Subleasing is something that many off-campus students experience at some time or another, either as a subleaser, or renting to one.

Krista Schweiner of University Area Housing, 301 Water St., said most people need subleasers after the first semester because they are going abroad or graduating in December.

“Those are the reasons we get most often in the office, but there’s always a lot of other reasons, too,” Schweiner said. “The most common problem is not being able to find a subleaser.”

For some people, going through their landlords takes too much time and effort so they look into finding one for themselves.

For junior Lindsey Mullen and her roommates, subleasing two rooms in their apartment over the summer was something they decided to do to make their rent cheaper.

To find subleasers, Mullen and her roommates put up signs around campus and found subleasers in about a week.

Two men moved in with two of the permanent female residents of the house without having signed a contract of any type, Mullen said.

“They had parties all the time and they smoked a lot of pot,” Mullen said. The two female residents had to end up forcing the subleasers out of the house, she said.

This semester Mullen and her roommates found themselves in need of another subleaser.

Even though the new subleaser was a friend of the tenants, they wanted to be safe this time, Mullen said.

“She signed a contract,” Mullen said. “We did that pretty much because of what happened over the summer.”

Schweiner said that there are some steps and paperwork that needs to be filled out to sublease, but it is beneficial to fill out the paperwork so renters are not held responsible for subleasers’ damages to the property.

The renter has to sign a release form and get their roommates’ permission, Schweiner said.

University Area Housing also will find a subleaser for renters, or renters can find their own, Schweiner said.

“They have to fill out the forms then we can put them on a list of people looking for subleasers,” Schweiner said.

Mullen suggested not to sublease to random people, “You never know who you’ll get or what they’ll do.”

If a renter wants to find their own subleaser, they can work out their own rental payments and agreement, but usually they still want the subleaser to sign something so they aren’t held responsible for damages, Schweiner said.

Even when a subleasing agreement is signed, the original renter is held responsible if the subleaser does not pay rent.

“There’s security deposit issues sometimes, and renters need to provide a full list of damages that existed before and after,” Schweiner said. “It can happen where subleasers have parties and things can get damaged. It can end up being very costly.”

In the case of Mullen’s summer subleasers, no damage was caused.

Schweiner said that University Area Housing usually doesn’t do subleases for the summer because of the volume of subleasers and because the lease term is short.

She suggested people who are considering having a subleaser go to the campus attorney, located in the Student Senate office, who can give legal advice and often deals with landlord/tenant issues.

“We really encourage subleasing; it can really help in some situations.” Schweiner said. “We want to get rent paid just as much as the students.”