How can I replace myself with another roommate/be removed from the lease or add another roommate?

When it comes to roommates renting an apartment or home, it is not unusual for one or more of the roommates to need to move out before the current lease expires while the remaining roommates have no intention of moving at that time. So, when life circumstances come up and one or more of the roommates need to move. Qwest Property Management offers a solution that can help our residents in these situations, as long as our roommate change policy is followed.

Before we get into the details of our roommate change policy, it must be acknowledged that a lease is a legal contract for which can not be changed unilaterally by one party. If a modification to the original terms of the lease will be made, then ALL parties to the lease must agree to the changes in writing. What that means is ALL of the current roommates who are a party to the lease must agree and sign off on the release or addition of any roommates. And, of course, Qwest Property Management must agree as well. No change will take place until all parties agree to the change in writing.

With that said, there are many times where roommates no longer get along to the point where getting all parties to cooperate can be a challenge. This can be very frustrating for the roommate who would like to be removed from the lease if the other roommates are not willing to release that roommate from the obligations of the lease terms. It can be equally frustrating for the remaining roommates who may feel like the one roommate is walking away from their obligations to the lease for which they had agreed to when they initially signed, etc. This is why QwestPM has proactively put a policy and guidelines in place that will give our residents a full understanding of what options they have when these situations do come up.

Below are the guidelines that our residents must follow in order to stay in compliance with their lease while navigating the removal or addition of any roommates.

When a New Roommate Wants to Move In and Will be Added to the Lease: A new tenant, not originally signed on the lease agreement, may move into the unit with the following provisions:

BEFORE MOVE-IN, the new roommate must pay a non-refundable application fee and apply and be approved by Qwest Property Management. We will need the name, phone and email address for the new roommate. We will send them an email with a link to the online application. We want to approve the potential new roommate first, because;
Once the new potential roommate's application has been approved, QwestPM will contact all of the existing tenants who must also pay a new application fee and re-apply as well. When we contact you we will provide you with the link to the online application.
The monthly Risk Mitigation Administrative Fee (if any) will be recalculated based on the credit scores of the new roommate group. Details regarding the Risk Mitigation Admin fee scoring model can be found here on our website.
A lease modification fee will be charged to the rental account and must be paid before Management will sign the lease addendum to add the new roommate. This is for the time involved in preparing the documents, coordinating communication between the roommates and up-dating internal information.
All original roommates and the new roommate must sign the roommate addition addendum to the lease. The new roommate must also sign all of the original lease documents as well.
The new tenant becomes equally, jointly and severally, responsible for all obligations outlined in the original lease agreement and it's peripheral documents and addenda, including but not limited to, rent payments and damages.
If you are currently not on a Qwest Property Management lease. We may require that you update your existing lease to the in-house Qwest Property Management lease at that time.

** Please Note - If the new prospective roommate's application is not approved, the individual may not move into the property. If the non-approved Applicant is already occupying the unit, then the original Tenant(s) have created a material non-compliance violation of the Lease/Rental Agreement and is subject to the penalties outlined in the Lease/Rental Agreement and/or attached addenda. It is NOT a good idea to move an unauthorized occupant into your property without first having completed the process outlined above!

When a Roommate Wants to Move-out: A Tenant may choose to physically move out of the rental property at any point. However, their legal obligation to the Lease/Rental Agreement may still exist for both the vacating and remaining Tenant(s), even if the vacating Tenant is not in physical occupancy of the Property.

A Tenant may be released from the Lease/Rental Agreement during the lease period with the written approval of the remaining Tenant(s) and Qwest Property Management. The Tenant Release Addendum must be signed by all of the Tenants on the Lease/Rental Agreement. Once released, the vacating Tenant has no further obligation to the Lease/Rental Agreement or claim to the Security Deposit (if vacating Tenant initially had been named as Security Deposit Holder, then this must be amended on the Tenant Release Addendum and if not amended, then the future disbursement check would be made out to all remaining Tenants).

Here is what must happen in order to release an existing Tenant from the lease:

BEFORE TENANT IS RELEASED, the remaining roommates/Tenant(s) must re-apply and re-qualify. We will email the remaining tenants a link to the online application. The non-refundable application fee is $40/each to re-apply.
The monthly Risk Mitigation Administrative Fee (if any) will be recalculated based on the credit scores of the new roommate group. Details regarding the Risk Mitigation Admin fee scoring model can be found here on our website.
A lease modification fee will be charged to the rental account and must be paid before Management will sign the lease addendum to release the out-going roommate. This is for the time involved in preparing the documents, coordinating communication between the roommates and up-dating internal information.
All original roommates and the out-going roommate must sign the roommate release addendum to the lease.
If you are currently not on a Qwest Property Management lease. We may require that you update your existing lease to the in-house Qwest Property Management lease at that time.

What About the Security Deposit?

At no time will the security deposit, or any portion thereof, be released to a roommate who is being released from the lease. The security deposit will be returned ONLY after all tenants have vacated, subject to the lease agreement terms and addenda, after the lease has expired, etc. If any released roommate(s) feel as though they are entitled to any portion of the security deposit. You should discuss this with the other roommate(s). When you elect to be released from the lease, you also elect to forfeit all claims on the security deposit as well.