But a' really, do I need the legal assistance? If it's just a piece of paper that needs signing - I have no knowledge of how contracts work, mind that - then I could write something up with no loopholes. There's probably a lot of things I could base it off of that I could a find on Google, ayah?

Something you've missed out is that it's a student town, thus it'll probably be students renting the place, right? Here in the UK we have a totally separate set of laws referring to renting to students, and it's much more of a complicated issue. There are a LOT of extra rules when renting to students, as they're a protected group legally, so you may want to check to see if it's a similar situation over there in the US.

Fixtures and fittings - You are responsible for these, so I don't really know what you mean by 'no liability'. Like if a door breaks, the toilet won't flush, the heating goes, a window gets smashed, or just whatever to do with the fixtures/fittings then it's your job to sort it out. You can't just let them get on with it or ask them to fix it. That way leads to lawsuits and them not paying any rent.

pretty sure you can use a third party agency or something to do all that for you but you'd lose some money.

This. Agencies make the job a lot easier.

you might want to look into insurance stuff as well, if they're liable for all damages and they don't have house insurance you could end up with a pile of cinders and a kid bankrupt at 19

If they don't OWN the house they aren't responsible for the fixtures and fittings. The landlord is liable for those. You can't just rent a house to someone and then, when there's an electrical fire or whatever, say "Whoa, you better pay up!". It's still YOUR house at the end of the day, they have no obligation to sort out your fixtures and fittings unless they have specifically damaged them themselves, and even then you as the landlord would have to have PROOF that they've smashed whatever.

You aren't allowed to rent a property out here unless the landlord has house insurance, thank fuck. Otherwise you get really shitty situations with landlords bankrupt and people homeless.

One, that's amazing. Two, it's definitely not what happens in the US, as far as I can find. The only code I can find about students deals with either discrimination, sexual harassment, or privacy. Students have less rights, if anything.

Wow, but that's good news for YOU at any rate. It makes the process a lot smoother. It sucks for the students though! WHERE IS THE REVOLUTION COMRADE OBAMA!?

rom what I've read for Washington state law in the last two days, the tenants may be held responsible, and if they refuse to fix it or pay for it, I can give them a notice that I'm kicking them out in 30 days. If they don't leave, then I go a to court.

Wow, also insane! But again, good news for landlords. Even if there's pre-existing structural damage or whatever? Or if like a TREE falls on the house? That's still the tenant's responsibility over there??

That's something else I'm worried about. On account of the tiny ass amount of moss on the roof, we were denied house insurance. Which fucking pisses me off.

They can DENY you house insurance there?? What the fuck?

If you're going to be living there yourself then I guess just hope like hell that nothing happens to the house itself, and get yourself some great contents insurance! Also be VERY careful with who you rent to!

This place is apparently AWASH with the Nouveau riche petty fucking bourgeoisie!

Your attitude won't be so glib come the revolution comrade!!!!