subletting for summer

Parent Cafe
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<p>I am looking into subletting an apt for summer for my D while she attends summer school. I am already looking in the school postings and I have a couple of possibilities but I don’t know what kind of paperwork do I need.</p>

<p>Do I need the landord to agree? Do I pay the landlord or the people I am subletting from? Do I pay the same amount of rent as they normally do? Do people usually leave their stuff and furniture? Do I need some type of contract? How would I negotiate this long distance? Any other advice?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>Your daughter should probably be the one to make the contacts (even though you might be the one to do the research).</p>

<p>First possibility: The college where she’s going to summer school may have off-campus housing listings that are publicly available on their website. During the spring semester, it is likely that people will offer summer sublets there.</p>

<p>Second possibility: The college’s student newspaper (the online version). People may place ads there.</p>

<p>Third possibility: The local newspaper of the college community. There might be ads there, too.</p>

<p>Fourth possibility: Craigslist. Are you familiar with it? It’s basically the online equivalent of the classified section of a newspaper, only it’s nationwide.</p>

<p>Some leases permit subletting; some don’t. Your daughter should ask the person from whom she plans to sublet whether the lease officially allows it. In my opinion, it’s a really bad idea to sublet illegally. What happens if something in the apartment needs fixing? An unofficial subletter can’t call the landlord. And the presence of a person who is not a tenant for weeks on end could easily be noticed by the property management people.</p>

<p>My daughter and two roommates rent an off-campus apartment. Last summer, one of her roommates found a subletter; the other two people didn’t – their rooms stayed empty during the summer, when they were away from campus. The landlord permitted subletting and had an official process for doing it, in which everyone concerned (which did not, by the way, include any parents) had to sign paperwork. All three of the tenants had to agree to the sublet and sign something that said so. I believe, although I am not sure, that the subletter paid the rent directly to the girl whose room she was occupying. </p>

<p>This was a furnished apartment – as is often the case in places that rent to students. So the furniture stayed. I assume that the girl who was subletting her room to the summer resident moved her personal stuff out to make room for the subletter’s stuff. The occupants of the other two rooms were under no obligation to move their stuff out (one did, one didn’t). I should also add that the residents who had provided things for the apartment beyond the minimal furniture supplied by the landlord were under no obligation to leave it there. For example, the TV in that apartment belongs to my daughter. She was under no obligation to leave it there for the summer (although, as it happens, she did).</p>

<p>I don’t know what would happen in an unfurnished apartment. </p>

<p>There may be other housing options for summer besides subletting. Some colleges rent dorm rooms to summer students (or even to kids with summer jobs or internships in the community). My daughter rented a dorm room on a college campus during an internship one summer; it worked out great.</p>

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<p>Thanks Marian. We did look at on campus housing but there is a gap between the end of the semester and the begining of summer school and the same at the end of the summer. We would need to find and pay for storage and move in and out 4 times!
We will make sure to ask the landlords if they allow it and if have any forms in place</p>

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<p>I’m not sure whether it’s customary for the potential subletter to contact the landlord directly. I was thinking that your daughter would ask the tenant from whom she hopes to sublet about what arrangements they would need to make with the landlord.</p>

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<p>I have sublet without a contract, but when I was looking for people to sublet my apartment, my roommate and I wanted a contract. That was because we had been completely burned by a roommate disappearing and we needed to make sure the rent was covered. My landlord offered us a draft of a typical sublet agreement, but we ended up not using it because the subletter ended up being my little brother.</p>

<p>You would pay the people you are subletting from. I think the rent is typically the same, but they might offer it for cheaper if they’ve been having a hard time finding somebody, or maybe more expensive for leaving you furnishings. My landlord had told us that he always wanted to know who was living in the apartment, so if we had a subletter, even though we were still responsible for getting rent to him, he wanted to run a credit check on the person subletting. This would be something that person would have to figure out with the landlord. We also asked for the last month’s rent in advance (and I’ve had to pay that when I’ve sublet). Again, that was mostly about relying on people we didn’t know to pay our rent. It gave us some insurance to make sure it got paid.</p>

<p>We mostly used craigslist, but your daughter will want to look. If she likes an apartment, she should make sure that she gets the contract signed immediately. Many people will not consider a subletting agreement final until they have the money. After a nightmare of trying to sublet my apartment, I can see why. We had several people who would say they were interested, and just not give us paperwork or money (kept saying it was in the mail), and we needed to make sure the apartment was filled. Also, depending on your area, some people will ask for first and last month’s rent when the agreement is signed, and maybe a security deposit.</p>

<p>Note: this experience is all in the Boston area. I know these things can vary regionally.</p>

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<p>My D sublet in Nashville last summer. She found the house on Craigslist, but she was really careful when researching sublets. The one she went with was a house rented by some law school students … they had the permission of the landlord to sublet, and they had a contract for D to sign that spelled everything out. All four girls who lived there in the summer were subletting. They paid one of the school-year renters for their share of the rent and bills (cable, internet, electricity), and she made sure everything was paid on time. It worked out really well.</p>

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<p>Apartments vary a lot on their policies. DD and her roommates have had sublettors every summer. However, they have to put one of the sublettors on the lease formally in order to say compliant with their lease. Someone last year turned them in based on their ad but they had the defense of having added the person to the lease so were ok. . I would use the school’s listing first. But DD and her roommates never advertised theirs until later in the spring. So it may be too early for college listings.</p>

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<p>Singersmom, we are starting early as summer registration is mid february and summer housing is not guaranteed.
thanks for the information everybody</p>

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<p>It may be that registration is now, but I am willing to bet that most students who are just getting back from winter break have not thought about the summer sublet yet and that is where your best bets for a good placement are going to be. Even waiting another month may sufficient to get some of the ones that plan ahead more. DD did not settle last summer’s sublet until sometime in April. If your DD is at the school now, sublets are often by word of mouth too. She should let people know she is lookng. </p>

<p>As for some of your other questions, everything is negotiable. DD and roommates did this themselves directly with the sublettors. They did not deal with parents. DD and her roommates sublet with all of their furniture left there (it is an unfurnished apartment normally). They packed up their personal belongings into bins and stored them in the unit. Anything valuable went with them. They took one of their names off and had one of the sublettors added to the lease (not really a sublet as far as office is concerned) so the summer people paid directly to the rental office. It can get messy if they are trying to send a check to someone out of town who then has to send one to the landlord. Hard to get everything in on time if there is vacation, etc. . They negotiated how they would deal with the partial months. They were very picky in selecting the sublettors because of this. Rent can be negotiated too, however there is more incentive to go lower the closer to actual time. </p>

<p>BTW - it does vary a lot by where you are. S’s went to schools that were in college towns and everything was done sooner. DD is in a major city and everything seems to be done closer to time.</p>

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<p>D2 sublet a house last summer in her college town. They went thru a leasing agent and signed a contract with the agent. (The house, it turned out, belonged to a prof who was out of country on sabbatical who had rented it to visiting prof who didn’t want to spend the summer in the college’s town.) It was good thing because the agent as able to act for the house’s owner (the landlord) when the house had major plumbing issues. (Upstairs toilet leaked through the ceiling of the living room.) Agent arranged for repairs and none of the leasees were charged for the resulting damage.</p>

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<p>Have your daughter start talking to friends. It may very well be that someone she knows (or a friend of a friend) has a year round lease and would be thrilled to have a subletter who is a known person.</p>

<p>She could post to all of her friends on FB…maybe that will turn up a summer housing option.</p>

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<p>Did you actually speak to the housing director on campus? My D is also in need of summer housing at her college (which offers both summer dorms and on-campus apartments) and I noticed the 2-4 week gaps as well. When I emailed the ResLife office the director replied that they don’t make kids going from dorms to summer housing on campus actually move their stuff, and the same is true between the end of the summer session and fall. As long as they’re staying within the on-campus housing system, they either leave their stuff put until it’s time to move into the next space or the school provides them with locked storage. Might be worth asking about…</p>

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<p>^^^We were also able to pay S’s school a small additional fee for the gap periods surrounding the summer session.</p>