<p>S plans to rent a house off campus, sharing with 3 others this upcoming school year. One of the 4 guys’ parents own the house and I do not know them personally.</p>
<p>S has just told me that they’ve asked a parent to co-sign the lease (housing arrangement has been lined up since May). S has a job, has saved $ over the summer for first/deposit and more, and will be paying his own rent/utilities.</p>
<p>Other than asking for a copy of this lease to look over, which I have just done, and ascertaining that all 4 guys are signing and all have a parent co-signer as well (seems odd?), what would you look for before signing?</p>
<p>I asked him to see what utilities if any are included and how that will be handled. Not sure what else to look out for here? I’ve never rented a house personally, went from living in parents’ (they moved out and I sublet with my own roommates) to owning our own houses.</p>
<p>I’d look to see if I had hit the lottery first.
generally, leases hold people jointly responsible for damage. Meaning, if S’s friend caused a thousand dollars damage, ANY parent could be held liable for that damage. Adult cosigners are not odd, in fact they are quite common. The LL wants to feel confident that if there is damage(physical or financial) as a result of their tenancy, that he can be reimbursed. He doesn’t want to go thru the run-around of one kid telling him to get money from some other kid, because it was the other kid that did the damage.</p>
<p>Although the agreement is common, Not likely I’d sign such an agreement because I would not want to put my name and my finances on the line for kids I don’t know and are not related to me.</p>
<p>We had to cosign DS’s lease in Boston…all the parents had to do this. We had to do it in March the spring before they moved in. </p>
<p>The most important thing we wanted, which their rental company permitted, was that EACH tenant was responsible for only their share of the rent. That way if someone moved out, we would not have to pay the additional rent.</p>
<p>My daughter’s friend is moving off campus this year. They have four individual leases and it was written in the lease that if one backs out or does not pay, the landlord can’t make the other girls responsible for her share of the rent.</p>
<p>I think it should be fine as long as you are just cosigning for your own kid. They just want to make sure the rent is covered over the lease. It’s a bit much to me if they are cohorts, but it is customary many places. I didn’t have to cosign at all for my daughter when she rented a shared place from a local landlord.</p>
<p>Carefully look over the lease and think long and hard before co-signing as if your son or if it’s a usual lease I’ve experienced…any of his roommates flake out on rent/damage fees, the clause holding each roommate “jointly and separately liable” gives the landlord the legal right to go after any/all roommates to make good on the flaky roommate(s) rent/damage fees obligations. </p>
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<p>Most landlords in the Boston area IME tend to dislike this arrangement as it not only adds an additional administrative burden for them, but also makes it harder to ensure the entire rent for the unit is made good as they can’t hold other roommates separately and jointly liable. Especially if those roommates arrangements were made among themselves or otherwise outside landlord-based influence. </p>
<p>Landlords don’t care about payment arrangements between the roommates…so long as the entire rent for a given unit is paid in full on time each month.</p>
<p>Cobrat…all of my kids’ friends in Boston had individual leases. In other words, they were responsible for only their portion of the lease. But remember, moving out does not get the kid who moved out out of paying the rent on HIS portion of the lease.</p>
<p>I just didn’t want to pay anyone else’s portion…and that was standard on every lease my kid had, or sent us for review…they looked at a bunch of apartments.</p>
<p>California was a whole different thing. We never had to cosign the lease at all. But out kid’s responsibility was only for HER share of the costs.</p>
<p>But then maybe my friends and your friends had different experiences. My kid was a college student much more recently than you.</p>
<p>I was also speaking from my own experience as someone who rented in the Boston area and from getting to know some landlords as friends…whether my own or those I’ve met somewhere along the line in the area. </p>
<p>Only differences was time period and the fact I was renting as a young professional fresh out of college. </p>
<p>With the exception of the dumpy first apartment I had, every other apartment I rented with roommates didn’t rent to undergrads in practice because the landlords found them to be such a headache to deal with in terms of chasing down rent/damages money from students/parents, noise/nuisance issues, neighbors’ complaints, dealing with uncooperative/argumentative co-signer parents, /or getting dragged into roommate disputes. </p>
<p>Most of my neighbors/roommates were young professionals like myself or grad/medical students or medical interns/residents.</p>
<p>Moreover, I don’t know about now…but back then it was the landlord’s market and if one didn’t like their lease/rental terms, they had plenty of other potential tenants eagerly waiting to snatch up a conveniently located rental. Especially if it was priced anywhere near reasonably.</p>
<p>thank you cobrat for repeating that for a tenant, the only obligation isn’t just rent. For a LL, the risk is rent, AND damage(physical or financial). Rent is only a part of the LL’s risk.</p>
<p>Momof2- please re-read para 1 of post 7 to explain why the LL wants all parents to sign. One parent might sign that really didn’t “have anything” and the LL would end up with nothing. When all sign a contract with “jointly and separately…” then the LL can go after any parent for reimbursement, no matter which tenant caused the damage.</p>
<p>All those areas are well known for their heavy undergrad student renter populations. </p>
<p>A reason why with the exception of my first dumpy apartment, my later rental was not located in any of those areas. Especially not Allston/Brighton…<em>shudder</em>.</p>
<p>Actually there are some really nice and convenient apartments in Allston and Brighton…but the undergrads probably beat you to those!</p>
<p>Younghoss is correct. The LL wants all parents to sign, as it should be. DS shared an apartment with three others and if the other parents had not signed the lease also, DS would have NOT been living there!</p>
<p>BTW…we parents not only had to sign the lease, but we had to show verification of our employment and income, and ability to pay first/last month rent and deposit.</p>
<p>I’ve never co-signed a lease for my kids and purposely avoided doing so. They’ve managed to live in lots of places (all decent ones) in widely dispersed areas of the country without the need for a co-signer. In some cases they required an extra amount of deposit and in other cases a certain sum in the bank account and in some cases some persuasion which my kid is very good at. It also meant avoiding some places that were inflexible on the point.</p>
<p>Your case is a bit odd that the owner of the property is actually the parent of one of the roommates. </p>
<p>If you want to avoid co-signing, which is a good idea if you can get away with it, see if your S can talk the LL out of requiring it perhaps through an extra sized deposit (refundable) or proving he has a certain amount in his bank account. In addition to getting you off the hook financially it lets him actually be more independent and enjoy that aspect.</p>
<p>If you are going to co-sign, read every word of the contract (make sure your S does regardless) and make sure you understand exactly what you’re on the hook for financially including obligations if one of the roommates leaves, if there are damages to the apt even if caused by someone else, etc. You should ‘assume’ you might actually have to pay some money - i.e. if you can’t afford it or don’t want to pay anything under any circumstances, then don’t co-sign. Chances are you won’t end up having to pay anything but you have to be ready to if it ends up they come after you.</p>
<p>Depends on your definition on “nice and convenient”. </p>
<p>In my case, I found the area I moved to after my first apartment had much more space, was in a nicer neighborhood with more mature neighbors, and was much more reasonably priced than a comparable unit in Allston/Brighton at the time. </p>
<p>And the nearby T lines were much more convenient for my commute to/from work to boot. </p>
<p>Granted, a large part of that was due to the fact the neighbors/locals in my later Boston area rentals wouldn’t put up with nearly as much loud rowdy drunken behavior as I’ve seen in my friends’ undergrad heavy areas of Boston…including Allston/Brighton. Nice areas to visit to hang out with friends for a few hours…but I wouldn’t have enjoyed living there.</p>
<p>My two sons have rented student apartments in the college towns of Boulder and Madison. In all cases, each parent had to co-sign the lease for their own student. It is a very common practice and has not caused any difficulty at all with either them or any of their roommates.</p>
<p>Well really aren’t only 3 guys signing since one of the kids parent owns the house? I don’t think I would sign mostly because of one the kids parents owns the house. Who knows what may happen. If there is damage most likely it would be split 3 ways not 4. What if the owners kid has a falling out with one of the other kids and that kid moves out? Are you going to be responsible for the difference? Also has your son already signed a lease? If so I don’t think they can make you sign one after the fact.</p>
<p>BTW the lease should clearing spell out what utilities are included.</p>