A co-signer is someone who takes full responsibility for the payment of a lease or loan along with the primary signer. They're different from a guarantor because co-signers are permitted to live at the rental property while guarantors are not. Co-signers are often parents, relatives, or close friends of the renter, but could be anyone.
The co-signer acknowledges and accepts full responsibility for the fulfillment of all the terms and conditions of the lease agreement, including the payment of the rent, any damages, cleaning expenses, unpaid utilities, fees, fines, exemplary or punitive damages, costs, administrative charges, court costs or any other liabilities.
The co-signer will remain responsible for the entire term of the lease, including any
extensions, renewals, modifications, or amendments.
Adding a Co-Signer to a Lease
If you added the co-signer to the Lease Agreement you'll want to first edit your lease agreement. To start, click "Edit" with the pencil tool and remove the Provisions and Attachments text. You'll also want to remove the Co-Signer Agreement form you've uploaded. I would strongly suggest copying the text in the Provisions and saving it to a new document so that you don't have to type it out again.
Removing the co-signer agreement from the actual lease allows the co-signer to appear correctly as a "co-signer" and not a tenant.
Next, you'll upload the Co-signer agreement as a separate document. You'll then be able to add the tenant and landlord e-sign boxes, which you should include. After adding the e-sign boxes, you'll be prompted to add anyone else. Select "Yes", and add the co-signer's information.
By doing it this way, you'll see the co-signer as a designated co-signer in the lease profile. The lease agreement will only display the landlord(s) and tenant(s) on it, and the co-signer addendum will display all parties who've signed.
How to make a co-signer official?
Co-signers must acknowledge that they accept full responsibility for the terms of the lease agreement by signing a co-signer addendum. This addendum is included as part of our Forms Pack and is included with Premium membership. Read more about how to add a co-signer to a lease.