Leased homes are more common than ever in condominium, cooperative and homeowner associations, according to the Community Associations Institute, but association policies toward tenants need updating. CAI's new guide, Successful Leasing in a Community Association, provides the advice, model documents and sample forms that homeowners, real estate investors and community association professionals should consult to ensure that tenants become productive, engaged, caring members of the community—and perhaps future homeowners.

More than 15 percent of the housing stock in the United States is in a community association, and more than 42 million Americans live in an association. As real estate investors purchase community association rental properties; families become "accidental landlords" instead of selling starter homes; and as tenants are increasingly attracted to the amenities of community association living, more homes in associations are leased, raising new educational, legal and social challenges.

Successful Leasing will help community associations:

• understand Federal and state laws that apply to leasing;
• provide a solid introduction to community association living to tenants;
• prevent communication breakdowns that lead to problems; and
• give tenants a stake in the community. In addition, an appendix of model documents includes:
• forms for the Board of Directors, including sample resolutions and suggested language for bylaws that encourage mutual respect and tenant participation;
• forms for managers, such as a tenant information form; and
• forms for owners, including a sample lease application.

Successful Leasing is pat of CAI's 27-title Guides for the Association Practitioner report series, which offer guidelines and model documents for all areas of community association management and operations, from collecting assessments to risk management. For more information or to order Successful Leasing in a Community Association (ISBN: 0-944715-55-9), call CAI Central at 703/548-8600 or visit CAI's Web site.

The Community Associations Institute is a nonprofit association created in 1973 to educate and represent the nation's 205,000 community associations—condominium associations, homeowner associations and cooperatives. CAI members include homeowners, associations and related professionals and service providers.