or adapted for US rental properties.