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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Boyd Ocon was at his mother-in-law’s when he received a frantic call from his neighbor.
“He told me to go home right now because the owner of (my) house was there, and she wants to throw my stuff outside. I was like, ‘What? What owner?’”
Ocon rushed back home and confronted the livid woman standing outside his basement apartment in Cottonwood Heights. He had never seen or heard of her before. Nor she, him.
After about an hour of back-and-forth, Ocon and the woman agreed upon two things. She was the property owner. The man Ocon and his wife had been renting from for the past 14 months was not. Nor had he paid his own rent for several months — though he faithfully collected $1,000 each month from the couple in his basement, along with a hefty deposit.
When the real property owner arrived, it had been two weeks since the Ocons had seen their landlord. They haven’t seen him, their home or their deposit money since.
Unfortunately, the Ocons’ experience isn’t wholly uncommon. While subleasing an apartment in Utah is not illegal, it can be if the original owner does not expressly allow their tenant to rent out the property to others.
A tenant may sublease their apartment if they receive consent from the owner. They may also do so if they do not receive any word from the owner within 30 to 60 business days after asking for permission — unless their contract expressly prohibits subleasing. In that case, silence does not equal consent.
“I’m not a fan of subleasing because you’re dealing with multiple layers, and there’s not one throat to choke if there’s a problem,” said Graden Jackson, a real estate attorney and managing shareholder at local law firm Strong & Hanni.
5 rental scams and how to avoid them
Scammers are everywhere and your neighborhood may be no exception. Follow these tips to avoid being scammed when renting or renting out a home.If the original tenant does not pay rent to the owner, both the original tenant and the subtenant can be evicted, even if the subtenant has been faithfully paying rent.
Those subleasing an apartment generally do so for two different reasons, Jackson said. Either they’ve found another place to live and need someone else to pay the rest of their contract — or they’re short on money.
To avoid the Ocons’ experience, hopeful renters should follow these three tips to ensure they’re protected, Jackson said.
- Verify who the owner of the property is by searching for the address on the county recorder’s website or at the county recorder's office. If the name on the records is not the person renting the property, ask them about the owner.
- If the person renting the property is not the owner, ensure that the owner agrees to the sublease. The owner’s consent should be explicit in the contract, and they should sign something called a Landlord Consent, which protects the subtenant from a lot of the pitfalls of a sublease.
- Instead of signing a sublease, renters may consider either a new lease with the landlord or an “assignment” of the master lease. An assignment under the master lease means the landlord accepts the new renter as a direct tenant. This is usually only possible if they are renting the entire property or renting for the remaining period of the master lease, and the original tenant has found a new home but needs someone to pay for the rest of the contract.
