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Can You Remove a Roommate From Your Lease
Andy Hunziker • September 27, 2019
Renting with roommates means many things, including paying less in rent, splitting utilities, and having someone to help keep the apartment tidy. Though having a roommate has many benefits, things don’t always work out, and you may find yourself looking for a way to remove a roommate from your lease.
Review Your Lease Agreement
First things first: review your lease agreement before you make any rash decisions. You and your roommate should each have access to your lease agreement, and on that agreement you will find what your options are. All of HPM’s leases are joint leases with your roommate, meaning that you are both equally responsible for the entire apartment and the cost of rent, so you will still have to pay their portion of the rent if they break their lease.
Can You Evict Your Roommate?
Despite your situation, you cannot force a roommate out of your apartment or remove their name from the lease simply because you want them to leave. You have to consult with your landlord or property manager and be sure that everything is done the right way.
Your Options
1. Try to mend fences with your roommate
If the situation is fixable, it’s probably in your best interest to smooth things over. This way, you won’t have to deal with the consequences of finding a new roommate. If the two of you cannot come to a resolution, then you still have other options.
2. Sublease your room and move to a different apartment
Getting out of the apartment (if your roommate isn’t willing to leave) is a legitimate option. Unfortunately, this means you’ll be forced to attempt to sublease your room. Until your current lease has been signed by a new tenant, you are responsible for the unit (and the rent).
3. Suggest that your roommate move out
If you don’t want to break the lease yourself, you could suggest to your roommate that they move out instead. If they agree to this, and are equally fed up with cohabitating, then you can be free of this roommate situation for good. You can help your roommate find a subleaser for their room, so they will not be forced to pay the rent, although they are not residing there. This will also give you the chance to find someone you would like to room with!
The Roommate Change Process
All roommates must fill out and sign the Roommate Change
form in order for the roommate change to be approved. All roommate changes must be approved by Hunziker Property Management.
A roommate change is when at least one roommate is staying in the apartment while one of the other roommates are leaving, before the end of the lease. We treat all tenants within a unit as “one”, so the lease will stay the same when at least one of the original tenants stays. When all tenants on the current lease decide to move out before the lease expires, a sublease is needed. If any of the tenants decide to stay and find a new roommate, then it is considered a roommate change.The security deposit stays with the lease. On a roommate change, the new tenant will fill out an application, but does not need to pay us a security deposit. The new tenant and old tenant work a deal out themselves as to how to handle the security deposit. We do not give any money to the tenant who is leaving in a roommate change.
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