<p>OP-My DD is attending NU, and moved off campus as a junior. We had a different experience with FA. Her financial aid covered her off-campus expenses-they did not reduce her coverage. It may be a result of her contacting the financial aid office prior to moving to confirm continued assistance. Her landlord also asked for parent co-signatures-see your PM.
APOL-a mom</p>
<p>I thank you all for the different pieces of advice. To summarize, we can try negotiating our two main hangups - us being responsible for her roommates’ actions, and she being held responsible for them - with these approaches:
- I can have DD1 check if we can deposit her share of the annual rent in her bank account and if this is sufficient proof that she has the means to pay her rent and leave both us and the roommates out.
- Pay a few months’ worth of her share of her rent in advance in exchange for keeping her separate from her roommates and us off the lease.
- Have her check if there are other landlords who don’t hold us or her - what’s the term one of you used - “jointly, collectively, severally responsible …”</p>
<p>ebeeee, by NU, I meant Northwestern in Evanston </p>
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Some of us parents benefit by knowing what others have negotiated.</p>
<p>Let us know how it goes, Dad<em>of</em>3. I’m curious if you can negotiate your way out of a joint and severally held lease. I can see why landlords want to do this but it sure puts a burden on the remaining roommates if someone just walks away. I would be curious as to what type of agreement the housing office suggested you try to negotiate with the other parents. The way I see it, if a student wants out of their portion of the lease, then they need to be responsible for either finding someone to take over it or paying it to the end of the lease, whether they live there or not. It’s definitely not fair to put this burden on the remaining roommates. A commitment is a commitment.</p>
<p>I don’t have parents on the leases, only students. However, I meet with the parents, have their phone numbers and discuss responsibilities. In 8 years, I’ve never had a problem with the payments being made.</p>
<p>Parental cosigners is the norm in Madison, WI (UW).</p>
<p>We had to have all parents sign the actual lease - the same lease! This involved much faxing between parties until all names were on the lease and initials on each page. It was different with DD leases, since she subleased more…</p>
<p>We did not have to co-sign leases for either D (in different parts of the country) … neither did we have to provide additional security. All roommates signed as being responsible for the rent payments. This was not a problem for either D … both roomed with friends. But it did cause us to veto one (really nice) house. We weren’t willing to risk non-paying roommates, as the monthly rent would have exceeded our mortgage payment!</p>
<p>Parental co-singers are the norm in Berkeley. And being jointly and severably liable ( each party being responsible for their portion as well as the whole) is commonplace too.</p>
<p>We have had rentals in SoCal, NorCal, WA, and two foreign countries. Many landlords will ask for parental co-signers, but will waive that if the student can show a sufficient financial aid package or bank balance. I would always ask for that.</p>
<p>We have seen the joint & severally liable, where every tenant and every co-signer is each liable for the full amount of any rent and damages, but we also had one where 20 girls rented a house and each signed for their room only and shared common areas. Not sure what would happen with serious damage, but it worked out okay</p>
<p>After a couple of horrid roommate experiences I would do anything to avoid cosigning.</p>
<p>Most people do not have shared apartment horror stories. Most will have learned much from their imperfect experiences. It was good for my son to have shared his first apartment experience- taking care of the expenses and cleaning duties with others’ differing skills and ideas. This year he knows how to do things and living alone (friends close by) works well but I would have worried about him knowing what to do and getting bills paid before his first experience. Having his first apartment while still a student at the familiar campus also is an advantage for when he needs one in a strange town. There is always a learning curve, mistakes are made and it is better in the college environment. With experiences these students won’t be tempted to share with others as easily when they are in the working world.</p>
<p>Parental cosigning requirements and sharing responsibilities with fellow tenants are two different issues. I can’t blame landlords for making sure someone pays the bills. The other side of the coin is the security deposit return- it becomes known around a campus which management firms are good at returning the full amount and which are sticklers for condition. Knowing how college guys keep house I was not surprised when their idea of move out cleaning did not meet the management’s. Next summer I will feel free to interfere to get our money back, ie I will inspect and reclean as necessary with only my son to deal with.</p>
<p>We to did not have to co-sign the lease and the students signing the lease were responsible for the monthly rent. If anyone dropped out the others still had to come p with the monthly rent. Fortunately they were in a 3 story rowhouse and had 11 in on the lease. </p>
<p>Looking at it from a landlords viewpoint, the rent for each rental unit is necessary to cover mortgage, tax, maintenance costs etc. A student dropout is none of their business.</p>
<p>The real key for students is to try and get reliable friends to share off campus housing arrangements. In the three years our son was off-campus they only had one deadbeat, and he was not a student.</p>
<p>I have a Cornellian also. He’s lived in three different apartments over the past three years. With three different styles of lease, but I think we as parents only had to sign one. That is the one where one of the boys left school (went home on the bus) sometime in the early part of second semester. Leaving his stuff. I believe he paid his rent for the rest of the rental, but the two boys left in the apartment split the utilities themselves.</p>