OT - renters guarantor agreements

[54ny77]

Who's got the leverage here, meaning, is it a renters or landlord market? You'll need to weigh the urgency of getting your child a place to live vs. market conditions.

And if something goes wrong in future (assuming you grab your ankles and take the lease as-is and no changes), you'll have to weigh the cost-benefit of lawyering up on a lease violation, i.e., spending $5k to save $2k if counsel says certain provisions of lease aren't enforceable.

Long story short, to answer your question of joint & several, you're responsible for EVERYTHING (as forum member Maddox pointed out).

Important thing to find out is if, since it's a college town, the city/township/whatever it is has any sort of zoning-specific series of escalating violations due to police being called for a disturbance. If so, that gets expensive really fast. And, adding to the fun, the lease may call for a pass-thru of such things to the lessee (or in your case, guarantor) since the violation might be assessed against the property owner (not the tenant). Also find out (by asking landlord) if the HOA (assuming it's a condo) has any fine schedule for similar quality of life violations.

Don't mean to be a debbie downer...but you and the parents of other tenants need to all be on the same page and I'd suggest a call amongst yourselves to fully understand the risk. Things can get ugly, pronto, if one kid turns out to be the bad kid and leaves the others (incl. parents) holding the bag.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by 54ny77

Things can get ugly, pronto, if one kid turns out to be the bad kid and leaves the others (incl. parents) holding the bag.

Right. And with 10 young adults cohabiting in one place, the likelihood of that happening is pretty good.

If it were my kid, I'd say, "pick one or two upstanding young adults out of the mob and find a place for the two or three of you." Lower risk, easier to manage, less chance of major meltdown by the crowd or one outlier...

[Spaghetti Legs]

Thanks for the input everyone. I’ve gotten some good info and things to think about here. I’m generally optimistic about the situation though.

Definitely different times now than I experienced at that age. I lived in a couple of different off campus houses in college and don’t remember getting my parents involved. When my soon to be wife and I moved back East from California in the mid 90’s, homeless and unemployed, we found an apartment in Arlington, VA and the landlord told us to “go ahead and move in, we’ll get the lease sorted out later”!

[glepore]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Lawyers go after the deep pockets. The kids don't have them. You do.

My daughter is a renter in the high rent corner of Connecticut. When she was arranging car insurance, I asked what would happen if she had a fender bender with one of the typical $150K+ cars cruising the streets of Greenwich, etc.

The answer from the USAA rep inspired her to add on supplemental insurance, an umbrella policy...

lawyer in recovery here. Joint and several means that they can go after a single parent with assets for the whole f'in problem. Given what I know about the op, might be a bad deal for him...but then again, what leverage do you have? Call your insurance agent and make sure your plup covers your guarantee.

[HenryA]

Buying a 2 bedroom condo and putting your son and another boy in it for 4 years might be worth a look. When its over, sell it.

[djg21]

Originally Posted by Spaghetti Legs

So, my oldest son is working out a rental apartment with a bunch of guys for his senior year of college in LA. He lived in dorm first year and fraternity house the next 2 years. He sends me this form the landlord is requiring for a parental guarantor, namely that I agree to guarantee payment of rent and assume liability for damages incurred. That’s all fine by me but there’s other language in which I automatically agree to be liable in a lawsuit and jointly liable with all the other renters.

I’m happy to hear legal opinions on this but realize this is a bike forum. I’m more interested how common this is. Others here signed one of these for their kids? The cynic in me is picturing some other kid’s bong setting the building on fire and now I’m in a lawsuit for the value of an LA apartment building.

Talk to a local lawyer who is familiar with landlord-tenant law and issues in your area. If I were a landlord renting to college students I’d try to protect myself too.

[HenryA]

Originally Posted by djg21

Talk to a local lawyer who is familiar with landlord-tenant law and issues in your area. If I were a landlord renting to college students I’d try to protect myself too.

This^^^^^^


A California lawyer is who you should ask for advice on this.

Beyond that, 10 college boys living in one house - the chance of nothing happening is zero.

[CNY rider]

Originally Posted by HenryA

Beyond that, 10 college boys living in one house - the chance of nothing happening is zero.

Exactly! What could possibly go wrong?

[ScottW]

Originally Posted by Spaghetti Legs

... jointly liable with all the other renters...

<snip>

...The cynic in me is picturing some other kid’s bong setting the building on fire and now I’m in a lawsuit for the value of an LA apartment building.

IANAL but the language seems to suggest you'd be liable if the fire was started by a joint, but probably not if it was started by a bong.