Tenants broke up. She wants to sublease?

Question

Hello all. New landlord here.

I rent out a 2/1 house near a university. The tenants in question are amazing. However, They have broken up and I got this text today

"Tom and I have ended our relationship however I would like to stay in the house. What are the possibilities of subletting the spare room if I can find someone to move in?"

More info: They signed a year lease until June 2015. They also signed the lease together, both names. They also paid a months rent in Security deposit and a 400$ pet security deposit.

How can i go about this? End the lease all-together? No fee, re-do a new lease with the new person?

Should I say "too bad" and continue collecting rent? My lease states that it is 2 months Rent to break the lease. I rent the house for 1650$ including Utilities.

A fellow landlord told me to do the following: Keep both tenants name on the lease. Allow the girl to sublease, where she drafts a sub-lease agreement complete with a "subject-to master lease" on a month to month. This way if anything goes wrong I can go after the girl AND the ex bf. In this scenario however I fear that if the new subtenant does any crazy damage, the main tenant can prove I knew she was subleasing and that she is not on the hook for that.

BONUS INFO: My tenants  do not have jobs, their parents pay for their rent. late 20's on scholarship responsible.

I want to make sure I take all the correct steps to protect all parties involved, especially myself. Thanks all.

Sam Leon · Answer

What Marcia said.

Formalize the process, do not "refund" a percentage of the security deposit to the departing person, or you will be subjecting yourself for the eventual "I didn't break this, he did, you should deduct from his part of the security deposit" that may be six or eight months later.

Let them sort out the security deposit issue amongst themselves.  You keep the whole amount until the lease ends.

As a courtesy to them, if you are handy and observant, you may consider doing a walk through inspection with them, and just verbally point out issues to them.  This is by no means a thorough and exhaustive inspection, due to tenant possessions being in the way, but it may be helpful to them to realize things they might not have noticed.  Nothing formal, nothing in writing, just a casual walk through, so they have something to discuss amongst themselves as to what damages are there, and who might be responsible.  Your job is not to determine who caused the damages, you will eventually deduct from the security deposit.  They can use this as a way to decide on a settlement between themselves.  You can use this opportunity to document existing damages, which may or may not be useful.

The other issue to sort out, besides security deposit and leases, is the key surrender.  If you give them two keys, they probably ought to keep the two keys and NOT return one key to you.  Treat it like a security deposit.  By releasing him from the lease, he should give his key to her...not you.  If he had made a duplicate and later on go back in to "pick up his stuff", since at that time he is no longer on the lease, he is actually trespassing.  Make sure they understand that.  If she wants you to change locks, charge her to do so.  Don't get between them, but be professional and understanding when talking to him/her/them.

Leigh C · Answer

I'd redraw up a new lease and take half of the security deposit (his half) for abandoning the lease.    Have the new tenant come up with the other half in theory and continue forward with the new parties without any gaps in occupancy.     Whatever you do to qualify your tenants I'd put the new roommate through also.

Debra Leeson · Answer

This is slightly off topic, but   ...   When I hear student housing/ near school housing/ tenant no job / parents paying rent all I can think is $$$$$$$$$.  suggestion for next lease ( or even perhaps this sublet)

1.  when showing, inform that parents are required to cosign.

2. tenant & parent fills out rental app. & run credit on both.

3. If parent's credit good, tenant & parent sign rental agreement stating that tenant lives in rental and PARENT(s) are responsible for on time payment/ no damage.

4. ex moves out, not your problem. Parents problem. Parent honors lease agreement and pays or tell parent you hate to do this but, if lease agreement is not honored (payment and no damage) your only recourse would be to obtain a judgement for said amount. This would be attached the their mortgage and credit report.

5. 80% pays now, 20% pays latter with interest.

It's business. Hope this is not to much.

Marcia Maynard · Answer

This is not an uncommon situation. We have a means to take someone off a lease or rental agreement and a means to add someone.

REMOVING A TENANT: About the security deposit.... it stays in our bank account until a future time when the unit is vacated and possession is returned to us. So departing tenants must get "their share" from remaining tenants. If the remaining tenant qualifies on her own great... just release the departing tenant from the lease... we have an addendum for that... or terminate the lease per the wishes of all parties and sign a new one with the remaining tenant. If the remaining tenant doesn't qualify on her own, allow her to remain by increasing the security deposit to cover the added risk.

ADDING A TENANT:  If the remaining tenant finds a suitable roommate, the roommate must fill out an application to rent, pay an application fee and agree to be screened to qualify.  If they pass, we add them to the rental agreement as jointly and severally liable. At this juncture we always terminate the old rental agreement and sign a new one. We do not allow subletting.

Aaron Montague · Answer

@Enrique Batallas

Welcome to BP!!

You seem to have a good grasp of what to do.  Keep as many people as possible on the lease lest something goes wrong between now and June.

Make sure you sublease signs the exact same lease as the primary tenants.  If they area students, get their parents on the same lease.

Also have a frank discussion with the woman who wants to stay.  Let her know that she is on the hook for the entire rent until the sublessor starts paying.  Better to have her realize she can't hack it than to have her walk out on you AFTER the start of the 2nd semester.

Tenants broke up. She wants to sublease?

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