East Lansing officials say the practice of subleasing has led to severe property damage in the city.

“We have seen a number of situations where there have been subleasers not taking care of the property,” said Howard Asch, director of Code Enforcement and Neighborhood Conservation. “I am at the impression people didn’t do any interviews and they saw the color of the money and saw it was green.”

Every summer - the popular subleasing season - broken windows, scattered trash in yards and uncut grass have been trademarks of many subleasers shirking their responsibilities.

So far city officials have not addressed their growing concerns in rental property damage, but Asch said there should be some restrictions on subleasing - even though it is legal - that would limit or prohibit the practice.

With 1,600 rental properties available in the city, there is some difficulty in tracking which properties are subleased.

Many times the subleasing process is so informal the landlord doesn’t even know new tenants have moved in, said Darryl Svochak, chairman of the East Lansing Housing Commission. “It is one of the biggest problems from the landlord’s perspective,” he said.

Not notifying the landlord of a subleasing agreement can become a problem when it comes to paying rent.

“The (tenants on the lease) are still obligated to pay the rent,” he said. “I have always advised people to be real careful about that.”

A landlord unaware of who is living in his properties also could do major damage to his or her reputation, East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton said.

“What may seem like a short-term, smart financial consideration may not turn out to be,” Staton said. “For example, certain numbers of noise violations and trash violations can end up with a renter’s license getting revoked.”

Students who sublease with terrible results could also find themselves evicted.

“I would strongly discourage students from doing it,” Staton said.

But sometimes students don’t have a choice on whether to sublease.

Marketing senior Victor Fricano’s roommate, physiology senior Alpin Malkan, is still debating whether to attend medical school.

If Malkan does leave this summer for medical school, Fricano said they’ll be forced to sublease the extra space.

“I think as long as we look for people we know, we should be all right,” Fricano said.

While finding a friend may be easy, Fricano said their last resort, a stranger, would require them to do some interviewing to find the right person.

“That is one of the reasons why we go toward people we know, and the interview process will nail that down, but that is always a fear,” he said. “You don’t want that happening.”

But some landlords make certain the subleasers will make good tenants.

Landlord Linda Meyer allows students to sublease because she said she knows students have to leave for the summer.

“What we tell the students is that we have an application,” she said. “We say the students are acceptable to us if they are acceptable to the people remaining in the house.”

While it is up to the individual landlord on how to deal with subleasers, Meyer said the method works well.

“We just think it is easier for the student to find someone to fill that spot, because we have a 12-month lease,” she said.

But for those who struggle to find subleasers, Asch said they should screen prospective subleasers like their landlords, Asch said.

“If it is somebody that you wouldn’t want in your home at all, then don’t do it,” he said.

Shaun Byron can be reached at byronsha@msu.edu.