<p>My son is getting an off-campus apt next year (his junior year) with two roommates. I just got a lease contract in the mail this weekend, and it has me signing, as guarantor, for the entire amount of the lease which would be about $1100 a month, a ridiculous sum that I certainly could not afford. I was expected to only guarantee my son’s portion, not the entire thing. I’m hesitant to sign this thing, although at this point, there isn’t really an option to find somewhere else. I called the apartments, and talked to the guy in charge of that sort of thing, and he explained each parent signs the same agreement, that was the standard practice, and that it was a very rare situation where they would go after one parent for the entire apartment lease. </p>
<p>I had asked my son about this very point before he ever started looking, and he had been told that each student has their own lease (which technically they do). He had no idea that I would actually be signing a lease agreement for the entire amount, and I think it does concern him, but as I said, we don’t have other options now.</p>
<p>Just wondering what everyone else’s experience has been with this.</p>
<p>We just went through this same process, and I had the same concern as you. The one thing that makes me a bit less apprehensive is that the kids (4 total) need to put down 2 months rent as a damage deposit. That means if any one of them turns out to be a slacker with the rent the others will have some time to find a new roommate before they are on the line for full rent. The other challenge is how to pay the rent each month, as the landlord said he wants to just receive one check. It’s going to be very important for them to keep a paper trail of who paid what. If anything goes wrong it will end up in Small Claims Court.</p>
<p>I certainly cannot afford to pay the ENTIRE month’s rent. It’s $1100 a month. I would never have EXPECTED to pay that amount. It’s like if you rented an apartment with a roomate, and you had to sign the lease for the entire amount. I don’t get it. I doubt that most parents, paying for college, could afford that. If most parents didn’t sign it, what the heck do they do? Like I said, there are no options to go find an apartment at this late date.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t sign it unless I knew I could pay if if push came to shove. You don’t know who the other parents are and if they just flat out refuse to pay anything, the landlord’s attorney will be pushing the weakiest link to get the money. My friend got caught up in this business a few years ago, and it was a mess. When things go wrong, it can be a problem, and you need to think what you would do if they should. As an adult, you are fully responsible for what you agreed to pay, and there is nothing in there that says the landlord would go after all parties equally is there?</p>
<p>If it is too late to find other accommodations, consider finding a lawyer to draw up an agreement among the roommates. You want it in writing that a nonpaying or damaging roommate owes the money to YOU, not to the landlord (since you’ll be forced to cover their costs).</p>
<p>" We just went through this same process, and I had the same concern as you. The one thing that makes me a bit less apprehensive is that the kids (4 total) need to put down 2 months rent as a damage deposit. That means if any one of them turns out to be a slacker with the rent the others will have some time to find a new roommate before they are on the line for full rent. The other challenge is how to pay the rent each month, as the landlord said he wants to just receive one check. It’s going to be very important for them to keep a paper trail of who paid what. If anything goes wrong it will end up in Small Claims Court."</p>
<p>Thankfully that^^ won’t be a problem here. The apartment has a payment portal where each student can log in and pay their own share of the rent, and you can see the other payments that have been made. It’s really quite nice - I was very pleased with that setup.
I do know both of the other kids, they are very nice, very responsible kids, and I know one kid’s parents as well - they for certain would never be a problem - they are quite well off, and very respectable. So I take some comfort in that at least.</p>
<p>Yes, the lease does state that all parties will be pursued, equally. But that only means that if they can’t get anything from one, then the other 2 are liable.</p>
<p>It all comes down to who else is in the mix. Also if this is an apartment that has been doing this for a long time with the students and has had little to no problems. You are still taking a risk, but maybe one you are comfortable doing. </p>
<p>I could not. Didn’t know the other kids, didn’t trust my kid, the house had no history. Just couldn’t take on the nut if it went wrong, and I won’t sigh if that is the case. Somehow my son found a way around the whole thing.</p>
<p>As a landlord, I can tell you it is a standard practice. I am really surprised that the landlord is accepting partial payments through a portal. If one roommate stops paying and landlord still accepts payments from another, the court may find that the landlord agreed to accept lower payment and dis-allow landlord to pursue eviction action and additional rent amounts. </p>
<p>In case of default, the landlord will pursue all parties that are capable of paying and the tenants and their guarantors will have to figure out among themselves if one is over-charged. This is why it is important for the roommates to have a room-mate agreement.</p>
<p>I told my daughter that if we end up paying more than her share I plan to move in to the house with them- the Parent Clause. They are two blocks from the beach in Santa Barbara. I think this will be an effective incentive to keep the bills paid.</p>
<p>Why are you signing? Where are the other kid’s parents? btw, if other parents are judgement proof, a roommate agreement will not help. I would be telling my kid to puruse other options asap.</p>
<p>This is standard practice with most tenant leases for a very good reason…for the landlord. </p>
<p>The landlord does not want to get drawn into potential roommate disputes/disagreements over unpaid rent…he/she just wants the rent when it comes due each month. </p>
<p>Thus, the clause for being separately and jointly responsible for the entire rent…meaning if the other roommate(s) flake out on the rent, the landlord has the legal right to pursue the difference with the others. </p>
<p>Second the comment to get a roommate agreement…along with taking extra care to vet potential roommates to eliminate the flaky or financially irresponsible ones.</p>
<p>Then again, landlords also run credit checks on potential tenants listed on the lease to minimize potential problems for flaky or financially irresponsible tenants. </p>
<p>Of course, this does not eliminate the possibility that some roommate situations are such that they will take on roommates who aren’t listed on the lease. While this is convenient for those with poor/no credit history, it also means there’s more risk of flaking out for the roomies on the lease and risk for the non-listed tenants in that if they are found to be disagreeable by the roomies on the lease they can suddenly find their stuff on the sidewalk with little/no recourse.</p>
<p>The past two years, my son has had a lease where each individual tenant paid a specific amount. The roommates are not responsible for each other. We, as parents, did have to sign a guarantee and they ran a credit check. Each of the boys pay with their own check.</p>
<p>All the apartment complexes for students we’ve looked at ask the parents to sign the same form.</p>
<p>Our Son is moving into a different complex next year. We signed the guarantee last week. This lease was for the entire amount. The boys signed a lease with their portion, but are responsible if someone doesn’t pay theirs. This complex wants one check for the entire amount.</p>
<p>This is a good reminder for me as my freshman D begins her search for housing for next year. My H will not cosign a lease.
What we have done with our older kids is have them try to work out some compromise with the landlord. In one case we put plenty of money in my D’s account to show she had funds. Another year she paid the first three months in advance.</p>
<p>Yes it is. Landlord does not want to chase people around to collect rent. They want to get paid and it does not matter from whom on the lease the money are coming from.</p>
<p>We have also signed a surety agreement for son’s off-campus housing. It states that “…Lessee’s and Surety’s liability is limited to Lessee’s pro-rata share of the total rent and damages. Lessee’s pro rata share shall be defined as a fraction equal to one divided by the total number of lessees who signed the original Rental Agreement…”</p>
<p>I asked son about the surety agreement and he said that the parents of the other 4 roommates also have to sign the same agreement. </p>
<p>The rent must be paid in one check though, son told me they will work things out and I need not to worry much about that.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, for some areas where the landlords rule and make the rules,and that is the way it is almost always done, there may not be much choice.</p>
<p>Actually in my state the laws are extremely pro-tenant and this kind of agreement is used as one of the few protections available to them.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with wanting to be paid without hassle of hunting down the roommates. It is no different from co-signing for a loan or taking a joint loan. The bank is not going differentiate between co-signers.</p>