All Forum Posts by: Gwen Barnes

I am wondering whether this is my problem and if so what I should do about it. I rent this 4-bedroom unit to 4 college guys. School is out and this one guy hadn't been around for a couple weeks. He says when he got back, one of the other tenants had let some guy who wasn't on the lease live in his room! He arrived home to find this guy in his bed. He was furious, understandably. But is this my problem? I can't/don't stop tenants from having guests over. And the guy hadn't exceeded the two week maximum in the lease that guests are permitted to stay over. I don't see a lease violation here (which would be my problem.) I see a roommate dispute over the appropriate use of the house (not my problem?) Fortunately their lease is up at the end of the month and I will be rid of all of them.

How do you check? Is there a paper they are supposed to show you?

Marcia, yes, jointly and severally liable. 

Matt, I have always taken rent from each tenant before, but I think changing it to where there is a primary tenant is a good idea. I haven't had problems yet with the security deposit, but similarly, I can see how having a primary tenant for that too could hold off future problems.

Nicole, thanks, I'll look into that.

Jesse, no parents are on the lease. How would I do that? They aren't in town. Could they sign remotely somehow?

How long do you recommend I wait after not getting full rent to post the "pay or quit notice"?

I rent to college students, 3-4 per unit. My problem is that sometimes one of the students will not pay rent but the others do. What is my best recourse?

That is, I will sometimes be paid 2/3 or 3/4 of the rent for the unit, but the last roommate may not pay for months on end. I have not yet had someone actually default, they usually come up with the money eventually, but it is stressful and I would like a better way to handle it. All 3 (or 4) tenants' names are on the lease.

Should I proceed with eviction? I don't know if I even CAN evict because I do have part of the money. And if I'm getting 3/4 of the rent each month, they're not even going to be behind a full month's amount for 4 months. Even if I could evict, I'm not sure I should. Since this is a college town, it is unlikely that I would be able to get new tenants in the unit before the current tenants' lease is up anyway. 3/4 rent is better than 0 (right?)

I would appreciate suggestions on how to get the deadbeat roommate to pony up. Thanks.

I rent to students all the time. I have all 3 fill out applications. All 3 have their names on the lease. They are jointly and severally liable for the rent.

I generally set each student up with his/her own online payment account and they each pay me their own portion of the rent. But that's AFTER I make it clear that they are all responsible for the whole lease, not just their part of it. 

But I would like to hear how others handle it.