Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia
My boyfriend and I lived in an apartment together wherein I was the leaseholder and my income was recorded for certification purposes. We recently broke up, and I have since moved out. He has asked me to re-sign and renew the lease for him, since he is a student and was also listed as unemployed. We discussed drafting and notarizing a separate document saying that although I was the leaseholder, I would not be obligated should anything happen to him. My question is...would our document hold up in court should something render him incapable of paying rent? Thanks!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Your proposal makes no sense. If you have now moved from the premises at issue and presumably are no longer under any lease obligations with
respect to these premises, why would you now want to legally recommit yourself
to be reobligated with a co-leasee who is a student without a job who is almost certain to make you liable for paying for everything once he goes into default?
And, no, your attempt to include in this new lease what might be termed
a "hold harmless" clause would never get by the critical gaze of even the most
distracted landlord let alone a judge of a general district court who might
be asked to review it. And, yes, if something did happen to the boy, you would indeed be obligated for EVERYTHING owed under this lease.
Truly a goofy and utterly misconceived idea which should be banished from your
consciousness as soon as possible.
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