Boulder CO subletting – What does your lease say?
When it come to short term rentals in private homes and apartments, most of us have heard of VRBO (vacation rental by owner) and possibly AirBnB too. But did you know there are plenty of others out there? Oodle.com, Roomorama, Homeaway and Flipkey, just to name a few!
Owners and tenants across the US, motivated by the lure of additional income, are looking to vacation and short term rental services. They are turning apartments and spare rooms into profit centers through temporary sublets. Genius, right? Maybe, but there are some issues…
- What if it’s a rent controlled apartment? The tenant could be making more money from temporary renters than they are paying the landlord. Legal? Fair? (New York City landlords don’t think so.)
- Does the lease have a sublet clause? Is the tenant in violation and could the landlord use this breach of contract to evict a tenant? (Quite possibly. It’s happening in San Francisco as I type.)
From the property manager’s perspective, I hold grave concerns over the practice too. No landlord/agent wants to start eviction proceedings. It’s a painful use of time and money… There is a reason for the lease and the tenant did agree to the clauses in it.
Many Homeowners Associations have rules and regulations. They often have restrictions relating to the number of people allowed to occupy a residence, define a minimum term for renting and require the owners and tenants to read and agree to other rules pertaining to trash, parking, noise and so forth. Landlords and Property Managers are in charge of making sure the tenants that rent a unit, comply with rules and regulations – and they are the ones most likely held accountable and issued the fines/penalties, if a violation by the tenant occurs.
In general, if a landlord/agent agrees that a tenant may sublet, it is with certain caveats. For instance, in my leases, the tenants agree that the subletter must be approved by the agent (me). This means I want to know that the new tenant is like the old tenant… Non-smoking, passes a background check, has employment verification and a good credit score. They will not come with pets and they will make a security deposit. I will be checking with their prior landlord and after that, at my discretion, may choose or not choose to allow them to sublet. My job is to protect the landlord (my client) and their property.
So… word of advice: Tenants, just be honest about your intentions with the apartment. Having that conversation in the beginning with the landlord, is much nicer than having it after the fact. 🙂
True Boulder CO subletting stories….
A Landlord friend of mine had suspicions about his tenant, after seeing different people entering and leaving the premises on several occasions. His lease prohibited guests (considered to be non-paying) from staying longer than two weeks and required the lease-holder to inform him of the name and contact details, of a payingroommate. On a hunch, he visited AirBnB.com and found the listing for his condo… Complete with host profile and contact details of his tenant. To be honest, I’m not sure what his next steps were. Maybe to just chat with the tenant and forbid it’s continuance, maybe to start the eviction process? One thing is for sure though; He had to deal with it because his HOA could fine him if they found out.
Not so long ago, I was working with a first time buyer. She had a clear vision of what she was looking for and was qualified to buy it. My kind of client! We looked at several condos before putting one under contract and I was amazed and impressed at how thoroughly she checked out the rules and regulations, bylaws and financials of the Homeowners Association. I would like to say that all my clients are as detail oriented, but they are not. This one was motivated and I shortly found out why. She is a skilled AirBnB hostess. When she is not planning on being home or when she feels a little more money at the end of the month would be nice, she wants the option of renting her new condo out, short term. Making sure that this would not violate the HOA rules – which you agree to be bound by at closing – was part of her due diligence. We did verify that using her condo in short term rental situations was fine and I enjoyed seeing her profile emerge online shortly after closing.
