Subletting Question

[flamingjuly.livejournal.com]

Hey, so this isn't Davis Square specific, per se, aside from the fact that I live here. But I know a few of you are landlords in the area, and might know of some Somerville-specific laws, so I figured I'd ask:

What are a landlord's biggest concerns about subletting?

Every lease I've signed has had a point about no subletting. I get why landlords would not be a fan of having someone not on the lease living somewhere, but I feel like some people are able to make subletting work even if it's not allowed in their lease. My roommate wants to sublet her room, and I'm going to ask the landlord about it because it's worth a shot. I'd really like to address all his possible fears upfront. The person subletting would be taking over the lease once it's up for renewal, so I'm hoping that helps my case.

Thanks for any help!

Comments

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

Chasing after the legally responsible parties if any money goes owing.

For both rent and damage, the original tenant is liable, the landlord has little if any claim against the subletter. If there are multiple tenants and only some leave, it is joint and several on the remaining original tenants and then they have to go after the housemate who left and/or the subletter.

Which makes for a huge headache is just so many ways, potentially for a whole pile of people, not just the landlord.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

As I understand it, it's joint and several against everybody who signed the lease, not just the remainder.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

Some landlords screen tenants closely, to make sure they seem responsible and have decent credit. Getting rent paid regularly can make the difference in making your payments on the mortgage yourself, if you are not a large property owner. Allowing someone to sublet without checking out the subletter is risky- what if the person stops paying rent, or breaks things on purpose. Who knows?

My advice is to ask the landlord their thoughts. If the person taking over the room is willing to have a credit check, meet the landlord, and sign a new lease, at least for the time the current lease has left, that should assuage any concern.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

It may also have something to do with how the property is insured.

[totient]

My insurance makes no such requirements. If you're a landlord and find that your insurance is preventing you from leasing your property as you would like, I recommend that you call Nancy Bender and get better insurance.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

As a landlord, I've done this several times, but I amend the lease to substitute one for the other and put the new person through the same background check. I make the tenants deal with any prepaids among themselves (last month's rent, deposit). It's easier if the change happens at the end of the lease, but it can be managed.

The real problem with subletting is when you sublet the property without the landlord involved and then split. That's why subletting is prohibited in most leases.

I don't even consider that subletting -- you want to substitute a new lessee. Ask the landlord.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Another reason is that even doing it the way described here makes extra work for the landlords at a time period that they can't predict in advance. We don't prohibit it, and we also do soething similar (issue an amended lease/rental agreement with a new person named on it, put the new person through the same references check as the original tenants, etc.), and I recall it being a pain in the rear when tenants went through several revolving-door roomates in the space of a year or so.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I think the no subletting is a standard clause on leases, just to ensure that the landlord has some control over the process. this sounds less like a sublet and more a lease transfer, so I wouldn't imagine any issues.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Some towns and cities in Massachusetts also used to have rent control. In places that have rent control, prohibitions on subletting are common. This avoids the scenario where the landlord rents the apartment to the tenant at below-market rent, and the tenant turns around and sublets it at market rates, and pockets the difference. To be sure, rent control has been gone since 1994, but it often takes boilerplate documentation like residential leases a while to catch up to changes in the law, especially when there isn't significant demand for it to do so. IME subleases tend to be negotiated on an informal, case-by-case basis with landlords, in cases where a tenant needs to move out-of-state for work, or just bought a house and can't coordinate the house closing with the end of the apartment lease, or similar.

(Please, let's not have a debate on whether rent control is "good" or "bad".)

[dahdahdahdancer.livejournal.com]

From a landlord perspective - since I live in the house also (it's a two family home), I like to know who's living in the other unit and exercise a choice, which means meeting prospective tenants in advance and checking references. I have a no subletting clause in the lease, but I always work with current tenants in case someone needs to break the lease, etc. Life happens and sometimes people need to move on. I assume many other landlords who live on the premises, and share a house with tenants, have a similar approach.