A written contract is more desirable than a verbal one in such agreements because It is important that all parties be crystal clear on their responsibilities and obligations. Having such an agreement signed by both parties will go a long way in aiding landlord(s) and tenant(s) to have a fruitful and mutually beneficial lessor/lessee relationship. That is, documenting the conditions and terms between a landlord and leaseholder, in a contract, will remove all doubt regarding what precisely was agreed to initially. Oftentimes, disputes occur over simple misunderstandings about an original agreement or there has been a failure to cover a specific issue. When such an event occurs it can easily snowball into a long drawn out unpleasant affair.  This can be easily avoided by having a lease that covers as much foreseeable ground as possible.