Is daughter getting ripped off by friends—paying rent all summer not living in rental?

[Anonymous]

We just noticed our daughter has sent out two $1000 checks from checking account (connected to ours). Texted her what they’re to, she said she signed a lease just before she came home on her apartment with friends that began in June. So she’s paying for June, July, and August—$3000—to not live there. If the lease was still avail in May, why would my daughter have to sign 3 months early? I was in a dorm all 4 years at my alma mater, but in grad school leases would start in August, then you could sub the last 3 months. Was my daughter ripped off by friends or landlord or neither? She’s basically working for free all summer because of this. Seems ridiculous. The friends are apparently living there now and interning and taking summer classes.

[Anonymous]

If her name is on the lease and she's not subletting (maybe her roommates don't want to live with a stranger), then she needs to pay rent. I did that in college.

[Anonymous]

She's not getting ripped off by her friends. If she wants to live with these friends she probably needs to pay. Obviously it's not the best financial move though.

[Anonymous]

If she wanted to find a subletter, she could have tried. She didn’t, and she wanted to sign the lease, so she did. She’s on the hook. She’s no victim here.

[Anonymous]

She should sublease it out.

[Anonymous]

If she wants to live off campus the lease is for 12 months and not 9. If she wants to live with these particular girls than she's paying to keep her room open.

I lived off campus in college and it worked a bunch of different ways - some girls who went home for the summer found someone who needed a room for that time and subletted, some paid for months they wouldn't be there, some gave up on going home and got local jobs or gave up on living in the preferred apartment and hoped for the best in August in terms of roommate availability.

[Anonymous]

8f they are living off campus, I'm not surprised that they had to sign a 12 month lease starting in June. If your daughter wasn't going to be there, her portion of the rent still has to be paid. If she didn't want to pay it, it was her responsibility to find a subletter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she wants to live off campus the lease is for 12 months and not 9. If she wants to live with these particular girls than she's paying to keep her room open.

I lived off campus in college and it worked a bunch of different ways - some girls who went home for the summer found someone who needed a room for that time and subletted, some paid for months they wouldn't be there, some gave up on going home and got local jobs or gave up on living in the preferred apartment and hoped for the best in August in terms of roommate availability.

Just to add: rents were so low in my college town (even for nice apartments) that it was cheaper to pay for 12 months and use 9 than to pay for on-campus housing. Who knows if it's the same for your kid and she made a wise financial move, or if she's wasting money. Either way she's not being ripped off in the sense of being cheated by anyone.

[Anonymous]

As others said, she's not being ripped off. If she wanted to be on the lease and it started in June, she has to pay. She could have sub-letted or stayed in that town and worked for the summer, but she didn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If her name is on the lease and she's not subletting (maybe her roommates don't want to live with a stranger), then she needs to pay rent. I did that in college.

This is standard. Both my DD and my SS had to do it to secure their apartments for the academic year. Neither could stay in their college cities (Baltimore and NOLa) due to summer jobs elsewhere. Unable to sublet, they had to suck it up. They didn’t pay for a share of utilities, but it would be unfair to expect roommates to cover their share.

[Anonymous]

Man, by that logic I shouldn’t be responsible for my mortgage while I’m on vacation. Come on, OP.

[Anonymous]

I thought college rentals began in the fall, and kids sublease the final summer months (May June and July) to someone. Seems the roommates who were long planning to stay in the city got all the advantage, including cheaper rent this summer and an empty room not filled with a random sublessee. If daughter didn't sign until May, obviously nobody else was going to live in that place this summer, so why couldn't she just wait to sign until August? Seems daughter was peer pressured to sign before going home to alleviate burden of roommates divvying up 3 months of her rent. Daughter essentially subsidizes kids who were staying in the city this summer. That's how it seems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Man, by that logic I shouldn’t be responsible for my mortgage while I’m on vacation. Come on, OP.

Seems more like closing on a new house and paying on the new mortgage 3 months before you can move in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man, by that logic I shouldn’t be responsible for my mortgage while I’m on vacation. Come on, OP.

Seems more like closing on a new house and paying on the new mortgage 3 months before you can move in.

If your husband and kids moved in 3 months before you you've still gotta pay.

[Anonymous]

Where I went to school this was standard. You don’t get a 9 months lease, you get a 12 month one. If you didn’t sign a lease in May, you weren’t going to find an available apartment in August. Real estate is local. Different college towns follow different patterns.