Off-Campus Apartments Leases especially College Park

[Anonymous]

Offer to find a new tenant to take over the lease. If you can find someone that will pass the credit check, etc then the landlord might release you from the contract. Alternatively, you can request that they find a new tenant and pay the rent until they find someone new. Until you talk to the landlord you will not know what they are willing to do with regard to negotiating. I am a landlord and have worked with tenants in 3 of my properties regarding the need to leave the lease early. I let one group go one month early (lost that month), offered to find a new tenant for another (they lost their security deposit to pay the last month, but got out of 4 additional months) and gave 1/2 rent for 2 months to the other group. I worked with the tenants to find solutions after they came to me asking for help. Talk to your landlord, be polite and reasonable.

Bottom line, YOU signed the contract for your kid to live off-campus so you signed into an obligation. It is not the landlord's fault this happened and, truthfully, your kid could live in the apartment. UMD did not require off-campus students to leave their properties. You are simply choosing for them not live there. That is your choice, not a requirement.
However, reasonable people respond to requests for assistance. Calling into question the validity of a contract or the fairness will not get you anywhere. Working toward a solution will, but remember you have a contract which is an obligation. Has your employer stopped paying their rent/mortgage on the space even though they are shut down? Of course not....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand and sympathize with your brother's situation, but he should be complaining and so should we. Massive companies are getting 0% interest loans (which they use to pay their high-interest loans so basically free money), small companies get free money to pay rent and employees. Out of tax dollars we pay.

I think you're on that other thread too with a similar argument. To whom does he complain? The landlord and the mortgage company both have rights to their money. He got one of the new payroll protection loans to help pay his employees and I think it helps with the rent somewhat too. So...his is one of those small companies getting what you call "free money" that comes "out of tax dollars we pay." Do you object to the PPP for ALL sizes of firms, then? It's sickening that big companies got federal dollars, I totally agree, but at least now that's all becoming public knowledge.

But if you're also mad about legit small, local companies getting that money too--your priorities are screwed up.

[Anonymous]

We are paying over $1000 rent for DS's unoccupied room in a 4-bedroom apartment in College Park. Why would we expect not to have to pay out the remainder of our lease? We signed a contract and we will fulfill our legal obligation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand and sympathize with your brother's situation, but he should be complaining and so should we. Massive companies are getting 0% interest loans (which they use to pay their high-interest loans so basically free money), small companies get free money to pay rent and employees. Out of tax dollars we pay.

I think you're on that other thread too with a similar argument. To whom does he complain? The landlord and the mortgage company both have rights to their money. He got one of the new payroll protection loans to help pay his employees and I think it helps with the rent somewhat too. So...his is one of those small companies getting what you call "free money" that comes "out of tax dollars we pay." Do you object to the PPP for ALL sizes of firms, then? It's sickening that big companies got federal dollars, I totally agree, but at least now that's all becoming public knowledge.

But if you're also mad about legit small, local companies getting that money too--your priorities are screwed up.

I'm fine with small companies getting help. My problem is regular families not getting any help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand and sympathize with your brother's situation, but he should be complaining and so should we. Massive companies are getting 0% interest loans (which they use to pay their high-interest loans so basically free money), small companies get free money to pay rent and employees. Out of tax dollars we pay.

I think you're on that other thread too with a similar argument. To whom does he complain? The landlord and the mortgage company both have rights to their money. He got one of the new payroll protection loans to help pay his employees and I think it helps with the rent somewhat too. So...his is one of those small companies getting what you call "free money" that comes "out of tax dollars we pay." Do you object to the PPP for ALL sizes of firms, then? It's sickening that big companies got federal dollars, I totally agree, but at least now that's all becoming public knowledge.

But if you're also mad about legit small, local companies getting that money too--your priorities are screwed up.

I'm fine with small companies getting help. My problem is regular families not getting any help.

And as you said, your brother got aid from the government to pay one of his rents. But college students aren't even as they are losing their part-time college jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are paying over $1000 rent for DS's unoccupied room in a 4-bedroom apartment in College Park. Why would we expect not to have to pay out the remainder of our lease? We signed a contract and we will fulfill our legal obligation.

Good, this thread is not for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Offer to find a new tenant to take over the lease. If you can find someone that will pass the credit check, etc then the landlord might release you from the contract. Alternatively, you can request that they find a new tenant and pay the rent until they find someone new. Until you talk to the landlord you will not know what they are willing to do with regard to negotiating. I am a landlord and have worked with tenants in 3 of my properties regarding the need to leave the lease early. I let one group go one month early (lost that month), offered to find a new tenant for another (they lost their security deposit to pay the last month, but got out of 4 additional months) and gave 1/2 rent for 2 months to the other group. I worked with the tenants to find solutions after they came to me asking for help. Talk to your landlord, be polite and reasonable.

Bottom line, YOU signed the contract for your kid to live off-campus so you signed into an obligation. It is not the landlord's fault this happened and, truthfully, your kid could live in the apartment. UMD did not require off-campus students to leave their properties. You are simply choosing for them not live there. That is your choice, not a requirement.
However, reasonable people respond to requests for assistance. Calling into question the validity of a contract or the fairness will not get you anywhere. Working toward a solution will, but remember you have a contract which is an obligation. Has your employer stopped paying their rent/mortgage on the space even though they are shut down? Of course not....

Employers are getting either free grants and interest-free loans in order to pay for their rent, so not sure what point you are making. I would happily pay the $1000/month if the government was paying it for me.

The landlord is a apartment building company, not an individual person. As a landlord, what would you do if a renter simply moved out and stopped paying rent?

[Anonymous]

We are in the same situation in Boston. We are paying $1200/month (x7) and nobody is living there. It also was not reasonable to stay considering their neighborhood was a hot spot for COVID. Plus they would need to go to a laundry mat to clean clothes.

You technically could stop paying until the "do not evict' order is removed then pay, or make a payment plan with the landlord. I would consult an attorney of course before doing that, but that is what is happening for people who can not pay.

Also, we are already obligated for next year. Not sure if you are in the same situation. We could request to be removed from the lease and if she finds a new tenant we would be released from our obligation, but our students would not have any place to live if they are not online in the Fall. If she could not find a tenant we would still be obligated to pay the rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are paying over $1000 rent for DS's unoccupied room in a 4-bedroom apartment in College Park. Why would we expect not to have to pay out the remainder of our lease? We signed a contract and we will fulfill our legal obligation.

Good, this thread is not for you.

Why isn't it? I'm in the same situation as the OP, but I'm not looking for an excuse to not pay!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are paying over $1000 rent for DS's unoccupied room in a 4-bedroom apartment in College Park. Why would we expect not to have to pay out the remainder of our lease? We signed a contract and we will fulfill our legal obligation.

Meanwhile, Ruth's Chris is getting money to help them pay their rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are paying over $1000 rent for DS's unoccupied room in a 4-bedroom apartment in College Park. Why would we expect not to have to pay out the remainder of our lease? We signed a contract and we will fulfill our legal obligation.

Good, this thread is not for you.

Why isn't it? I'm in the same situation as the OP, but I'm not looking for an excuse to not pay!

Meanwhile there are billions of $$$ available for big businesses to not pay their rent. Sorry you are a sucker. Stay small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are paying over $1000 rent for DS's unoccupied room in a 4-bedroom apartment in College Park. Why would we expect not to have to pay out the remainder of our lease? We signed a contract and we will fulfill our legal obligation.

Good, this thread is not for you.

Why isn't it? I'm in the same situation as the OP, but I'm not looking for an excuse to not pay!

Meanwhile there are billions of $$$ available for big businesses to not pay their rent. Sorry you are a sucker. Stay small.

You obviously have some anger issues that you need to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are paying over $1000 rent for DS's unoccupied room in a 4-bedroom apartment in College Park. Why would we expect not to have to pay out the remainder of our lease? We signed a contract and we will fulfill our legal obligation.

Good, this thread is not for you.

Why isn't it? I'm in the same situation as the OP, but I'm not looking for an excuse to not pay!

This thread is for people that are looking for remedies, not people that are happy to pay.

[Anonymous]

Harvard just took $10M from stimulus, Yale $7M, Princeton $3M

WTF!

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Are-Handing-Out/248544

We should be asking who is getting this money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in the same situation in Boston. We are paying $1200/month (x7) and nobody is living there. It also was not reasonable to stay considering their neighborhood was a hot spot for COVID. Plus they would need to go to a laundry mat to clean clothes.

You technically could stop paying until the "do not evict' order is removed then pay, or make a payment plan with the landlord. I would consult an attorney of course before doing that, but that is what is happening for people who can not pay.

Also, we are already obligated for next year. Not sure if you are in the same situation. We could request to be removed from the lease and if she finds a new tenant we would be released from our obligation, but our students would not have any place to live if they are not online in the Fall. If she could not find a tenant we would still be obligated to pay the rent.

Thank you for your response.

We are not re-leasing next Fall so its a slightly different situation. I am wondering about consulting an attorney because $3000 is a lot of money to simply throw down the drain, do you know how much such attorney costs would cost in this area?

The thing about re-leasing is that no one wants to move into a college apartment in this environment. Not sure if your apartment is also only for college students or not.