Free North Dakota Residential Lease Agreement

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A configurable North Dakota residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to N.D.C.C. chapters 47-16, 47-17 and 47-32 — the deposit ceiling that branches three ways, the separate pet deposit, the mandatory interest-bearing account, and the treble damages that follow an unjustified withholding.

North Dakota N.D.C.C. ch. 47-16 Branching Deposit Cap Free PDF 2026 Edition

A North Dakota residential lease agreement is the written contract governed by N.D.C.C. chapter 47-16, with lease termination machinery in chapter 47-17 and the eviction procedure in chapter 47-32. North Dakota never adopted the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, so its rules sit in an older general leasing chapter that was amended piecemeal — and that history is exactly why generic templates get North Dakota wrong. The deposit ceiling is not a flat one month: 47-16-07.1(1) branches on the tenant’s own history and reaches two months in two named cases. The pet deposit is not an uplift of that ceiling — 47-16-07.1(2) creates a separate deposit with its own formula. The interest-bearing account is mandatory for every deposit, and the nine months everyone quotes decides only whether the interest has to be handed over. Entry has no number of hours at all. And a rent increase triggers a twenty-five-day counter-right for the tenant that almost nothing on the internet mentions. The generator below builds a lease that reflects each of those rules as the statute actually reads.

Complete the fields below to generate a North Dakota residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document, including the utility allocations, the deposit basis that fixes your statutory ceiling, the account holding the deposit, and each disclosure you check, and the generated lease cites the controlling North Dakota section at each point. Before you hand keys to anyone, run proper tenant screening — the lease governs the relationship, screening decides whether you want it. Pair the signed lease with a North Dakota move-in / move-out checklist so the condition statement N.D.C.C. 47-16-07.2 requires is a document rather than a memory.

North Dakota recognizes the standard range of residential arrangements, and the type determines how the tenancy ends. A fixed-term lease runs for a stated period and expires on its own terms. A month-to-month tenancy renews each month until one side gives notice under N.D.C.C. 47-16-15(2). Where the parties never fixed a term at all, N.D.C.C. 47-16-19 supplies the answer: the renting of lodgings for an unspecified term is presumed to have been made for such length of time as the parties adopt for the estimation of the rent, so renting at a weekly rate is presumed to be for one week, and in the absence of any agreement respecting the length of time, the leasing is presumed to be monthly.

For anything other than lodgings, N.D.C.C. 47-16-05 pushes the other way: a lease of real property, in places where there is no usage on the subject, is presumed to be for one year from its commencement unless otherwise expressed in the lease. Two presumptions therefore sit side by side in the same chapter, and which one applies turns on whether what is let is lodgings. Writing an express term into the lease removes the question, which is the single best reason to use a written document even for an informal arrangement.

Beyond those, a room or roommate agreement covers a person renting one room in an occupied dwelling — and North Dakota has an unusual rule about that. N.D.C.C. 47-16-26 provides that one who rents part of a room for a dwelling is entitled to the whole of the room notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, and that where a landlord rents a room as a dwelling for more than one family, the person to whom the landlord first rents any part of it is entitled to possession of the whole room. The sanction is severe: while such double letting of any room continues, every tenant in the building under the same landlord is relieved from all obligation to pay rent. A sublease transfers the tenant’s interest to a subtenant while leaving the original tenant liable, and N.D.C.C. 47-16-30 preserves the landlord’s remedies against assignees of the lessee for claims accruing while they are assignees. A commercial lease is not governed by the residential provisions in 47-16-13.1 through 47-16-13.7 at all, though the general leasing rules in the chapter still reach it.

One more structural point matters for North Dakota drafting. A tenancy at will — the arrangement created when someone occupies with permission but without a term — is terminated under chapter 47-17 rather than chapter 47-16. N.D.C.C. 47-17-01 lets the landlord end it by giving notice to remove from the premises within a period specified in the notice of not less than one month, and 47-17-02 requires that notice to be in writing and served by delivering it to the tenant or to some person of discretion residing on the premises, or, if neither can be found with reasonable diligence, by affixing it on a conspicuous part of the premises where it may be read conveniently. Under 47-17-03 the landlord may re-enter or proceed to recover possession only after the notice has been served and the specified period has expired, but not before.

One month’s rent as the rule — and two months in two specific, named cases. N.D.C.C. 47-16-07.1(1) is the controlling provision, and it reads as a general prohibition followed by two exceptions:

• The rule. A lessor may not demand or receive security, however denominated, in an amount or value in excess of one month’s rent.
• Exception (a) — felony conviction. A lessor may accept an amount or value up to two months’ rent, as security, from an individual convicted of a felony offense, as an incentive to rent the property to the individual. Note the framing: the statute is not authorizing a penalty for a record, it is authorizing a landlord to say yes on terms.
• Exception (b) — prior judgment. A lessor may demand an amount or value up to two months’ rent, as security, from an individual who has had a judgment entered against that individual for violating the terms of a previous rental agreement. This is the tier ranking pages routinely omit.

The wording differs between the two exceptions, and the difference is not accidental. Exception (a) says a lessor may accept; exception (b) says a lessor may demand. On the face of the statute a landlord relying on the felony exception is receiving what is offered as the price of the tenancy, while a landlord relying on the judgment exception may require it. Either way the ceiling is two months’ rent, not two months plus one.

The pet deposit is a different deposit entirely. N.D.C.C. 47-16-07.1(2) provides that a lessor may charge a lessee a pet security deposit for keeping an animal that is not a service animal or companion animal required by a tenant with a disability as a reasonable accommodation under fair housing laws, and that a pet security deposit may not exceed the greater of two thousand five hundred dollars or an amount equivalent to two months’ rent. Two things follow. First, it is not a tier of the subsection 1 cap, so a landlord does not have to choose between the two — the security deposit and the pet security deposit are separate sums with separate ceilings. Second, the ceiling is a greater of formula, which means the dollar figure protects landlords of low-rent units and the two-months figure protects landlords of high-rent ones. And the exclusion for a service animal or a companion animal required as a reasonable accommodation is absolute; N.D.C.C. 47-16-07.5 separately tells a landlord what documentation may and may not be required to establish that need.

Every deposit must sit in a federally insured interest-bearing account. This is the sentence the summaries garble. N.D.C.C. 47-16-07.1(1) opens: “The lessor of real property or a dwelling who requires money as a security deposit, however denominated, shall deposit the money in a federally insured interest-bearing savings or checking account for the benefit of the tenant.” There is no minimum tenancy length on that duty and no exception to it. The nine months that appears in most summaries comes from a different place — subsection 3, which says a lessor is not required to pay interest on security deposits if the period of occupancy was less than nine months in duration. Read the two together and the position is: the account is always interest-bearing, and the accrued interest goes back to the tenant with the deposit once the occupancy reaches nine months. A landlord who reads the nine months as permission to hold a short tenancy’s deposit in a general operating account has misread the section.

Three further subsections matter. Under 47-16-07.1(5), on a transfer in ownership the deposit and accrued interest must be transferred to the grantee, the grantor is not relieved of liability until that transfer happens, and whoever holds the lessor’s interest at termination is bound by the section even if that holder never received the money — so a buyer who does not chase the deposit at closing inherits the liability without the funds. Under 47-16-07.1(6) the section applies to the state and to political subdivisions that lease dwellings and take deposits. And under 47-16-07.4, a lease entered into on partial or total reliance on fraudulent misrepresentations may be terminated by the party fraudulently induced, who receives back the deposit together with any accrued interest.

Within thirty days after termination of the lease and delivery of possession. N.D.C.C. 47-16-07.1(3) sets one clock, not two, but it has two triggers that must both occur: termination of the lease and delivery of possession by the lessee. A tenant who gives notice but keeps the keys has not started the clock.

What has to be sent inside those thirty days is more than a check. The statute requires that the application of any portion of the deposit not paid to the lessee be itemized by the lessor, and that the itemization together with the amount due be delivered or mailed to the lessee at the last address furnished to the lessor, along with a written notice. The notice must contain a statement of any amount still due the lessor or the refund due the lessee. Three documents, one envelope, one deadline — and because delivery is measured against “the last address furnished lessor,” a tenant who never gives a forwarding address is treated as having furnished the leased premises.

The deductions the statute allows are closed. Under 47-16-07.1(3) the deposit and accrued interest may be applied towards (a) any damages the lessor has suffered by reason of deteriorations or injuries to the property by the lessee’s pet or through the negligence of the lessee or the lessee’s guest; (b) any unpaid rent; and (c) the costs of cleaning or other repairs which were the responsibility of the lessee and which are necessary to return the dwelling unit to its original state when the lessee took possession, reasonable wear and tear excepted. The express mention of pet damage in (a) is worth noting alongside the separate pet deposit in subsection 2 — North Dakota lets a landlord take both a pet deposit and a pet-damage deduction from the ordinary deposit.

The penalty is treble damages. N.D.C.C. 47-16-07.1(4) is one sentence: “A lessor is liable for treble damages for any security deposit money withheld without reasonable justification.” There is no cap, no ceiling at the amount withheld, and no requirement that the withholding be willful — the test is whether it was reasonably justified. That is precisely why the itemized notice is the operative document: it is the contemporaneous record of the justification, and a landlord who sends nothing has nothing to point to.

Two tail-end rules complete the picture. Amounts not claimed from the lessor by the lessee within one year of the termination of the lease agreement become subject to the unclaimed-property reporting requirements of N.D.C.C. 47-30.2-04 — the money does not become the landlord’s. And where the tenancy ended under the domestic-violence provision, N.D.C.C. 47-16-17.1(8) moves the trigger: deposit timing runs from the first day of the month following the date the victim vacates where that tenant is the only tenant, and from the expiration of the lease where other tenants are bound by it.

It is North Dakota’s one genuinely mandatory lease attachment, and it carries statutory evidentiary weight. N.D.C.C. 47-16-07.2 is short enough to quote in substance: a landlord shall provide the tenant with a statement describing the condition of the facilities in and about the premises to be rented at the time of entering a rental agreement; the statement shall be agreed to and signed by the landlord and tenant; and the statement shall constitute prima facie proof of the condition of the facilities and the premises at the beginning of the rental agreement.

Three features deserve attention. The timing is at the time of entering the agreement, not within some number of days after move-in — North Dakota does not give a grace window the way several neighbouring states do. The document must be agreed to and signed by both, so a landlord’s unilateral inspection sheet does not satisfy the section. And the effect is prima facie proof, which shifts the practical burden: once a signed statement exists, a party arguing that the premises were in some other condition at the start of the tenancy has to displace it with evidence rather than simply assert it.

That evidentiary status is what links the section to the deposit. Every deduction permitted by 47-16-07.1(3)(c) is measured against “its original state when the lessee took possession, reasonable wear and tear excepted” — and the condition statement is the only document North Dakota law nominates as proof of what that original state was. A landlord who skips it is not merely disorganised; they have declined the one statutory advantage the chapter offers on the question that generates most deposit litigation. The practical discipline is to walk the unit with the tenant, record the condition of every facility rather than a general impression, photograph what the words cannot carry, sign it on the same day the lease is signed, and hand the tenant a copy. Our North Dakota move-in / move-out checklist is built to be that document, and the North Dakota deposit itemization form is its mirror image at the other end of the tenancy.

Rent is due when the lease says, and there is no statutory grace period or late-fee cap in North Dakota. The lease therefore controls both. Where the lease is silent, the default is unusual enough to be worth knowing: N.D.C.C. 47-16-20 provides that when there is no contract or usage to the contrary, rents of lodgings are payable monthly at the end of each month, other rents are payable quarterly at the end of each quarter from the time the lease takes effect, and rent for a lease shorter than those periods is payable at the termination of the lease. North Dakota’s fallback is rent in arrears, not rent in advance — which is the opposite of what most leases provide, and a reason to state the due day expressly.

What North Dakota does regulate is the payment method. N.D.C.C. 47-16-20.1 is a flat prohibition: “A landlord may not charge a tenant a fee to accept cash, a check, or a money order for the payment of rent or any other payment required by the landlord under a lease for real property.” It reaches beyond rent to any other payment required under the lease, and it is one of the most frequently omitted rules on the North Dakota template SERP. A landlord who wants to push tenants toward an online portal may not do it by surcharging the three instruments this section names.

Dishonored payments are a different chapter. N.D.C.C. 6-08-16 governs an instrument issued without sufficient funds. The issuer is liable for collection fees or costs not in excess of forty dollars, recoverable by the holder or the holder’s agent. If the instrument and those fees are not paid within ten days from receipt of a written notice of dishonor in the form the statute prescribes, the holder may bring a civil action for a civil penalty equal to the lesser of two hundred dollars or three times the amount of the instrument. The section also carries criminal grades keyed to the amount, and it provides that a postdated check knowingly received as such does not violate it. A landlord charging a returned-payment fee in a North Dakota lease should keep it inside the forty-dollar collection-fee figure the statute contemplates rather than inventing a number.

Finally, rent in North Dakota is not subject to local control. N.D.C.C. 47-16-02.1 provides that a political subdivision may not enact, maintain or enforce an ordinance or resolution that would have the effect of controlling the amount of rent charged for leasing private residential or commercial property, except as to property in which the political subdivision holds a fee title interest. Whatever a city ordinance may say about licensing or inspection, it cannot set the rent.

North Dakota states no number of hours or days anywhere in its entry section. N.D.C.C. 47-16-07.3 is titled “When landlord may enter apartment” and it works in two limbs.

Under 47-16-07.3(1) a landlord may enter at any time in case of emergency, or if the landlord reasonably believes the tenant has abandoned the premises, or if the landlord reasonably believes the tenant is in substantial violation of the provisions of the lease or rental agreement. That third ground is broader than the equivalent in most states, and it is a genuine North Dakota feature rather than an oversight.

Under 47-16-07.3(2) a landlord may otherwise enter only during reasonable hours, and in a reasonable manner, for the purpose of inspecting the premises; making necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations or improvements; supplying necessary or agreed services; or exhibiting the residential dwelling unit to actual or potential purchasers, insurers, mortgagees, real estate agents, tenants, workmen or contractors. And then the operative sentence: “Unless it is impractical to do so the landlord shall first notify and receive the consent of the tenant which shall not be unreasonably withheld, which consent shall identify a time certain.”

So the North Dakota standard is not a countdown at all — it is a time certain. The tenant’s consent must fix a specific time, and the tenant may not unreasonably withhold it. The section then supplies the mechanism that makes this workable for landlords: “For the purposes of this section, consent shall be presumed from failure to object to access after notice of intent to enter at a time certain has been given.” Notice may be given by personal service, by posting the notice in a conspicuous place in or about the dwelling unit for a reasonable period of time, or by any other method which results in actual notice to the tenant. A closing sentence forbids abuse: a landlord shall not abuse the right of access or use it to harass or intimidate the tenant.

The practical consequence is that a template printing a flat twenty-four-hour rule for North Dakota is importing another state’s law, and worse, it is importing a weaker discipline than the statute imposes. A dated written notice naming the intended date and time, served in a way that produces actual notice, satisfies the section and creates the presumption of consent; a generic “we may enter with reasonable notice” clause does neither. Our North Dakota notice to enter is drawn to that shape, and the North Dakota landlord entry laws guide works through the exceptions.

The landlord’s habitability duty is in N.D.C.C. 47-16-13.1, not in the older section people cite. This is worth stating plainly because 47-16-12, headed “Obligations of lessor to repair dwelling,” was repealed by S.L. 1977 ch. 429 s. 7 and is still cited on secondary pages. The live duty is 47-16-13.1(1), under which a landlord of a residential dwelling unit shall: comply with the requirements of applicable building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety; make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition; keep all common areas of the premises in a clean and safe condition; maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by the landlord; provide and maintain appropriate receptacles and conveniences for the removal of ashes, garbage, rubbish and other waste and arrange for their removal; and supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times and reasonable heat.

The heat and hot water duty carries three exceptions written into the subdivision itself: where the building is not required by law to be equipped for that purpose; where the dwelling unit is so constructed that heat or hot water is generated by an installation within the exclusive control of the tenant and supplied by a direct public utility connection; and where the water or heat is unavailable due to supply failure by a public utility. Subsection 2 allows a reasonable time to remedy noncompliance with the duties other than the code duty, and subsection 3 provides that where the code duty is greater than any other duty in the subsection, the landlord’s duty is determined by reference to the code duty.

Shifting maintenance onto the tenant is possible, but the conditions differ by property type. Under 47-16-13.1(4) the landlord and tenant of a single-family residence may agree in writing that the tenant performs the waste-removal and water-heat duties in subdivisions e and f and also specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations and remodeling — but only if the transaction is entered into in good faith. For any dwelling unit other than a single-family residence, subsection 5 is stricter: the agreement must be entered into in good faith and set forth in a separate writing signed by the parties and supported by adequate consideration; the work must not be necessary to cure noncompliance with subdivision e; and the agreement must not diminish or affect the landlord’s obligation to other tenants. Subsection 6 then bars the landlord from treating performance of such a separate agreement as a condition of any obligation under the rental agreement.

The tenant’s own duties are in 47-16-13.2: comply with obligations imposed on tenants by applicable building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety; keep the occupied part of the premises as clean and safe as its condition permits; periodically remove ashes, garbage, rubbish and other waste and dispose of them cleanly and safely; keep plumbing fixtures as clean as their condition permits; use all facilities and appliances reasonably; not deliberately or negligently destroy, deface, damage, impair or remove any part of the premises or knowingly permit any person to do so; and conduct oneself, and require other persons on the premises with the tenant’s consent to conduct themselves, in a manner that will not disturb the neighbors’ peaceful enjoyment. That last duty is not decorative — it lines up directly with the eviction ground in 47-32-01(7). The older general duties in 47-16-09 and 47-16-10 still sit alongside it: the lessee must use ordinary care to preserve the property and must repair all deteriorations or injuries occasioned by the lessee’s ordinary negligence.

Repair and deduct in North Dakota has no cap. N.D.C.C. 47-16-13 provides that if, within a reasonable time after notice from the lessee of dilapidations which the lessor ought to repair, the lessor neglects to do so, the lessee may (1) repair the premises and deduct the expense of such repair from the rent; (2) recover it in any other lawful manner from the lessor; or (3) vacate the premises, in which case the lessee is discharged from further payment of rent or performance of other conditions. Most states that permit repair and deduct cap it — at a month’s rent, or a dollar figure, or a number of uses per year. North Dakota fixes none of those. What it fixes instead is the predicate: notice from the lessee, dilapidations the lessor ought to repair, and a reasonable time elapsed. Everything therefore turns on the written notice, which is why a tenant should date it, describe the defect precisely, and keep proof