<p>What would you do if your son's/daughter's roommate (with whom you were suppose to share an apt with this year) told you 2 weeks before school started that he/she won't be returning for soph year and instead had dropped out. She/He also said that she/he would help you look for a potential new roommate to take his/her place and she/he would pay her/his half of the rent. So what would you do if you were in this dilema ?</p>
<p>There isn’t much for you to do. I wouldn’t blame the other kid. For whatever reason, he/she has decided that it’s best not to return to the college.</p>
<p>As long as the original roommate follows through with the agreement to pay 1/2 of rent until a new roommate can be found, this isn’t a big problem. Suggest that your child call the housing dept. at his/her school and see if they have a list of students still looking for off campus apartments. I’m sure someone will be happy to find out about the opening in your child’s apartment. The sooner you find a new roommate, the better for everyone. </p>
<p>I suppose one dilemma is the full cost of utilities/cable/internet until a new roommate can be found. I’m sure your child is disappointed, but this isn’t the worst twist in college housing plans that can happen.</p>
<p>Do? Well, take them up on the offer to pay their half of the rent until you find a new roommate.</p>
<p>The lease you/your child signed should spell everything out already, what did it say?</p>
<p>Why are you asking this very specific ‘theoretical’ question?</p>
<p>OP, are you the “theoretical roommate” who is dropping out of school?</p>
<p>These things happen; I think it is responsible for the individual to offer to help find a new roomie and also to pay half the rent until then. I’d be mad to be left totally in the lurch, but if he/she follows through with the offers of help, I think that’s all they can do.</p>
<p>no but my roommate might by the end of the fall 2010 quarter or may even before. Nothing is set in stone yet. I am just asking for advice.</p>
<p>Read your contract. A lot of landlord like to put in a clause of jointly and severely responsible for the rent. It means if the other roommate doesn’t pay then you are responsible for the total amount. </p>
<p>I would start looking for a new roommate now, and definitely hold the roommate responsible for the other half of rent until a new roommate is found. </p>
<p>If there is no such clause in your contract, then your roommate is responsible for his share of the rent. Look into whose name the contract is under.</p>
<p>Oldfort - A little off topic… my D is already discussing housing with friends for NEXT year. I understand that’s the way it is done at our Ds’ school.
Do you have any advice walking into this arrangement, ie separate leases, etc?
Thanks for your advice. You can PM me.</p>
<p>Read the lease - make sure that your roomate sticks by his legal obligations. Work hard ot get a new roomate to mitigate any loss.</p>
<p>Be careful. A friend’s niece had this happen and the other person did not continue to pay the rent. Due to the lease the landlord required the other two roommates to pay the full rent.</p>
<p>Definitely read your lease. With student apartments, there are many different ways the landlord can structure things (although often they’ll all work the same way in a given market). Some do it by the bedroom, some have an individual lease for each student, some have everyone sign the lease with joint and several liability, some require parental guarantees. How you proceed will depend to an extent on what your lease says.</p>
<p>Woody - instead of PM you, I will share this with everyone. At our kids´school, it´s the landlord´s market. There are good and bad ones. I advised my daughter to only have one roommate to keep drama out. </p>
<p>Originally it was a joint contract, without parental guarantee. I spoke with the landlord to ask him to allow us to have a separate contract, in exchange I would give my guarantee of payment. In the contract it reads that it´s the landlord´s responsibility to find a replacement roommate, my daughter had the option of finding a roommate if she chooses,and the roommate the landlord finds needs to be a girl and a student from my daughter´s school.</p>
<p>Thanks, oldfort! Good advice.</p>