That is true but the reality is it’s the last tenants who are left holding the bag so to speak. The landlord never bothers to inspect because the tenants keep rotating through and he’s saving lots of money because he never has to do any cleaning, repairs etc…. At some point all the tenants will leave and it’s those lucky fellows who will pay for the accumulated damage. Case in point the subletting tenant…he’s leaving….is your son reimbursing him for his portion of the security deposit? If so, then that kid is getting off scot-free…he’ll never pay for any of the damage he caused in the unit.
I’d encourage your son to do as @EconPop mentioned: convince all the tenants to vacate the unit for a week and ask the landlord to clean, paint, repair and fumigate the apartment prior to the start of the new lease term. Otherwise your son and his new roommates are taking on liability for all damage incurred so far.
If I may, I would like to repeat an important point (out of many) made in a post above by @EconPop:
“Lease law varies…from state to state and sometimes from city to city…” or from jurisdiction to jurisdiction (in order to also account for counties & historical districts and homeowners’ associations and other governing bodies).
Continuous lease and joint tenancy can cost a lot of money with roommates who aren’t ethical. We knew legal fees would be high so I just helped my daughter pay for damages in a joint tenancy situation where she was only there for a few months. The landlord, I thought, was charging for usual use items such as a washing machine that wasn’t working. My kid had to share in cost of a new floor for one room even though it wasn’t her room. The roommate basically stonewalled.
We have learned our lesson from, actually, three different situations. Kid who paid for the floor now lives in a studio!!
Asking all 3 or 4 tenants to vacate a leased property for a week in order to allow the landlord to clean & fumigate an apartment mid-lease seems unrealistic unless ordered by the county (or other applicable jurisdiction) health dept.
Even if immediately prior to start of new lease, this presents challenges of cost for temp housing & where to go. Seems wiser to avoid the situation altogether.
Really seems like this situation is a matter of exercising commonsense. If one inspects/views an apartment prior to agreeing to a lease and notices cockroaches or other uncleanliness, then that person is on notice of what he or she is getting into.
P.S. I do understand the housing challenges young adults face in many major US cities. Recently, I was asked to review a young professional’s choice for housing across the country in a major US city. The complex was selected for location & because rent & utilities would be limited to about $3,000 per month for a 700 square foot one bedroom apartment. I did not even need to see a lease or view the specific unit after a brief visit to the apartment complex website which noted that dogs up to 200 pounds weight were permitted. Sure enough, it was a complex in a high crime area. (One former tenant nicknamed the complex “murder motel” due to the several killings experienced during her brief 3 or 4 month stay. Needless to say, she broke the lease & moved elsewhere.) Commonsense.
But at the beginning of September only one remaining tenant will be there. The other three will all be new to the lease. The lease renews every September, so it isn’t mid lease. @Publisher
It is not mid-lease, but it is mid-tenancy. Meaning, at least one of the tenants will bridge the point of lease renewal. Three if you count the two who are subletting over the summer.
As long as there is continuous tenancy, it should never be assumed there will be a “turnover” period.
As a landlord, would you be okay with this?:
At the very beginning of September, all four tenants (1 current, 3 new) ask you to get the place professionally sprayed for bugs, cleaned and repainted, and fix the doors and cabinets that are falling apart? The four tenants could delay move in for a few days, maybe stay at an Airbnb, then move in. Is that reasonable?
In Boulder, there is a two week period in August when almost all houses and apt are vacant, landlords paint and fix, renters find other places to store their stuff. Leases are really for 11.5 months. That’s just how it is.
Your son can ask the one kid to vacate for a week or two for the turnover. Maybe the landlord would allow his stuff to remain and work around that room.
Or your son can take the risk that at the end of his term he’ll roll it over to the next tenant without the landlord doing repairs. I’d do this based on the the amount of the deposit, on the overall condition of the apartment (filth can be cleaned, ruined walls and carpets not so much) and how apartment rentals work in his town.
I would be okay as long as all/most belongings were removed and the tenant did not try to squeeze the window too much. For various reasons, this could take 1-2 weeks to complete. If the roommates can only vacate the premises for 2 days and/or the request is not presented to the landlord until August 20, it is an unrealistic request.
Also, the more belongings left in the unit, the less work will probably be attempted. You can’t replace flooring if any furniture is present. I wouldn’t want to repaint a tenants bedroom with pictures on the wall and clothes in the closet. A kitchen can’t be updated if dishes/pots/utensils remain.
The best way for this to work is for the tenants to make the request as soon as possible to give the landlord time to prepare, vacate the premises for at least 10 days, and remove every belonging. Anything short of that will present obstacles, and hint to the landlord that the tenants want gold but aren’t willing/responsible enough to dig for it.
Caveat: If any tenant has a deposit that was paid prior to August 31 (not necessarily your son as prepayment for Sept 1) the landlord might decide that as part of the “turnover” rehab that deposit is forfeited and that tenant will need to pay a new deposit for the post-turnover lease. As a landlord, that seems a reasonable response. If I’m going to provide a turnover clean/repair and new inspection period, I’m going to use that previous deposit(s) for what it was created for in the first place - to update/clean the unit at turnover because the tenants did not leave the unit in the best condition - your son, as a summer subletter, is now one of those tenants who is responsible for the poor condition of the unit. Any tenant who inhabited the unit prior to August 31, might rightfully be asked to forfeit their deposit, regardless of how long they were there.
Oh I absolutely agree the best scenario is to get out of the lease altogether. However, all the roommates have signed and given money for a lease that begins September 1 so that may be an issue. It may not…they could break the lease and the landlord has to decide if it’s worth the effort to go after then legally or just rent it to new people.
I also agree that leaving the property so the landlord can do repairs etc…is not convenient (atleast not for the tenant that is already there) but it sounds like only 1 person is there already so the remaining 3 people would have to wait to move in. Is it optimal? No? But in my opinion it’s way better than moving into a filthy apartment that the landlord hasn’t touched for possibly 8 years.
Yesterday, I was researching COL by city. Was mildly surprised to find that Boulder, Colorado was listed as being more than 55% above national average.
Could your son ask the subletter to pay for a deep clean of his room and the shared spaces (not fumigation but a cleaning service) and deduct it from the sublease rent? That way the main areas of the apartment would be cleaned at no cost to son but the subletter would still get some money. Where will your son live if not here? in many college towns, not easy to get a decent rental at the last minute.
If the lease is ending, will the current four get their deposits back? Or does the landlord just pay them back from the new deposits? Would the landlord actually review the property to decide what damage there may be?
If the deposit is at stake, the three newbies could also ask the subletter, the one staying, and other two who are leaving to pay for a deep clean before they leave, to make sure the apartment is left in a livable condition.
Not surprising that boys living in those types of situations do not notice how grimy things have become.
I think my son is convinced that the two longest staying tenants who have been there for at least four years are the main problem. He feels he can’t stay there while they are there, and he feels he will be resentful of the friend already there. He knows no one else will clean, and he isn’t prepared to do it all himself.
He is going to talk to the kid he is subleasing from. I’m not sure what happens from there.
I don’t have a ton of experience but I’ve never had a landlord clean an apartment or house when there was at least one tenant remaining. They only cleaned when there was a full turn over.
I think that the best solution is to ask the messy roommates to help pay for a deep clean. I think it’s reasonable to ask the landlord to fumigate. But to expect all the roommates to move out while the landlord makes the apartment clean like a turnover, seems to be a lot to ask.
My daughter had a roommate who left a glass pan on a hot stove while she was under the influence. My daughter was in the apartment at the time and the roommate should not have been operating anything. The roommate PROMISED to pay the damage as it put holes in the carpet and kitchen floor.
Unfortunately the roommate neglected to tell her parents and I’m pretty sure blamed the damage on my daughter. At the end of the lease, each roommate had to pay an extra $400 on top of the security deposit. My daughter was incensed, what should she do? Pay the money and chalk to up to an experience. Don’t make an enemy of the roommate.
College roommates and college housing arrangements are difficult. And people can be pigs. Glad they get older!
Is he legally obligated to pay? It seems not, but I don’t know, which is why I wanted to ask the great minds here at CC. I know he will pay at least something.
@bookworm, I believe he’s already talking about this as a plan for September, should the landlord not do that. Seems he won’t, by other posts here.
Whether or not your son is legally obligated to pay cannot be answered by anyone without knowledge of the specific jurisdiction’s laws relating to this matter along with knowledge of the facts & circumstances as alleged by both or all sides.
But, it does seem–based on the information shared in this thread–that your son has a moral obligation to pay. Buyer’s remorse does not excuse any harm caused to other parties. If fraud was involved, then your son might have no obligation legally or morally.
Best advice may be to settle & move-on.
P.S. Seems to be a case of buyer’s remorse as no allegation of fraud or that the unit is uninhabitable has been made.