About 3 weeks ago... 3 of us signed a lease that was for 4 people. All three that signed had guarantors. The 4th person signed, but the guarantor would not agree to sign for the tenant.

The lease has 4 provisions that the landlord is trying to hold us to

The Guarantee states that the parent "...guarantee(s) unconditionally....the prompt payment of Rent....including any and all court costs and attorney fees included in enforcing the Agreement."

The lease also states (Paragraph 21)."..each one shall be individually and completely responsible for the performance of all obligations of Tenant under this Agreement...whether or not in possession."

Also (Paragraph 28)"....in the event of termination by Tenant prior to completion of the original term of the Agreement, Tenant shall also be responsible for lost Rent, rental commissions, advertising expenses and painting costs necessary to ready Premises for re-rental. Landlord may withhold any such amounts from tenant's security deposit."

Finally, 44. Counterparts: This agreement may be signed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original and all of which shall constitute one instrument.

There are 4 names on the lease that at stated as one singular tenant. The landlord "released" one tenant but is trying to hold the 3 other to the lease.

I know this is not legal to do. You shouldn't be able to hold 3 to a 4 person lease. Where can I find literature on this matter and should we take the landlord to small claims.

You need to consult with a lawyer. Only they can answer this question for you. I would have to think that the landlord is within their right to hold this lease against all four tenants. However, consult with a lawyer to be absolutely sure.

I know this is not legal to do. You shouldn't be able to hold 3 to a 4 person lease. Where can i find literature on this matter and should we take the landlord to small claims.
It's perfectly legal to do. If the landlord wanted they could release 3 of the people and hold only 1 person to the lease.

Go back and read Paragraph 21 again. That is called a "joint and several liability" clause. It means that if there is more than one person signing the lease, then each person who signs agrees that they can be held completely responsible for all of the terms of the lease, as if they were the only one signing. That is a standard clause and it allows the landlord to do exactly what they are doing in this situation.

Most of what you cited is pretty standard language. And, as Lisa said, allows the landlord to do exactly what he's doing. You should have read over the lease and understood its implications BEFORE you signed.

You need to consult with a lawyer. Only they can answer this question for you. I would have to think that the landlord is within their right to hold this lease against all four tenants. However, consult with a lawyer to be absolutely sure.


Sorry - perhaps you are not familiar with the legal boards. There are Lawyers posting on this thread so she doesn't need a consultation in order to translate this language.

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Mom of 2 disagrees: At any rate, what I am trying to say is that a lawyer would be the best person to answer these questions, whether it is on this board or somewhere else. You basically say this yourself in your blurb about yourself under your name.




Your comment is unfair and petty - if you read the "rules" you will see that the disagrees are to be used when the legal information provided is incorrect. That is not the case here. I provided correct legal information.

The information you provided - only an Attorney can translate the information in the lease - was not legally correct but I did not give you an "incorrect."

Comments on this postMom of 2 (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/members/mom%2Bof%2B2.html) disagrees

May I call your attention to the guidelines for using the comments feature found here:

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/feedback/using-comments-feature-24951.html

While of course a person always has the right to an attorney, the best time would be before they signed.

On these boards we have currently practicing attorneys, we have others who have been to law school but went into other areas of the law, and we have a lot of people who are landlords and know very well what is allowed in landlord tenant laws.

With that said the clauses you stated are standard claused in most leases esp if there are several people on the lease. And it is common , very common to go after the people who have the money and if they allow or even if they don't "allow" if one person moves out, the people who are left are always held responsible for the full rent. You should note to try and get a lease on a individual terms next time where each perosn is merely renting a share of the home, most landlords will not, and also the landlord can then move in tennants you don't know if one moves out.

But yes the landlord can and will make the other three pay.