Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Re: breaking a lease

If the person you describe as a co-signer, has already signed the lease as a guarantor of sorts for the tenant, I'd say that the tenant has as good as signed it himself and now is likely stuck.

Re: breaking a lease

I think that this would really depend on what the lease says and what the circumstances are.

However, for the co-signer to have any hope of getting out of the lease, the co-signer would certainly want to send a notice canceling and withdrawing their signature and agreement BEFORE the tenant signs it. One concern would be that the tenant could sign at any time. There is also the questin of whethre teh tenant has moved in and is using the place, which may have consequences similar to signing the lease.