subleases

valkyrie · #1 08-08-2002, 10:11 PM

I did a search and didn't find anything, so I thought I'd ask...

Have any of you ever subleased an apartment? I understand the basic legal requirements and all -- how it works in terms of how you find a subtenant and how the landlord has to approve a reasonable subtenant. But I don't really understand the reality of it -- once you find a subtenant, does the subtenant pay the landlord or you? Does the subtenant usually pay a deposit? I have yet to find any real helpful how-to information on this topic...

Aside from that, does anyone know a good and legal way to get out of a lease?

Rudey · #2 08-08-2002, 10:24 PM

Here's some info for you in regards to subletting. Basically the landlord wants their money. It doesn't matter who gives them the rent, they want that money. They also don't pay the deposit. Personally for records, I recommend you paying the rent and having the subletter pay you. That is how most kids do it at my school in Chicago when we leave over the summer.

In regards to breaking the lease, I am not so sure. Perhaps you can find someone to actually take over your lease and sign on it. I have heard of that. Also, it might be possible that there are health clauses that allow you to get out of housing contracts. I know there are for cell phone contracts (which are hardly similar).

-Rudey
--I'm not a lawyer though so perhaps you should talk to someone that might know the intricacies better.

Hootie · #3 08-08-2002, 10:38 PM

Okay my roommate and I had this issue BEFORE I moved to Austin. We were living together in a two bedroom apartment, however she could not afford it once I was going to move. So we contacted our apartment and they said they typically don't allow people to sublease but if we did we had to find the people ourselves. Then it'd be a matter of them paying to complex. However if they (the subleaser) leaves I believe it's still YOUR responsibility to pay the rent. If you break a lease however it gets really expensive and usually looks bad in the future if you want to get another apartment.

Legally we were going to try to get out of our lease because they NEVER fixed our sliding glass door which could still be opened when "locked" and we were two single white females living on the ground level. Posed as a safety concern and breech of THEIR contractual terms but oh well.

If you need more advice I'll ask my former roommate who works for a law firm.

Hootie

valkyrie · #4 08-08-2002, 10:44 PM

Thanks for the responses! The funny thing is that I *am* a lawyer, and I still don't know how to do it because it's not my area of practice. Silly, I know.

Eupolis · #5 08-08-2002, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by valkyrie
I did a search and didn't find anything, so I thought I'd ask...

Have any of you ever subleased an apartment? I understand the basic legal requirements and all -- how it works in terms of how you find a subtenant and how the landlord has to approve a reasonable subtenant. But I don't really understand the reality of it -- once you find a subtenant, does the subtenant pay the landlord or you? Does the subtenant usually pay a deposit? I have yet to find any real helpful how-to information on this topic...

Aside from that, does anyone know a good and legal way to get out of a lease?

On the subtenant question-- there may be a housing legal clinic that can provide an answer for you. Aside from web searches, you might find someone in the yellow pages. You can also contact the bar association to ask if they know of someone who can provide answers to generic landlord-tenant law questions. They usually do referrals. Also call up any local law schools, which often operate clinics (though they often have maximum income cut-offs). When I went to the University of Minnesota, they had a Student Legal Services center which gave out basic information on landlord-tenant law to students. These services may not be entirely free, but legal clinics targeted at poor students and others without much money often have sheets drawn up that cover frequently asked, generic legal questions.

The relevant laws can vary from state to state and even from municipality to municipality.

Under traditional property law, I don't think it matters who pays the landlord, but you are liable if your subtenant doesn't pay. Under traditional law, you are personally liable to your landlord for the rent, for any damage to the apartment, and for anything else required by your lease. If the subtenant flips out and splashes chartreuse paint on the walls, you will be paying for it (though you could then go after the subtenant -- good luck). Your landlord might require you to pay the rent and leave it up to you to collect from the subtenant. You or the subtenant may have to pay an additional deposit to the landlord, depending on your lease-- again, that's probably your responsibility unless you can get it out of the subtenant. You could ask your subtenant for a deposit to you on the sublease, too, but if you can't find a subtenant willing to put one down, that won't work.

As for breaking a lease, that's another thing that can vary according to locality. In both Minnesota and Colorado, where I've lived recently, the rule was that if the landlord was able to fill the apartment, they were allowed to charge you rent only for the time they were not able to fill it, and it was their responsibility to try to fill it using commercially reasonable marketing efforts. I can't promise you that that's true everywhere, though, nor can I even promise you that it's true in all cases in the states I named.

Note that breaking a lease is probably going to get you a bad landlord reference unless you work it out with the landlord first. A history of broken leases is a dealbreaker for some landlords, and they do background checks for that kind of thing. Many landlords are understanding and will not withhold references if there are special circumstances, but not if you just don't like the place and want to live somewhere else.

You may be able to work out a deal where you can assign the entire balance of your lease to someone else, or even back to the landlord. There are other legal rules that apply to assignments. They're a little different from subleases.

Good luck in your search for information!

The usual disclaimer -- I'm not a lawyer, and I can't provide you with reliable legal advice, especially not advice tailored to the particulars of your situation. If you are worried about potential legal liability or risk, you should talk with a lawyer.

Eupolis · #6 08-08-2002, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by valkyrie
Thanks for the responses! The funny thing is that I *am* a lawyer, and I still don't know how to do it because it's not my area of practice. Silly, I know.

Hehe... all that stuff I just wrote above about "the traditional law is..." is among the stuff Bar/Bri gave me to cram into my head for the recent exam. (Crossing of fingers...) Of course, that may as well be the "law of nowhere," and it leaves out so many of the little details that end up tripping people up in real life. MBE law and real life law are, as you know, different worlds.

It sounds like you want out of the place for good. Is an assignment of the entire lease a possibility? Under majority law, you'd remain secondarily liable by reason of your lease contract, but the new tenant would pick up primary liability by assuming the obligations of the contract. If the landlord were willing to give a novation on your lease obligations, you'd be free of liability. (A little extra cash might be needed to lubricate that transaction.) Of course, you have to find a new tenant first.

To everyone else-- sorry about that last paragraph.

You mentioned in your first post something along the lines of "a landlord must approve a reasonable subtenant." I don't remember that one, so I think it might be a minority rule. They only taught us that a restriction on assignments and subleases was effective -- though, like I said, that's just bar review law, and I don't know the real life rule in any given jurisdiction.

Do you practice with anyone who would know this stuff? Maybe there's someone in-house who can help you out.

The usual disclaimer from the end of my post above applies, of course.

Hootie · #7 08-08-2002, 11:48 PM

Eupolis,

What you wrote about breaking a lease and the landlord filling the apartment and you only being charged for the amount of time it was vacant makes perfect sense to me. I shall run that by my former roommate who's roommate ditched her in the middle of the night............

Hootie

dzsaigirl · #8 08-09-2002, 12:54 AM

I wanted to move out one month prior to the lease being up, so I just walked down and told the people that I would not be on the renewed lease (the one for the next year that my sorority sister/roommate wanted), so they took me off of it as far as the renewal was concerned. Then, for that last month, I was NOT living there, but technically, I was still fulfilling the completion of my original lease because I paid the rent for that last month. However, one of my other sorority sisters had moved into my room and paid me the rent for that month, so I made my money back, make sense? So I technically sublet my room without them knowing...