What should I watch out for in a condo lease?

Make sure as a tenant you have access to all building amenities (some buildings restrict to owners). On a multi-year lease, include the yearly rent increase (% or $). If condo-board issues the permit for 1 year, and will have to renew on a yearly basis, specify who takes care of the fees (assuming this will be LL). It's unlikely that the board will refuse extension of the lease for 'good' tenants, but you may want to add a provision just in case (on a 3 year lease, we added a rider with a month free to cover for moving expenses in case the condo board would refuse extension of the lease after year 1 or year 2).

I am also in a similar situation and negotiating the lease. In the Blumberg lease form for condo rentals, the clauses that I find difficult are 1) Sale of Unit- landlord has the right to end the lease by giving 30 day notice. 2) Increase in common charge (discussed above) 3) If tenant has to vacate the unit for any reason, the entire remaining rent is due. And on top of that it looks like the landlord has the right to rent the apartment to another tenant. Maybe I am not following the language, but this sounds too onerous. In most rentals, they allow you to break the lease with one month rent- no?

OnTheMove- What is a cancellation clause?

strike out the sale of unit landlord has the right to end...section. cancel out the pet section if you have a pet- strike out the carpetting of the floor section - strike out the the increase of common charges section.

All: Thank you for the constructive comments. I am deleting clauses and writing a rider taking into account your recommendations.

valueseeker - The cancellation clause is #23 in Blumberg ("Tenant's Default")