Students subletting off-campus apartments this summer have dealt with some troubling schedule problems, and the situation won't be getting any better for the fall move-in.
This year, because Commencement fell on May 31 - the same day most off-campus leases ended - many students who sublet rooms for the summer had to wait for new graduates to vacate apartments before they could move in.
While the freshly minted alums said goodbye to housemates and gathered belongings, subletters found themselves without a place to call home, however temporarily.
Because leases generally end on May 31 - and undergrads were ready to move in long before this date - some students found themselves moving luggage into their summer apartments before graduates had taken their own belongings out.
"I personally had to go to my sublet and put my stuff in the corner and wait until the former renters moved out," said Elie Rosen '05.5, who is currently subletting on John Street but plans to move back on campus in the fall.
Those who experienced Commencement woes predict the move-in for returning students living in on-campus housing will not be any easier - the same type of schedule overlap will likely occur. Summer subletters, not allowed back into the dorms until Sept. 2, might be left in the lurch - luggage and all - as returning renters try to move back in.
"It could be a problem," Rosen said.
But other students said subletting agreements are made fairly informally, usually without students consulting with landlords, which allows such practical matters to be negotiated easily.
"It's usually somewhat arbitrary and left up to the students to determine how it works," said Scott Ewing '05. He noted that students often allow one another to store belongings in summer sublets until the dorms open.
"My experience is that we're all kind of in this together," Ewing said.
During Commencement weekend, a fire in the basement of a Brook Street house destroyed subletters' personal items. Residents had allowed the subletters to move their belongings in early, but the informal arrangement gave the students no protection.
Another obstacle facing many subletters is lack of facetime with landlords. When their academic-year renters can't be reached, subletters "don't actually know the landlord, so if there's a problem they can't do anything, really. That certainly complicates things," said Ethan Ris '05. He added that he has not yet met his own summer landlord.
Often selective of renters during the academic year, landlords set their own rules regarding who may or may not take a renter's place during the summer.
"Some landlords' leases will state that you need their approval. Some will state that you cannot sublet at all. It's really a case-by-case basis," Ewing said.
Widely deemed a buyer's market, summer subletting generally seeks substantially lower rent than that demanded during the academic year.
"There are fewer people renting the same amount of apartments, so prices tend to go down," Ewing said.
For example, an apartment that costs around $650 often rents for as little as $450 during the summer, a 30-percent rent reduction. Many students who wait until the last minute to secure sublets can find even better deals from students anxious to make back even some of the rent they are contractually obligated to pay.
Renters are resigned to the fact that they have to pay for the three months' rent themselves unless they lower prices, Rosen noted.
Another effect of this buyer's market is that summer subletters, who generally pay and plan less for these few summer months, are more often living among strangers in a similar boat.
A mix of undergrads and grad students sublet with Ewing, who said that "during the school year people have more opportunity to plan who they're going to live with."
Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing, noted Kea Johnston '05, because strangers in sublets spend more time getting to know one another than they spend arguing.
Fear of having to pay for vacant rooms during the summer months has led to a surge in ads for sublets placed on the housing forum of the Daily Jolt Web site by students living off-campus in the fall. Even with half of the summer gone, the Daily Jolt is still receiving new ads for sublets daily..
