How long is a typical rental agreement?

I am a landlord who is looking to rent out a property I own. I am in the process of drafting a rental agreement but I am unsure of the typical length of a rental agreement. I need to know how long a typical rental agreement is in order to ensure I am making a legally binding agreement.

N'kia N.

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In North Carolina, it is hard to identify a "typical" length of a property rental agreement. A one-year term is quite common for residential rental agreements. However, for commercial rental agreements, duration varies widely. For example, a lease agreement for a suite in a hair salon might be month-to-month while a lease agreement for a medical facility might be for ten years or longer. In and of itself, the length of a property rental agreement does not determine its validity; but it can certainly affect other aspects of the rental relationship. For example, duration might affect whether the rental agreement must be recorded, whether the landlord must have insurance, how much notice one party must give the other in specific circumstances, and even what happens when the lease expires. Once in effect, a faulty rental agreement can leave a landlord with fewer rights and more liability exposure than expected. It might not hurt to have a knowledgeable attorney review a proposed rental agreement before presenting it to a prospective tenant to sign.