Contact a local real estate or Landlord/Tenant attorney. Have them draft your first lease and request it on Word. Afterward, you can use it as a template for future leases. It's important to use a local attorney in your state to ensure the lease includes all applicable terms required by your state.
Once each calendar year, at your request, your landlord or rental agency must provide you with a copy of your lease within 15 days of the request under California Civil Code 1962. Your first step would be to make a demand on the landlord for the lease. You should send it in a letter by certified mail.
In California, after 30 days of occupancy without a lease a tenant has tenancy rights and can only be evicted for a specific list of reasons. Some jurisdictions in the state are even more strict.
First, the landlord creates the lease and sends it to the renter. Then, the renter reviews the lease, signs it, and returns it to the landlord.