
Quoting
tac_shift
My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Massachusetts
So I'm about to lease a very nice home for a year. There are 5 bedrooms and I will therefore be sharing the house with 4 other people. After being shown the house, the landlord informed me that she would prefer to have a lease agreement with just me, and for the other tenants to have a separate contract with me. I like this idea, because I would then have a lot more influence over who lives in the house, and if it came to it (hopefully not) even have the power to evict someone myself without having to pull the landlord in. I do know, however, that this makes me solely responsible for rent, damages etc while our lease is in effect. So it's certainly a lot of responsibility.
This is new territory for me, so I'm seeking advice on the following:
What exactly does this make me? Am I a tenant and housemates are subtenants? Am I a landlord AND a tenant, and my housemates are my tenants?
I need to draft a lease agreement for my housemates. Any ideas on what I should include? I'm not even sure where to start. Links to sites appreciated.
Any experiences, thoughts or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!