The last version is the one that counts
A lease is usually negotiated over several drafts, by email, with comments back and forth. The version that matters is the one that gets signed, and it is often produced by the other side's system from their own template. Comparing it against the last draft you agreed is the only way to be sure the agreed terms are the terms you are signing.
This applies whichever side you are on. Tenants want to know the rent and deposit are what was agreed. Landlords want to know a tenant's lawyer did not quietly soften the repair clause. Property managers handling dozens of renewals want to know which ones changed at all.
Why reading it again is not enough
By the time the execution copy arrives you have read the lease several times. That is exactly the problem. People are good at spotting a rewritten paragraph and poor at spotting a single changed word in a sentence they already know. Your eye slides over "twelve months" when it now says "twenty-four months", because you read what you expect.
A comparison does not get tired and does not expect anything. It lists every difference, including the small ones.
How to do it
- Find the last version both sides agreed. Not your first draft and not their first draft.
- If that version is a Word file, save it as a PDF.
- Upload it as the older version and the execution copy as the newer version in the comparison tool.
- Read the change list. Each entry shows the old and new text and the page in each document.
- Ask about anything that was not agreed. Sign once the list contains only what both sides expected.
A thirty-page lease compares in a few seconds without an account. An unchanged execution copy produces an empty list, which is the answer you want.
What to look at closely
- Rent, escalation, and the dates they apply from.
- Term, renewal options and notice periods.
- Deposit, fees, and what the deposit can be applied to.
- Maintenance, repair and alteration clauses, which decide who pays for what.
- Lock-in periods and early termination.
- Schedules: the property description, the fixtures and fittings list, and any plans with text on them.
Schedules deserve a second look. They sit at the back, get read last, and a removed item from a fixtures list is easy to miss when you are reading but impossible to miss in a change list.
A worked example
Say the negotiated draft has rent of 40,000 a month with a 5% increase after 11 months, a three-month deposit and a lock-in of 6 months. The execution copy arrives and the comparison returns three entries.
Page 2: the escalation now applies "every 11 months" instead of "after 11 months". One word, and the rent now rises repeatedly rather than once. Page 4: the lock-in became 12 months. Page 9: "air conditioner (2)" was removed from the fixtures schedule.
None of these is dramatic on its own. Together they change the cost of the lease noticeably. With the change list in hand you can reply with three precise points rather than a general request to "check the document".
If the other side made a change
Assume a mistake first. Execution copies are often generated from a template or an earlier draft, and old wording comes back. Send the redlined PDF back with a short note asking about each entry. It is far easier to fix before signing than to dispute after.
If they confirm the change was deliberate, you are now negotiating it in the open, which is where it should have been in the first place.
Questions people ask
The landlord sent a scanned copy. Can I still compare it? Yes, if the scan has a text layer, which most office scanners and scanner apps add. If the file is refused for having no text, ask for the digital PDF. A landlord or agent who generated the lease on a computer has one.
The execution copy has different page breaks and fonts. Will everything show as changed? No. The comparison aligns paragraphs rather than pages, and leaves out headers, footers and page numbers, so a re-typeset document with the same words produces an empty or near-empty list.
I only have the draft as an email with tracked changes. Accept the agreed changes in Word, save the result as a PDF, and compare that against the execution copy.
For property managers and agents
Managers who process many leases a month can use the API to compare every execution copy against its draft automatically and send only documents with changes to a person. Unchanged copies, the majority, need no manual review.
The real estate industry page covers sale agreements and builder-buyer agreements as well. If you are on the other side of the table for contracts generally, comparing contract versions in PDF goes through the same process for any agreement.
Try it on your own documents. Upload two versions on the homepage. Documents up to 30 pages need no account, and nothing is stored.
Industry page: PDF comparison for real estate and property