About LeaseWise
Built by a tenant, for tenants — because nobody else was going to make leases readable.
I'm Marcus A. Hall, the founder of LeaseWise. I built this site after moving into an apartment that turned out to have a roach infestation. When I tried to figure out what my landlord actually owed me — habitability, repair timelines, whether I could break the lease without penalty — I hit a wall. State statutes were buried in PDFs, Reddit threads contradicted each other, and the only "real" answer was hiring a lawyer for a problem that shouldn't need one.
So I built the tool I wished I'd had: upload your lease, get a plain-English breakdown of the clauses that actually matter, paired with the law in your state. No legalese, no upsell maze.
Off the clock, I'm a Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. Photo taken at Hiroshima Castle.
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Why this exists
Roughly 44 million U.S. households rent. Almost all of them sign a lease they only half-read, written by someone whose job is to protect the landlord — not them. Most tenant problems aren't lawsuit-worthy; they're small, expensive, and avoidable if you understand what you signed. LeaseWise is a 60-second sanity check before you hand over a security deposit, and a reference when something goes wrong mid-lease.
How we write the guides
Every state guide on LeaseWise is built from primary sources — the actual state statute, HUD's tenant-rights pages, and state housing-agency guidance. Drafts are AI-assisted to keep coverage consistent across all 50 states, and every guide is reviewed by me before publishing. As the site grows, a licensed paralegal will also review and co-byline the legally sensitive guides. The full editorial approach is on the editorial standards page.
Tenant-side only
We don't sell tools to landlords. The incentives stay clean.
Plain English
Statutes translated into what they actually mean for you.
Not legal advice
Educational only. See a local attorney for your specific situation.
Try the analyzer
Upload your lease and get a free plain-English breakdown in about a minute.
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