—Short-term rental agreement
A free, ungated template that states the occupancy limit, the itemized fees, the damage terms, quiet hours, and cancellation your guest agrees to for one stay. Download it, edit it to your property, then read the one step a template can't do on its own.
A short-term rental agreement (also called a vacation rental agreement) is a written statement of the occupancy limit, fees, damage terms, quiet hours, and cancellation policy a guest agrees to for a single stay. It sets expectations up front so both sides know the terms before check-in. On its own it's a template you provide; what a reviewer can act on later is a version the named guest actually acknowledged.
Free, no signup, no email wall. Edit the wording and the amounts to your property and your market.
01What the agreement covers
A good vacation rental agreement is short and specific. Five sections do most of the work: who may stay, what the fees are, who's responsible for damage, how the guest is expected to behave, and what the cancellation terms are. Free templates for all of this are everywhere and perfectly fine as a starting point; the value is in adapting one to your property, not in the paperwork itself.
| Section | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Occupancy limit | The maximum overnight guests, whether day visitors are allowed, and how unregistered guests are handled. |
| Itemized fee schedule | Each fee named on its own line (cleaning, extra guest, pet, late checkout) with an amount and a unit, not a vague "fees may apply." |
| Damage and deposit terms | What the guest is responsible for, how damage is assessed, and how any security deposit or hold is handled. |
| Quiet hours and conduct | Noise windows, no-party language, smoking rules, and anything a neighbor or an HOA would flag. |
| Cancellation and dates | The cancellation window, check-in and checkout times, and what happens on an early departure or a no-show. |
Amounts and windows in the template are illustrative starting points, not a recommendation. Set them to your actual costs and to what your market and booking platform allow.
02A template is a suggestion until it's signed
This is the pivot the free template can't make on its own. An unsigned short-term rental agreement states your terms: it's a suggestion sitting in a document or a listing field. The packet the guest tapped through and acknowledged before check-in is a dated, hashed record of what that named guest saw and agreed to. When something goes wrong later, that record is the version a Resolution Center agent, an insurer, or a small-claims clerk can actually act on.
—What changes when it’s signed
A rule pasted into a listing tells the guest it exists. A signed acknowledgment is dated, IP-recorded, and tapped line-by-line — and produces an immutable PDF on file before check-in.
Both halves cover the Resolution Center pattern: the disclosure (your listing block) and the acknowledgment (this certificate). Same packet, both halves.
Open the sample certificate PDF
03Common questions
Whether any agreement is enforceable is a question for your lawyer and your jurisdiction, and nothing here is legal advice. What PreArrive gives you is narrower and concrete: evidence that the named guest acknowledged your specific terms before arrival, dated and hashed into a tamper-evident PDF. That record documents what the guest agreed to; how a court or platform treats it is up to them, on the file in front of them.
None, really. "Vacation rental agreement" and "short-term rental agreement" are two names for the same document: the written terms a guest agrees to for a single stay. Vacation-rental phrasing leans toward whole-home leisure stays; short-term-rental phrasing is the broader, more regulatory term. The template on this page works for either, and so does the signed version.
Airbnb doesn't require a separate signed agreement — your house rules and fees live in the listing. But the listing is disclosure only. A short-term rental agreement your guest actually acknowledges adds the second half a Resolution Center looks for: proof the guest saw and agreed to the terms, not just that the terms existed. It's optional, and it's the half most weak files are missing.
PreArrive is documentation, not legal advice. A template is a suggestion until it's acknowledged; the certificate is evidence, not a guaranteed outcome. For questions about enforceability in your area, talk to a lawyer.
Take the agreement you just downloaded, drop it into a packet, and send it on every reservation. The guest taps through each section and signs in about ninety seconds, and you get a dated PDF certificate. Free covers one property, no card, no time limit.
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