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<p>Have already advised him to do this. We did sign the lease today, both of us (or rather, all 8 of us).</p>
<p>I appreciate all the advice and help with this, very glad I asked here on CC, I knew I’d get some great feedback and I am not disappointed.</p>
<p>I’m kind of confused. Why would the LL and the son sign a lease?</p>
<p>With one of the guys’ parents owning the property, I’d hope things wouldn’t be so rigid as with a strictly business deal. S rents a very large property with 11 others. Each guy signed the lease last year and each family had to send a letter agreeing to be responsible for son’s expenses if S didn’t have sufficient income to cover the $6,000 rent for the 10 months. Landlord had a property manager and they allowed each guy to pay the approximately $600 rent (which included all utilities) individually. Unfortunately, after a few months, some guys were behind in rent, so each family had to pay the remaining 6 months of rent at once or give property manager post-dated checks for each of the remaining six months. All seemed well, but at the end of the lease, each guy was assessed an additional $500 or so and each forfeited his $600 security deposit because of property damage (holes in walls from drunken party guests, e.g.), damage to furnishings, etc. This is not unusual, I think, so a family has to decide whether to allow the student to live in that sort of arrangement. </p>
<p>Our S is living in the same house for his final year because the guys are his best friends, but we have urged that there be a “management group” to try to limit the amount of damage and to assess before the end of the lease the costs against those actually responsible, to the extent possible.</p>
<p>H and I are lawyers, but not in the state where S is in college. It took some restraint to just be parents and not lawyers, but overall I’d say property manager and landlord were reasonable and the guys brought these additional expenses on themselves. You don’t know ahead of time, though, if this will be so. Parents have to evaluate how ready their kids are to be tenants and assess the risks of that sort of living arrangement.</p>
<p>michG-
I think I can answer.
The LL is the property owner, and father of one of the tenants. The LL always signs a lease(though the LL is not always the owner).
As for the son of owner, he is a tenant too and (theoretically) is entitled to all privileges and obligations of a tenant. Theoretically, the son staying there is not a gift, but the son must pay to live there like any other tenant, so he signs.
As a practical matter, I doubt the son’s signing really means anything. If the LL finds damages, is he likely to waive his claim to others and instead sue his son? I think not.</p>
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Who paid the damage assessment and security deposit? Did your son pay, or did you? Unless their own pockets are affected, they probably won’t do anything different for this year.</p>