The benefits of owning a property in an LLC are two-fold. The first and primary reason is liability protection. The second is for financial reasons. As an individual you are subject to limitations on rental losses. However if you start a business and then form an LLC you will have tax advantages. However this is much more work and will cost alot more money as well.

Also as you acquire properties you have the age old question of an LLC per property which is much better liability wise, and of course much more money out of pocket. Having several rentals but packing them all into a single LLC whittles away the liability protection.

Another alternative is to pump up the insurance coverage as much as possible.

The state you own the property in will dictate what sort of information should be in the lease. In California I use the lease produced by CAR. I don’t use an attorney to draw up my leases.