Homework Question on Lease for an Apartment
- Aron, a college student, signs a one-year lease agreement that runs from September 1 to August 31. The lease agreement specifies that the lease cannot be assigned without the landlord’s consent. In late May, Aron decides not to go to summer school and assigns the balance of the lease (three months) to a close friend, Erica. The landlord objects to the assignment and denies Erica access to the apartment. Aron claims that Erica is financially sound and should be allowed the full rights and privileges of an assignee. Discuss fully whether the landlord or Aron is correct.
Homework Answer on Lease for an Apartment
A lease for an apartment incorporates rules that the landlord would like the tenants to follow in addition to a specified time of tenancy. Although the landlord is the owner of the property, the tenant holds the exclusive rights of possession, as long as the lease agreement is valid (Jennings 193). Before signing any lease, the tenant should read all instructions to ensure that he/she is satisfied with the rules. Both the tenant and property owner can agree to break the lease through writing.
Ending a lease requires the tenant to give a notice indicating why he/she is leaving, but Aron was not breaking the lease.In this case, Aron is wrong because he did not enquire whether the lease he signed was transferrable or not. Aron had an option to sublet the apartment to any other person without the landlord’s approval, but the landlord had the right to restrict him from subletting to specific people if he had a genuine reason to do so.
According to Willerton and Grandfield, the landlord’s approval to a stated use or the change of use is essential in such a case (119). The key thing that Aron should have checked in the assignment clause is whether the landlord would withhold his permission to the subletting agreement. On the other hand, the landlord could be wrong because he did not indicate the reasons why he rejected Erica to occupy his apartment, yet the rules of leasing allow tenants to sublet the apartment to cover the remaining time of the lease agreement.