<p>I am going to rent an apartment off-campus with another international student I met on my school's off-campus housing messageboard. I want both of us to sign the lease. Does this mean the total rent gets split 50-50? What happens if he does not pay his share or damages the place? This situation I am describing is different than "co-signing" right because my parents would be "cosigning" for me, but I wouldn't be cosigning with him? what is it called when you and you roommate both sign the lease?</p>
<p>If anyone understands leases please help me out. I have no choice but to live off campus because I was denied on-campus (housing lottery).</p>
<p>Cosigning is when someone is vouching for you. If you fail to pay then they pay for you. It depends how the lease is made. It can be under one name and the person pays you or each of you do a lease from the rental company.</p>
<p>From my experience-in California, if both you and your room-mate sign the same form then BOTH of you are responsible for the rent$. You may have it deliniated on the lease-ie-40%/60%, or you may have it listed as a single amount due. Typically leases are worded such that if your room-mate does not pay his/her share then the money due would become your responsibility. If you do not pay, the same thing for him/her. Your parents signing as co-signers then THEY are responsible for the monies due for non-payment. You are asking good questions. Contracts such as rentals/leases can be confusing. Please be sure you understand everything in the contract BEFORE signing, as there are legal implications for everyone signing. G'Luck!</p>
<p>check out Rutgers site in NJ ruoffcampus. They give lots of info about leasing. Many apartments do not allow cosigners and some only allow one cosigner. This can be a problem, or another solution is to prepay some of the rents with your school loan money, Pay ahead in Sept and Oct when you get your aid disbursement showing you do not need a cosigner. Today's interest rates are zip so your are not losing much buy not having it in the bank.</p>
<p>It is not called cosigning, i think what you are getting at is called sub-let. That is what I am doing, my roommate and I both pay our landlord separatly so if she does not end up paying her rent or vise versa the other person is not punished. Cosigning is, for example, you sign for a loan.. and you do not have a good enough credit rating.. so a relative will sign for you saying if you don't pay they will pay for you or their credit will also be effected.</p>
<p>it's not a sublet. A sublet in terms of housing is when you rent a house from the owner, and then you rent it out to someone else, creating a hierarchy. I don't know what it's called, but just say that you want the lease to say that each of you is responsible for X amount individually so that as long as you're holding up your end of the lease, you're fine.</p>