Renew lease & sublet? Or not renew? Grad student gets screwed?

My boyfriend and I have been living in the same apartment in Somerville, MA for 4.5 years, and now it's time to renew our lease for another year. We have to turn in the paperwork by mid-March, and the new lease takes effect in August. Trouble is, he'll be graduating from grad school by January, after which we'll be moving across the country. Despite our spotless rental history, the property manager has refused to let us rent month to month and is forcing us to choose: we can either renew the lease and sublet it for the amount of time we'll be gone, we can renew the lease and be stuck paying rent while we're gone, or we can choose not to renew the lease and have to move out by June. There's no guarantee we'll find someone willing to rent to us month to month in time, and we still have to ship out all our stuff. Subletting seems like the safest option, but neither of us know how to do it, and if we get bad subletters we'll be responsible. We're really scared. Please help!|||Re-new the lease. First of all, grad school sometimes doesn't end when you think it should. I took longer to graduate than I thought I would.





Secondly, if you are moving for a job, the new job can buy out the old lease. Sometimes state laws are written in favor of people who are moving out of state. You can (although not terribly attractive) break the lease and not pay. You will have set up your new apartment before you moved and you won't need this person as a reference anyway.





I'd probably sign and worry about it later.





good luck!|||Yes, the Boston area sucks for leases, as 95% of the apartment turnover is in August. Thus the landlord doesn't want to be stuck having to start yearly leases in January and be in that cycle when hardly anyone is looking for apartments then.





I too would be scared of subletting. My sister did that in Austin and it turned out that they were a bunch of irresponsible crackheads, and she had to pay the damages. I would recommend finding a place to sublet yourselves for August - January. You also might get lucky and find an apartment that does month-to-month or 6 month leases. You probably won't find the ideal apartment for those 6 months, but it's worth a shot. The other option would be to opt to stay in Sommerville for another year; i.e. your bf gets a job after graduating and you don't move until the next summer.





Look on Craigslist.org, of course, but you also may want to join as many Boston-area listservs as possible to get the housing ads. Often you'll find more informal housing arrangements through listservs (like people renting out the top floor on a month-to-month basis.) Also, network like crazy, and ask your bf to do so as well with his professors and fellow students. Don't worry, you'll find something!|||ye of little imagination; get a small


apt elsewhere that has


month to month occupanies


or a nice hotel that specializes


in monthly "rentals."





Also, why not buy a very inexpensive


home where you are now--move into it and when you are ready to move


elsewhere, either trade it or


rent it out for 25% below local


rentals.





I can help with all of this for you.





thus, quit sweating aribitrary landlord


rules and just comfortably leave!





[and give notice to vacate NOW--you do not need to wait. YOU simply must inform them early.


but also, am wondering, you might


have to give a 2 mo lnotice--most


state rental laws state, if the lease


was for 1 yr or longer--you must


give a 2 mo notice.





Regardless, give notice and if they


fight about the 2nd mo, let them sue


you--as soon as another tenant is


available, their claim disappears!