What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts
I am the only tenant on my lease, and I paid a full month's security deposit and last month's rent to my landlord when I moved in. My lease says I "may find a roommate to rent and share the apartment. Before occupancy said person shall fill out a rental application and be approved by the landlord."
My landlord will not add my roommate's name to the lease and he also will not approve a sublet agreement between me and my roommate. The lease says a written approval for me to sublet is required. My landlord's view is that my roommate and I should have our own agreement without him being involved beyond approving that the person may live here.
When I place an ad looking for a roommate, I write that the roommate needs to pay 50% of the security deposit and half the total last-month's-rent when moving in and 30 days notice may be given by either of us for the roommate to move out. The last time I found a roommate, we made our own condition statement, and I placed the security deposit and last month's rent in a separate savings account with both our names and the word "escrow" on the name of the account. My last roommate did no damage that I saw, so I returned the entire security with interest from the account for both the security and the last month's rent.
I played a role similar to what a landlord is required to do in Massachusetts, but the real landlord wasn't involved in my roommate's security deposit. I am aware that all of this, from a legal standpoint, may have been "going through the motions" because I don't think any housing laws in Massachusetts or other states would apply to this situation of a landlord-authorized verbal non-subletting subtenancy-at-will, but this kind of nonsense bull**** jumping through hoops seems to be more the rule than the exception in college towns. It all seemed like a fair thing to do, and my old roommate and I were both satisfied, and so was the landlord.
I found a new roommate who filled out a rental application and was approved by the landlord. My new roommate gave me a check for last month's rent, but wrote "rent/security deposit" in the memo section of the security deposit check, and when I asked to only put "security deposit" on the check, she said she would consider it after we sign a roommate agreement together.
I'm worried. Every sample roommate agreement I've found online begins with a clear statement that either a sublet or a co-signed lease is taking place. It seems like my landlord is forcing me to jump through one set of hoops and my new roommate is forcing me to jump in the opposite direction. I'm guessing or hoping that contract law or common law will apply if I simply create my own roommate agreement that describes the actual situation, but I'm concerned about putting in writing that I'm collecting a security deposit when I may not be legally authorized under this situation to do that in my state. My old roommate has agreed to talk to my new roommate about how everything worked out for him.
Is there any way for me to jump through these hoops? Am I legally permitted to do what I've been doing? How can I protect myself in this situation?
I am the only tenant on my lease, and I paid a full month's security deposit and last month's rent to my landlord when I moved in. My lease says I "may find a roommate to rent and share the apartment. Before occupancy said person shall fill out a rental application and be approved by the landlord."
My landlord will not add my roommate's name to the lease and he also will not approve a sublet agreement between me and my roommate. The lease says a written approval for me to sublet is required. My landlord's view is that my roommate and I should have our own agreement without him being involved beyond approving that the person may live here.
When I place an ad looking for a roommate, I write that the roommate needs to pay 50% of the security deposit and half the total last-month's-rent when moving in and 30 days notice may be given by either of us for the roommate to move out. The last time I found a roommate, we made our own condition statement, and I placed the security deposit and last month's rent in a separate savings account with both our names and the word "escrow" on the name of the account. My last roommate did no damage that I saw, so I returned the entire security with interest from the account for both the security and the last month's rent.
I played a role similar to what a landlord is required to do in Massachusetts, but the real landlord wasn't involved in my roommate's security deposit. I am aware that all of this, from a legal standpoint, may have been "going through the motions" because I don't think any housing laws in Massachusetts or other states would apply to this situation of a landlord-authorized verbal non-subletting subtenancy-at-will, but this kind of nonsense bull**** jumping through hoops seems to be more the rule than the exception in college towns. It all seemed like a fair thing to do, and my old roommate and I were both satisfied, and so was the landlord.
I found a new roommate who filled out a rental application and was approved by the landlord. My new roommate gave me a check for last month's rent, but wrote "rent/security deposit" in the memo section of the security deposit check, and when I asked to only put "security deposit" on the check, she said she would consider it after we sign a roommate agreement together.
I'm worried. Every sample roommate agreement I've found online begins with a clear statement that either a sublet or a co-signed lease is taking place. It seems like my landlord is forcing me to jump through one set of hoops and my new roommate is forcing me to jump in the opposite direction. I'm guessing or hoping that contract law or common law will apply if I simply create my own roommate agreement that describes the actual situation, but I'm concerned about putting in writing that I'm collecting a security deposit when I may not be legally authorized under this situation to do that in my state. My old roommate has agreed to talk to my new roommate about how everything worked out for him.
Is there any way for me to jump through these hoops? Am I legally permitted to do what I've been doing? How can I protect myself in this situation?