<p>Looks like D1 may rent an off-campus house with 3 other girls next year. I would appreciate any insights other parents have with landlords writing separate leases for each tenant, so they aren’t on the hook in the event one girl leaves, etc. If the landlord won’t do that, how have you protected your child (and youself, as I assume no landlord is going to rent to four 20/21yo girls). Any other advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I’ve never had to cosign a lease for my kids so it’s possible for them to rent at that age without a cosigner. Some of the places want to see proof of, for example, funds in their bank account to cover at least 6 months of rent, and other places will do it with an extra month of a deposit fee - which is refunded when they leave. Some place simply won’t rent without a cosigner and some won’t rent to a student period.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to have to cosign and be at risk with the financial liability it entails, have your D find an apartment where a cosigner isn’t required. Sometime it helps if they’re assertive and don’t take the first ‘no’ for an answer and ask what alternatives there are to a cosigner - such as the ones I mentioned above.</p>
<p>The above worked for us at multiple apartment complexes on both ends of the country.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we have experienced the situation where one kid left early and the others were on the hook. The landlord insisted that the contract be written that way, but he didn’t have any parents cosign. (In hindsight, maybe that would have been better.) They know the kids are all friends and can put pressure on a “non-payer”. This kid’s security deposit covered one of the months. It was a good learning experience for all involved.</p>
<p>DO NOT allow your daughter to put utilities in her name, don’t offer, don’t even think about it :D. Landlords in most college towns know they will be renting to young adults so you may or may not have to co-sign. Hopefully they can find a place that included utilities. If not, I would strongly suggest that the girls set up a separate savings account that they each put in 1/4th of one month’s utility costs so if someone skips out on them, they aren’t stuck paying a $200 heat bill…</p>
<p>I can’t comment on the legal aspects as I’m not in the US. That said, I’m on a contract where all 7 of us are individually liable for the full rent, and each of us has a parental guarantor who is also liable for the full amount. That’s normal around here. Just don’t get me started on landlords who have certain requirements for who can be a parental guarantor - it’s not my fault that both my parents are out of work, so I’m not entirely sure what they expect me to do! </p>
<p>However, from experience
- read the contract, understand every clause, and and understand why every clause is there.
- meet the landlord. Talk to them, ask lots of questions, and watch how they react. You want one who takes your many questions in their stride. Getting defensive isn’t a good sign (we decided to avoid the one who asked, in a rather affronted tone, if I was a law student, for instance)
- feel the outside walls for damp - sometimes it’s not visible, but it’s very much present.
- find out exactly what is and is not included - furniture, utilities, internet etc. You will often find that at least some of the furniture in a furnished house belongs to the tenants, so don’t just assume.
- visit the area at night - how safe does it feel?
- what are the transport options like? How close is it to the bus route? Is there car / bike parking?
- is there enough fridge / freezer / cupboard space?</p>
<p>With one of my d’s apartments, the girls put a clause into the lease that if the apartment was not delivered broom clean, the landlord would be responsible for a cleaning service. Since the apartment was basically pretty filthy when they moved in, they hired a cleaning service and took the cost of the cleaning service off their first month’s rent.
Important is to find out whose responsibility to maintain the outside of the property - leaves and snow removal in particular. Now if you go to school in Rochester and the landlord lives in Syracuse, trust me that he is not going to be showing up to shovel the walk or the driveway. If an outside light fixture is non-working, whose responsibility to repair.
Younger d had an apartment at school in which the building was sold mid-year, new landlord wanted to replace the washing machine/drier and wanted them to buy so that they could then sell to the next tenants, taking himself out of the loop.</p>
<p>I offered to guarantee my kid’s rent in exchange to have separate lease for 2 roommates. I was going to pay for the rent anyway, so it wasn’t anything off my back. In the lease I also included that if the roommate should leave early, my kid had the option of finding another roommate first, if she should forfeit that option then the landlord would be obligated to find another renter, and the new renter would be a student at her school and a female. Other than that I didn’t ask for anything else.</p>
<p>We have never had to sign anything for our D’s apartment and she has lived there one summer and two semesters now. We paid monthly for the summer and in August & December for the semesters. No security deposits, no guarantees to sign.</p>
<p>In order to get more specific input, city or region might be helpful. There is a lot of difference between places in terms of market, laws, customs and room to negotiate. That said, there are ways to sort most of it out. Separate agreements among the roomies can be drafted to protect guarantors - as in if one leaves before lease expires they are responsible for their share of rent(utilities) until they locate a new room-mate acceptable to remaining ones. Good luck!</p>