I'm a student at university in Florida and, before leaving for the summer, signed a lease for a house along with one other co-signer. Upon returning from summer vacation, it was brought to my attention that the co-signer legally owns various firearms. This has made me rather uneasy and I do not wish to reside in a house with guns present due to safety concerns (the firearms and I am not very familiar with the co-signer). I have informed my landlord that I am uncomfortable with this situation and have asked if there was an avenue whereby I could be removed from the lease. I was told that I could sublet my room.

On reviewing the lease, I came to the realization that I am not listed as a lessee nor do I appear in the Nature of Occupancy article. I do recognize, however, that I signed the lease. Is there a way, given this lack of correct information, that I could get out of this lease? Or by any other means?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

If you signed it as lessee, the failure to list you as one of the occupants in the main body of the agreement will probably not allow you to avoid the lease.

If the firearms are handled in a safe manner, and if this person is not somehow mentally unstable, I see no problem with the person's legal possession of firearms in the premises. It is certainly not grounds for breaking the lease. To overcome what appears to be an irrational fear on your part, I suggest that you take a firearms safety course.

Sorry but legal ownership of firearms is just that legal. Why are you concerned about them. A majority of people in US own firearms and legally owned firearms seldom are a reason for any crime or harm.

I agree, your fear seems to be irrational and you need to perhaps deal with that.

I could keep a baseball bat, golf club, and fireplace poker by my door and use them as lethal weapons.
Why not ask your roommate to tell you about the guns, how they and ammunition are stored, and other safety measures? There's no reason to sneak behind his back. You might find it interesting.
I think I'd feel safer with this roommate (unless he drinks and does drugs and rambles about conspiracy theories or someone he wants dead) than with many others.
And one last thing - so far I hope the only person you have told is the landlord. It is not right to spread such information around, any more than you would tell others that he has a stash of gold coins.

I agree with the others that possession of a legal firearm is not grounds for getting out of the lease. However one thing I would suggest is that assuming you have renter's insurance (you do, right?), check with the insurance company to see whether your liability coverage is affected in any way by the presence of firearms on premises - I don't think it would be but better safe than sorry. Also you may want to advise your roommate to see about special rental insurance coverage for the value of his firearms in case they are lost or stolen - similar to coverage you might get on the gold coin collection that joypulv mentioned.

It is extremely unfair to equate gun "uneasiness," as she put it, with irrationality. I am totally with her in that I do not want to reside with a stranger with firearms. No one should automatically assume that she is in the wrong for not liking guns. Suggesting that she take a firearms safety course indicates a complete absence of respect for her viewpoint on the matter.

To the original poster: I am not versed in Florida gun laws. Only a few states have laws that forbid landlords to prohibit weapons, and more and more landlords are prohibiting weapons (after all, they DO pay the liability insurance)--and have a legal right to do so. Unless it is government-subsidized housing, it is private property. Additionally, gun owners are not a "protected class," so it is not discriminatory. I think it's better to say that the guns themselves are not a protected class--neither are cigarettes, waterbeds or dogs/cats, and these are routinely banned in rental properties. The landlords aren't telling people they can't own firearms--they are telling them that they can't have them on the rental premises, and courts are largely agreeing. I think we will start seeing clearer laws on this. Plain and simple, whether for or against, people need to know when there are weapons in their residence and be given a say as to whether that is acceptable to them. Imagine making a break-in call to police, they need to come on premises and search the house. They always ask if there are weapons present. You answer "no" because you don't know your roommate has a gun. That generally doesn't turn out well. Rights and responsibility need to start going more hand-in-hand when it comes to the gun issues.

However, it seems that the best way of assuring that a weapons prohibition is enforceable, it should be a clause in the lease. Perhaps your present landlord will be sympathetic to your situation; however, in the future, be sure to have a "no roommates with weapons" clause in your lease (you can simply write it into the "Addendum" space of your lease contract, or you can reference an exhibit to the lease and write something more complex, which I would--that would hold your landlord legally and financially responsible for your moving/new rental costs if he or another tenant violates that lease term.

Best of luck to you!

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Originally Posted by kmcbrair

It is extremely unfair to equate gun "uneasiness," as she put it, with irrationality. I am totally with her in that I do not want to reside with a stranger with firearms.

!

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My mother cringes at the word gun or I carry a knife. That doesn't mean she would be able to get out of a lease legally. I guess a person should get to know the other person better by asking questions before getting into legal situations.

Being uncomfortable with firearms is not irrational.

Can you cite any court cases where landlords were able to prohibit tenants from keeping firearms on the premises. I've not heard of any. I would imagine the NRA would fight any tooth and nail.

But your response fails to deal with the OP's question. She cannot get out of her lease. It does, however, help her make sure, in the future, she doesn't have to deal with this.

No gender of either roommate was stated. And it was clearly stated what the landlord's feelings are, which are to sublet (move out) or accept it, presumably.

My response (even were I an attorney) CANNOT tell her how to get out of her lease, and probably no attorney would be able to tell her without seeing her specific lease. (And also knowing the governing tenant and gun laws.)

Some suggestions to original poster: Legal Aid or your local landlord-tenant association. Personally, I would have the conversation with the landlord first. Sometimes they have other properties to which you can move.

There have been cases going WAY back (there was a Richmond, VA Housing Authority case in 1990 in which a gun ban was upheld in Federal Court). There has been a lot of noise in Colorado, last year a case upheld restrictions and a total ban in the housing authority properties (see Heller decision) in Delaware, but these things are really flying around the courts lately. The decisions seem to be going back and forth, but the overall advice has been, "If you want to prohibit weapons, write it into the lease." There are two or three states (Minnesota is one) where landlords cannot prohibit guns. These issues are not settled, and there will be many cases to come.

I have no real problems with or anything to say about my landlord renting to gun owners in his other properties, but as the fully-responsible tenant in a two-bedroom home, I do not want a gun owner as a sub-tenant. There are plenty other properties for gun owners to rent. I believe I have as much right to live without guns as anyone has to live with them, and I think that is another issue that's going to be cropping up in court cases. Yes, the NRA is all over the issues.

Also kmcbrair, please be careful to cite 'housing authority' (public housing) situations separately from private housing. Very different, and this is yet another part of the question that is almost certainly about a private rental. And OP is in Florida.
And I don't see how a tenant has any more rights to make demands on a roommate or landlord over guns any more than he or she does over an entire room full of cases of beer, when both in a situation are legal. 'I believe I have as much right to live without guns as anyone has to live with them' is such a broad statement. No one is holding a gun (!) to the OP's head making him or her hold to the lease. The landlord said it was OK to sublet. That is more than fair.

In other words, we are here to answer a specific question asked by a specific person, so try not use the post for general discussion quite so much.

When I say you need to provide cites, I mean specifics. Either a link to the specific case or at least the full case (ex: Doe v Smith VA State Court 1990).

But its still not germane to the OP's question. You are new here, we do things certain ways here. The OP can't get out of the lease. The landlord has been nice enough to give an option. End of story.

Yes kmcbrair, the OP can and should ask the landlord about options, like moving to another one of their properties or finding a tenant to take their place before they move out, but that is the landlords call. If they say no the court will hold the lease as binding.

So you are saying that you can keep after the landlord until he changes his mind?
Or what are you suggesting the OP does once the landlord says no to get them to change their mind?