TENANT RESPONSIBILITIES

Tenants are jointly and severally responsible for the terms of the lease.  This means that any one tenant can be held liable for all the responsibilities associated with the lease, including the entire rental payment plus payment for any damages.

This also means that when the landlord completes the deposit accounting, any refund should made in one check, payable to all.  The landlord doesn’t want to be involved in determining who is responsible for what, they are all responsible, regardless of who did the damage or didn’t pay his or her share of the rent.  Even if one tenant vacated early, unless there are written instructions signed by all tenants to do otherwise, the refund should be payable to all.  Then the tenants get to fight over who gets how much and the landlord is not involved.

Finally, this means that tenants need to be very careful who they share a rental with!

We are here to help you and your clients with all aspects of the rental market. Please contact us for further assistance!

Nothing found herein should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law. You should not rely solely on this information. We encourage our clients to work with a lawyer experienced in commercial and/or residential real estate matters as they can be complicated and confusing.