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kford30 · Oct 16, 2007, 05:53 AM

My daughter is a member of a sorority in which they live in a house in the college town of Shippensburg, PA. The girls' lease was originally signed in May of each year, for some reason the landlord insisted on having that moved to Feb 1st. Now he notified them that he was approached by someone else interested in renting the "house" and he is telling them they need to all resign a lease by November 1, 2007 in order to maintain the house for another year. What this also means, is that everyone will have to fork over 1st and last months rent even earlier then last year - which was moved up by several months.

Is this allowed?

Thank you

ScottGem · Oct 16, 2007, 06:18 AM

You say the lease was signed in May of each year. Lets assume that the lease therefore ran from June 1 to May 31. If the landlord wanted to change the lease term run from Feb 1 to Jan 30, then he would have to offer a short term interim lease. In other words, if they signed a lease in May 2006, then the next lease would run from June 2007 to January 2008. There is no legal way for the landlord to change the lease terms, without the agreement of the tenants until the lease expires.

Nor can he change the lease to November until the current lease expires. A lease is a binding contract on both parties.

However, I would tell the sorority to start looking for a new home. Its clear the landlord is playing games and if they buck him he's going to make their life miserable.

One last point. I don't quite understand why everyone is paying first and last each year. The tenant should be the sorority, not the individual girls. The lease should be in the sorority's name. As a continuous tenant, they shouldn't have to pay first and last each year. Another reason to find a more congenial landlord.

kford30 · Oct 16, 2007, 06:30 AM

Scott

Thank you for your advise - My daughter has been in the sorority house for 2 years now, and that is something I have not understood, why the house is not under the sorority's name. The landlord comes to the house and makes each girl sign the lease as an individual. They each pay their rent monthly to the landlord.

I do feel he has an agenda for moving the lease date forward all the time, we just have not figured out what it is as of yet.

ScottGem · Oct 16, 2007, 07:04 AM

If there is a signed lease that runs from x date to y date, there is no way the landlord can legally require a new lease before y date.