Tool Rental Contract: Fill & Download for Free

Some of the oldest ongoing rental contracts are between the City of London and the English Crown, collected annually by the Queen’s Remembrancer.The oldest dates from 1211, where the City pays service for two pieces of land, The Moors near Bridgnorth in Shropshire, for which the City must pay two [bladed tools], one blunt [billhook] and one sharp [axe].The second oldest has been made, entered in the Great Roll of the Exchequer, since 1235, for 'The Forge' (forge) in Tweezer's Alley, just south of St Clement's Dane, near the Strand in London, for which the City must pay six horseshoes and 61 horseshoe nails - over 550 years old, since after being rendered to the Queen’s Remembrancer they are preserved in his Office, and with the permission of the Crown they are loaned to the Corporation of London to be rendered again the following year.These two quits are paid together as one ceremony, during which a black-and-white chequered cloth is spread out — it is from this that the word "Exchequer" derives - combined with the introduction to the Remembrancer of the City's newly elected Sheriffs.The Comptroller & Solicitor of the City presents the horseshoes and nails and counts them out to the Remembrancer who then pronounces "Good number." The knives are tested by the Queen's Remembrancer by taking a hazel stick, one cubit in length, and bending it over the blunt [billhook] and leaving a mark, and the stick is split in two with the sharp [axe]. This practice stems from the creation of tally sticks where a mark was made in a stick with a blunt knife for each payment counted. When payment was complete the stick was split down the middle, leaving each party with half of the marked stick and creating a receipt (or foil and counter-foil). After the [blades] are tested the Remembrancer pronounces "Good service".And another for the town of Southwark.The third quit rent dates from 1327, and is for £11 in regard to the reserved interest of the Crown for the 'town of Southwark'. In that year the City was granted its fourth-oldest Royal Charter to acquire Southwark from Edward III for this annual payment. It was specifically retained by Edward VI in the 1550 charter to the City, which extended its jurisdiction over the outlying parts of Southwark. This quit is rendered by the Foreman of the City's Court Leet Jury of the "Town and Borough of Southwark", alias Guildable Manor, which is the area as defined in 1327. The continuation of this body is sanctioned under the Administration of Justice Act 1977. The ceremony takes place in the Cathedral library, the Glaziers' Hall or London's City Hall.This sum is rendered onto the Exchequer Cloth in the form of Crowns (5 shilling / 25 pence pieces), which remain legal tender. The Remembrancer pronounces "Good service" and this is witnessed by the Clerk of the City's Chamberlain's Court and the Manor Jurors to note that the payment has been made.*Image source: London Is Still Paying Rent to the Queen on a Property Leased in 1211

Lightbulbs are the tenant’s responsibility, unless the lease specifies another arrangement, though landlords ought to provide working bulbs at the beginning of the lease.In a standard residential rental contract, landlords are responsible for maintaining the building itself and its permanent fixtures, even when the tenant has caused the damage and is ultimately responsible for the cost. Light fixtures, large appliances, plumbing fixtures and such are considered permanent, but lightbulbs and batteries in smoke detectors and AC displays are easily replaceable and wear out at semi-regular intervals. No tools or expertise is needed to change them, so they’re like toilet paper: You buy your own.In the past year I have begun to offer lightbulb and battery changes, but that only works because of the specific customer group my rentals target. They’re all high end, which means that my tenants pay significantly more per square foot than they would elsewhere, in exchange for apartments or houses that are meticulously maintained and come with extra features. They’re okay with paying for landscaping, crown molding, and ceiling mounted shower heads. It’s what they want, and I get to charge a high rent that more than covers those extra expenses.I’ve always offered a fuller service, with filter changes and three free annual visits for minor handyman services outside of what falls under my responsibility. We hang pictures and mount TVs, and now we change lightbulbs. That costs money though, so while we don’t charge for the bulbs and batteries, there’s a $40 fee to have my guy come out. I’m not making any money off of this service, not once my employee has been paid and reimbursed for mileage, and the bulbs have been bought, but it’s turned out to be a good selling point. It only appeals to a very narrow segment of renters though, because most people don’t want to pay someone $40 to perform a 90 second task. They may not want to give their landlord permission to come in and do it when they’re at work, but when you’re like the young associate at a law firm I just rented a townhouse to, it works out well.Yes, lightbulbs are a tenant’s responsibility, 99 percent of the time, but I bet you’d prefer it to a higher cost.

Such predictions usually come from journalists who want to add weight to their articles.Personally, I won’t hold my breath.What I have learned over the past five decades is that mankind will always behave along predictable lines that are set by a compromise between cost and convenience to those in charge.And while working from home and not traveling on company accounts can look like a triumph for the accounting department that will always have the pea counters shed tears of nostalgia for that golden Covid time, managerial dinosaurs will likely soon have everyone report for duty physically in locations where they can be breathed at.Managerial convenience of monitoring people tends to beat both reason and cost every time there is a choice.All it takes is one meeting to be scheduled at the office again, and the 21st century is cancelled in favour of Victorian ways.I do think that we will see more digital tools used in future for meetings and teaching, but the 100% revolution is likely to be a 2% one in the long run. Back to the old ways, with a bit of new software. We will look back on the Covid 19 pandemic as the crisis that taught everyone Zoom. And it will end on that note.It’s like trauma bonding. Take the context away, and all is forgotten.And it’s a shame, because now could be the time to finally launch us into the 21st century in the working world:Review space rental contracts. Perhaps much of the staff really is better off working from home. And perhaps the company finances would look better for it if office space were reduced. All office overhead is going down when no one is at the office.Review employment options. Perhaps some positions could be filled by non-locals who work from home. Wouldn’t it be great to have staff in the other hemisphere who could work while the local team sleeps? Get it done in half the time by canceling the night break. Sydney is on it while London sleeps.Review travel arrangements. Is it necessary to fly a staff member to another city to spend two hours barely awake at a conference table, at the cost and carbon emissions of a family holiday, when that person could just click into a Zoom meeting for those two hours? And perhaps the vehicle fleet could also be reduced.Get input and participation from people in locations you never would have thought possible as a regular feature. Beef up those Monday meetings with a guest talk by a guru who tunes in from the Himalayas one week, then a politician from Mexico the next, and an alpaca herder from Patagonia thereafter. Paypal is your friend, and you can pay for it out of the coffee budget if everyone works from home.Minimalise absenteeism by allowing work from home. German studies show record lows in sick leave since the pandemic started, because a sniffling home office worker can work and infects no one, so isn’t forced to lay down work altogether when the cold hits.Reach more customers by expanding online presence. Who needs a show room? I just bought a freezer and a bath tub on my phone, from my couch. They will be delivered to my door on Thursday. Am I sad I couldn’t see them in some shop 60 kilometres away, in the presence of some coiffed character? No. I know what a bathtub looks like, you see.If I ran a company or institution now, I would know what to do. This is the time to vastly improve cost efficiency and work life balance at the same time. And some will do it.Remember what happened to the dinosaurs.