<p>Just wondering about other parent's experience with apts/houses near campus and 12 month leases. My son wants to get out of university housing at USC and his friends are moving into an apt (with 5 bedrooms) which his part would be 650 a month. This is near campus, no furniture and doesn't include utilities. Problem is they have a 12 month lease that would go June to June and He was not planning on being in LA this summer. I think it is a rip-off although my wife points out it is about the same cost as dorm for 10 months. He is a junior. We live 8 hours away so it would not be fun buying or schlepping furniture around the state. I am sure he would never be able to sublet; plus we pay full cost of U$C. Unable to find people with 10 month ;eases near USC. Anyone else face a similar situation?</p>
<p>You are not going to find 10-month leases anywhere off-campus. Why would any landlord do that (other than at 120%+ of the market rent)? </p>
<p>Don't be so sure he can't sublet -- at a discount at least. My children have two summers away from their off-campus apartments (not at USC), and both have been successful recovering about 3/4 of the rent via subletting.</p>
<p>Different area ...same issue. Ithaca has a lot of student housing. It's all 12 month leases. Most of them are actually 11.5 month leases giving the landlord time to paint between tenants. And ... to make it more confusing some of them are June renewals, some are August. One year my son had <em>2</em> places to live in Ithaca for the summer, he did stay up for the summer, but lived in yet a <em>third</em> place.</p>
<p>Most student housing in Ithaca does come furnished however. And the total rent is approximately the same as the dorm cost.</p>
<p>S has a 12 month lease in Philadelphia. His utilities are included, but he had housing before where they were not, and the expense turned out to be huge. In Phila it is sort of luck of the draw as to whether you can sublet your place for the summer. There are more apts/rooms than there are summer students needing them. We sucked it up in order for him to have this particular housing.</p>
<p>We live in the northeast, but we have a twelve month lease for our son. The 10 month may seem better but we found it to be a problem. At the end of the year we either had to go help him move his stuff out or it got tossed. Also, if they want to stay a few days or go back early they can't because its the same as the dorm with movein moveout dates. This year he is in a twelve month and it is so much easier, he can come and go as he pleases and he got a summer research project so no hunting for a place. If you add time for moving in and out and storage or moving costs we just thought the twelve month made more sense for us. We nixed the sublet idea because our name is on the lease. Good luck</p>
<p>You'll find that 12-month leases are usually all that's available in most college towns. Since there's so little demand there for housing over the summer, the landlords can't easily rent then so they require a 12-month lease. If they offer a 9 or 10-month lease, they just pump up the monthly rent to cover those summer months when the apartment would be empty. </p>
<p>The ability to sublease over the summer depends a lot on the desirability of the particular apartment (how close to the school it is, what amenities it has, how much the rent is).</p>
<p>My D also has a 12 mo lease and she will eventually have a problem since the lease period ends well before the school year. I suspect the 12 mo lease is really a blessing. She avoids moving out, storing furniture and stuff and moving back into another place in the Fall.</p>
<p>DD is in a large city and in an apartment that is not heavily student, but mostly professional. They have 9, 10 and 12 month leases available since they serve a medical center, too. Maybe look beyond the typical student apartments. We did find, though, that the 12 months was about the same as the college 9 months. </p>
<p>BTW they are looking for a sublet over the summer, but I am not sure I am for that. They would have to move out anything valuable and store it again. Complications with bills for utilities, etc. I'd rather go ahead and pay it. </p>
<p>What is anyone else's experience with the sublettors?</p>
<p>I like the idea of a 12 month lease. I am encouraging my son to get one starting in June so that he doubles his chances of a job or internship over the summer by being able to live either in his college town or here at home. From what I've seen (and take this with a grain of salt, I don't have much experience) some places do not allow subletting. I would hate to lose a security deposit or even a lease due to untrustworthy sub-letters.</p>
<p>My older daughter is in first year of grad school and this is her third apt. over the past 3 years (different cities). She has not had any problems subletting her share of the apts she's had over the past two years -both times subletters came from Craigs List -one was a student from China who was attending her university summer session and the other a person doing a program at a hospital in Boston whose own lease didn't begin until Sept 1.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry too much about subletting - esp. if it is to another USC student. I think it is a more common practice in college communities. I was suprised how easily my DD found a good, flexible sub-let arrangement for 6 months.</p>
<p>S1 and three friends have been renting for three years..all 12 month leases. They got an apt. for soph. yr. with the lease starting in Aug. They stayed there two years and this year are renting a house closer to campus. It has worked out well. They had a place to live the summer after soph. yr. when they all stayed in their college town for jobs/summer sch. Most kids we know don't end up coming home for the summer anymore after the first freshman summer at home so the 12 month lease is not a big deal. If they want to sublet, they advertise it in the school's student newspaper. One of S's friends (who was living in the dorm) found a place for the summer that way.</p>
<p>We did a 9 month lease for my D but paid more per month for it and ended up going more than 12 months anyway so we should have done it that way.</p>
<p>Are you sure he'll be out of there after the one year? If not, most students keep the apartment through the summer whether they're there to make use of it or not. Some sublet. There are frequently some students, including international students, coming in for summer sessions (they do at the UCs anyway) who sometimes want to sublet.</p>
<p>If you don't think he'll be there into the next year, have they looked around enough to conclude there are no 9-10 month leases available? It seems that some places are usually willing to go with a 9 month lease albeit at a higher per month rate (but still less than a full 12 months at the lower rate).</p>
<p>A 5 bedroom apartment? I've never heard of one of those. Are you sure it's not a house? If not, is it some apartment that someone put temp walls in and is calling a 5 bedroom? It seems odd.</p>
<p>There are lots of 3-4-5-6-7 bedroom apartments and houses in Ithaca. My son is currently in a 8 BR house. Next year he will be in a 4BR apartment.</p>
<p>We have an apartment for our son. It was a 12-month lease for the first year and a tenancy at will after that. The student may be able to get a job on campus or take classes during the summer. We just treat it like a second residence.</p>
<p>In Madison the dates are mid August to mid August minus a day or so (school starts early Sept)- with a day of no place to stay for many students as not everyone can find storage while switching apts. Apparently there are a lot of homeless people for that night- sitting with all of their belongings at curbside out of one apt and waiting to get into the next. Somewhat of a party atmosphere in some near campus neighborhoods. Also, it is a good time of year to "junk pick" for fall furnishings as students abandon things. The logic of less than a full year's lease involves apt management having time to be sure vacated apts are ready for the next tenants. Starting and ending a lease just before school starts is nicer than at the end of the school year- gives a buffer when moving on after graduation.</p>
<p>The cost of a 12 month lease can be cheaper than a 9 month one or a dorm room and means no need to move back home, or a place to keep stuff when one is gone for the summer. Madison is a great place to be in the summer and subletting is the way to go for temporary housing. I'm looking forward to son having a place away from home to be next summer. His life is there, not here anymore. See the "they're finally leaving" thread from early January and you'll find many parents who understand. I'm sure having even partially filled buildings is better for security than totally empty ones for apt owners.</p>
<p>DD has a student apartment (privately run, rents to only students.) She has a 12-month lease that runs from Aug. to Aug. We had to pay for the whole Aug. rent but no one could move in until Aug. 15. If you lived there before, you still had to be out from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15, though you could leave stuff there. </p>
<p>I'm not sure how it is legal to charge full price for a place you can't live in for half of the month, but that is how all the complexed worked where she is and how they work around here.</p>
<p>S & his room mate also have a 12-month lease & as they are current juniors, both hope/plan to intern this summer. If they aren't in LA, they may sublet or we'll just pay & feel free to have them store things for themselves, D & friends over the summer. I've seen quite a few sublets for USC & other schools advertised in Craigslist & I'm sure other places.</p>
<p>It didn't come as a surprise to me when my son had to sign one for the off campus house he's renting, only because my husband and I had 12-month leases back in the 80s when we were in college.</p>
<p>12 month leases here too. BUT we viewed that as a plus because we didn't have to move the "stuff" out. DD solved the problem last summer by going to summer school. This year, she will work on campus for the summer...if she can't find an internship of some sort. </p>
<p>DS sublet his apartment both summers he lived off campus. He was in a large metro area with a ton of colleges. Subletting was NO problem at all either year.</p>