Pitfalls of Sublet?
We have a tenant who tells us she will be away for 2-3 months…. She has a friend she’d like to have stay in her apartment. She will keep the lease and she will keep paying us rent. We were planning to talk to her more about this, find out about the friend etc. But…
We have a tenant who tells us she will be away for 2-3 months…. She has a friend she’d like to have stay in her apartment. She will keep the lease and she will keep paying us rent.
We were planning to talk to her more about this, find out about the friend etc. But I’m wondering if there are any potential pitfalls we should be aware of…
If he’s living there over 30 days, does he get certain rights by law? Should we do a credit check etc as if he were a formal tenant?
We are mostly thinking this should be fine for everyone but want to double check the “what-ifs”.
sublets can get like that but I would recommend if you are looking for sublets to go to
source: http://www.roomster.weebly.com/roomster.html
hope this is helpful
if rent stabilized, then i believe you are entitled to an additional 10% in rent for the duration of sublet.
I looked up NYC law (maybe that should have been my starting point, but hey) and what it says is interesting. Basically, our tenant has the right to sublet and we can only say no for good reason. Put this way it makes sense to me, plus now we know what’s legal and what’s right. We’ll meet the subletter and go from there.
We are new landlords and I have heard stories of tenants who didn’t pay rent for years and could not be evicted so I was basing my Q on a (perhaps irrational) fear of a similar scenario.
Here is the sublet law for everyone’s information:
Any lease provision restricting a tenant’s right to sublease is void as a matter of public policy. If the landlord consents to the sublet, the tenant remains liable to the landlord for the obligations of the lease, including all future rent.
If the landlord denies the sublet on reasonable grounds, the tenant cannot sublet and the landlord is not required to release the tenant from the lease.
If the landlord denies the sublet on unreasonable grounds, the tenant may sublet anyway. If a lawsuit results, the tenant may recover court costs and attorney’s fees if a judge rules that the landlord denied the sublet in bad faith.
source: http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/attygenguide.html#7
“i just have issues with landlords nosing around in peoples credit”
then buy your own place. if you want to live in someone else’s, they have a right to protect themselves form being bloodsucked. The original leaseholder is obviously moving out in legal terms, so the landlord has rights too.
Under what premise do you want to be free yet not allow people to protect themselves? Delusion?
A sublet can work well for both landlord and tenant, or it can be filled with problems. To a large extent this depends on existing history with current tenant, but not entirely. I wouldn’t agree to a sublet without meeting that person first and establishing that they’re capable of paying existing rent (whether through use of formal credit check or otherwise). Also wouldn’t agree to a sublet without a written agreement in place between all parties. Lots more issues to deal with; lots of misinformation above (for example, without a written agreement, is the person a subletter, roommate or squatter?). Following is a link to a sublet agreement that provides a good foundation for thinking about the issues: http://bit.ly/a1xHPp
I would want to see a copy of the sublease between your tenant and the sub to make sure there’s no subtenant rent-gouging going on and that there are definite time periods specified. I’d probably also want a lump sum rent payment from the tenant to cover the time period the sub will be living there. I disagree with just about everything the first poster said, especially the idea that 30 days of occupancy gives someone leaseholder rights or that the original tenant would be held to the terms of a rider specifying that she pay rent beyond the expiration of her lease. Bottom line: just get the three months of rent in advance and get a copy of whatever the prime and subtenant agree to.
Summer sublets are quite common. If it were me, I would be happier if the tenant were subletting to a foreign relative here on the tourist visa waiver program, at least then if they don’t leave you can call immigration after 90 days.
hmm sorry i was little barky in my last comment :-0 i just have issues with landlords nosing around in peoples credit, just a pet peeve of mine, obviously i know that’s how the whole game works.
anyway, you could just ask for the three months up front? if that’s do-able, at least you know youll be getting paid.. but like everyone else said, the original tenant is the one responsible anyway.
*rob*
a credit check for a three month sublet? total ridiculous to the max..
*rob*