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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    MA
    Posts
    3

    Thumbs down Subtenants Refuse to Pay Rent and Are No Longer Wanted

    My apologies in advance for the long post. My sticky situations always seem to be rather involved, which has caused more than a few headaches!

    My issue has to do with a sublet arrangement in Massachusetts.

    My partner and I moved into our apartment mid-November. We found out mid-January that the person from whom we were subletting and the other subtenant would be leaving at the end of January.

    We found new housemates. We met with the landlord, who told us that he would have a new lease drawn up for March 1st and requested that we pay rent through the original sublettor for the month of February only. We did as he requested with February's rent, after having gotten his signature on a note stating that the entire security deposit would be carried over until and after the new lease was signed. (The new subtenants paid their security deposits before moving in, which were passed on to the original sublettor.)

    The issues we are now having revolve around S & B, two individuals sharing one bedroom. Here is a quick time line.

    2/1 - S & B signed a sublease with us.
    2/6 - S & B moved into the apartment.
    2/9 - S & B had a very loud argument, which carried over into the common areas. We asked them to leave the apartment by 3/31.
    [S is pregnant with B's child. On several occasions, she expressed fear for her safety and that of her unborn baby. Over the next few days, S spoke with us about the possibility of staying in the apartment if B left and she was able to pay rent on her own. We agreed and asked that she let us know what she'd be doing the first few days of March.]
    2/16 - With S having convinced myself and my partner that she was being emotionally abused by B, we heard shouting in the common areas. S knocked on our bedroom door and asked for help. I heard B shouting that he would not be returning to the apartment. He gathered some clothing and seemed to be leaving. He stopped at the doorway to scream at S; he was shouting in her face, nearly touching her, and I was afraid that he was going to hit her. Before I could get between them, he spat in her face. He then left. I called after him and asked for the apartment key, since he said he did not want to return. He refused.
    2/18 - B had been harassing S by phone, IM and email since he'd left. She was ignoring him after having requested several times that he leave her alone. He called the police and requested a phony wellness check. The officer who arrived offered S an emergency restraining order, which she denied because she claimed to be afraid of retaliation.
    2/19 - Despite the fact that I had offered to make arrangements with B to pick up his belongings, he showed up, unannounced, with a police escort. He showed up early in the morning when he knew that we'd all be woken by the police. After overhearing S tell an officer that she would be pursuing a R/O, B then went to the courthouse and somehow managed to get a R/O, beating her to the punch, as it were. He used his mother's address in another town as his address on the paperwork. S initiated A+B charges related to the spitting incident.
    2/25 - The temporary R/O was dropped by B.
    3/5 - While rent is technically due on the 1st, we made the mistake of kindly building a grace period into the sublease. Rent was to be paid by this day at the latest. It was not paid by either S or B. S has been living here steadily. B left of his own accord on 2/16, after being here for only 11 days. He is still in possession of a key to the apartment. According to our sublease and the notice he was given, he is responsible for rent through the end of the month.

    Now, the questions!

    1. Since B left of his own accord, has not paid this month's rent and was only sleeping here for 11 days, do we have any right to keep him out of the apartment? Neither my partner nor I are comfortable with his presence, but S has now decided to have him return to the apartment.

    2. Basic utilities are included in the rent by the landlord. We charge 1/3 of the rent plus a flat $80 per room and include a land line phone, internet and a cable TV package. In the sublease, rent is listed as a lump sum and including all of the above, plus toilet paper and such. If the rent remains unpaid, am I legally able to prevent S & B access to the phone, internet and cable TV?

    3. We do not have a current lease. The landlord was supposed to provide one for us to sign on 3/1 but did not. I assume that the sublease and is still binding because of our verbal agreement and the fact that we are tenants at will until a new lease is signed. Is that correct?

    Thanks in advance for any responses!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Subtenants Refuse to Pay Rent and Are No Longer Wanted

    You apparently signed a lease as B's landlord, making him your tenant for his room in the apartment and for common areas. If you want to end that sublease, but he's asserting a continued right to access despite "sort of" moving out, you need to evict him.

    I have no way of knowing what your lease with your subtenants says about phone, Internet and cable television, or utility bills in general. Care to fill us in?

    Your becoming a month-to-month tenant with your own landlord has no automatic effect on whatever landlord-tenant arrangement you've reached with your own tenants.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    MA
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: Subtenants Refuse to Pay Rent and Are No Longer Wanted

    Thanks for the response. Here is the utility info from the sublease:

    UTILITIES:* Electricity, heat, water, cable tv, telephone and internet service are included in the $680 rent. Also included are toilet paper, a reasonable amount of paper towels and basic cleaning supplies.
    If rent is not paid, is it legal for me to remove their access to the cable tv, phone and internet, as they are not required for safety reasons? (She has a cell phone, though it doesn't have great reception in the apartment.)

    As rent has not yet been paid, I am giving them 14-day notice to quit today.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    1

    Default Re: Subtenants Refuse to Pay Rent and Are No Longer Wanted

    Hi i am ceejay. Glad i joined this community and hope to share some ideas with you. I started as lone Filipino driver/cleaner for a portable toilets rental company in Macau.In 3 mos time I was promoted to Chief, Operations with other Filipinos working under my supervision. I was responsible for the overall operation of the said company business. If any one out there needs a worker for the same business, I'm currently unemployed and available for any position in the said business.

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