Idaho: Residential Lease Execution Formalities

Requirements one by one

Writing threshold

Idaho Code § 9-505 supplies two tests. Subsection (4) covers a lease longer
than one year. Idaho Code § 9-505(1) separately covers an agreement that, by
its own terms, cannot be performed within one year after it is made. In either
case, the agreement is invalid unless the agreement or a note or memorandum is in
writing and subscribed by the party charged or that party's agent.

The tests can produce different results. An exactly one-year occupancy term is
not longer than one year, but a delayed start can make the agreement impossible
to finish within one year after the parties make it.

Required signatures and authority

Section 9-505 requires subscription by the party charged or that party's agent.
If an agent makes the covered longer lease, subsection (4) additionally
requires the agent's authority to be written and subscribed by the party
charged.

Idaho Code § 55-601 similarly permits a real-property conveyance through a
writing subscribed by the disposing party or an agent authorized in writing.
It also says the grantee's name and complete mailing address must appear on
that instrument. The cited statutes do not impose an across-the-board rule that
both parties must sign every written short-term dwelling lease.

Witness, acknowledgment, and notary

The validity provisions require no subscribing witness or notarization between
the original parties. Acknowledgment or proof becomes relevant when the
instrument is recorded. Idaho Code § 55-805(1) requires the executing person to
acknowledge the instrument, or its execution to be proved, before recordation.

A summary uses a more specific form. Under § 55-818, every party to the
original instrument must sign and acknowledge the summary that will be
recorded.

Electronic execution

Idaho's UETA applies to electronic records and signatures relating to
transactions and does not exclude ordinary leases under § 28-50-103. Idaho
Code § 28-50-105(b) requires each party to agree to transact electronically;
context, circumstances, and conduct may show agreement. Section 28-50-107 then
lets an electronic record and signature satisfy writing and signature requirements.

The record must remain usable. Under § 28-50-108(a), a delivered electronic
record must be capable of retention when received. If the sender blocks the
recipient's ability to print or store it, subsection (c) makes the record
unenforceable against that recipient.

Required copy or written statement

The surveyed Idaho provisions state no general landlord duty to deliver a
signed or fully executed lease copy and no lease-specific owner-and-manager
written statement. That does not alter an agreement's own copy-delivery term or
any special rule outside this survey's ordinary private-dwelling scope.

Renewal, modification, and term form

Idaho states no separate execution form for every lease change. A renewal or
extension must be tested against both parts of § 9-505: whether the resulting
lease exceeds one year and whether the later agreement can be performed within
one year from its making.

When a later document conveys an estate in real property, § 55-601 supplies the
subscribed-writing rule and requires written authorization for an agent signing
for the disposing party.

Recording and third-party effect

Idaho Code § 55-801 permits recording of any instrument affecting title to or
possession of real property. Section 55-812 exempts a lease not exceeding one
year from its priority rule. A longer unrecorded lease is void against a later
good-faith purchaser or mortgagee for value whose conveyance is recorded first.
Section 55-815 keeps an unrecorded instrument valid between its parties and
against people who have notice of it.

The full lease need not always enter the public record. Section 55-818 permits a
signed and acknowledged summary stating the parties, grantee's mailing address,
instrument title and date, created interest, and legal description. Only the
summary's contents receive the same force and effect as recording the original;
the recording also gives constructive notice that the original instrument
exists.

Effect of noncompliance

Section 9-505 calls the covered unwritten agreement “invalid” and says evidence
of the agreement cannot be received without the writing or secondary evidence
of its contents. That consequence is different from nonrecording.

Under §§ 55-812 and 55-815, an unrecorded longer lease remains valid between
its parties and as to people with notice but can lose priority to a later
good-faith purchaser or mortgagee for value who records first.

What trips people up

Idaho has two one-year tests. A lease can avoid the longer-than-one-year
test yet fall within the separate rule for an agreement not performable within
one year from making. A delayed commencement date is the common reason.

Agent authority has its own writing requirement. A signature from an agent
does not finish the analysis for the longer lease. Section 9-505(4) requires
the authority itself to be written and subscribed by the party charged.

A summary gives notice only to its stated contents. Section 55-818 gives
the summary the original instrument's recording effect only “as to the contents
of the summary,” while separately giving notice that the underlying instrument
exists.

Common questions

Does one electronic transaction commit a party to future e-signing?

No. Section 28-50-105(c) says a party who agrees to one electronic transaction
may refuse to conduct other transactions electronically, and that right cannot
be waived by agreement.

Is an unrecorded lease effective against someone who already knows of it?

Section 55-815 says an unrecorded instrument is valid between its parties and
those who have notice. Section 55-812's competing priority rule specifically
protects a later good-faith purchaser or mortgagee whose conveyance records
first.

Must a recordable summary repeat every lease term?

No. Section 55-818 lists the required summary contents and permits other
transaction elements to be included. Terms omitted from the summary do not
receive its same-as-original recording effect.

Statutes and sources

• Idaho Code § 9-505 — one-year tests, subscribed writing, written agent
  authority, invalidity, and evidence consequence. Official
  text
  (accessed July 30, 2026).
• Idaho Code § 55-601 — subscribed conveyance and written agent authority.
  Official text
  (accessed July 30, 2026).
• Idaho Code §§ 28-50-103, -105, -107, and -108 — UETA scope, party
  agreement, electronic writing and signature, and retention. Official text:
  § 28-50-103,
  § 28-50-105,
  § 28-50-107,
  and § 28-50-108
  (accessed July 30, 2026).
• Idaho Code §§ 55-801, -805, -812, -813, -815, and -818 — recordable
  instruments, acknowledgment or proof, later-purchaser and mortgagee priority,
  conveyance definition, original-party validity, and recordable summary.
  Official text:
  § 55-801,
  § 55-805,
  § 55-812,
  § 55-813,
  § 55-815,
  and § 55-818
  (accessed July 30, 2026).