I don't find it that hard to believe that someone would blindly sign a lease after only quickly skimming over the important bits and then never look at it again. I remember one landlord looking quite surprised when I sat in his office and read all 8 pages of the contract, asked for clarifications on a couple of points and asked for one clause to be changed. It seemed to me that she'd never seen anybody do that before.
As a landlord my lease agreement is only 3 pages, and I have always reviewed it with tenants before I allow them to sign it. I review every clause with them and have them initial every page. If they have questions or objections we sometimes modify clauses; we cross out the standard language and write in the new agreement and we both initial the change. It only takes a few extra minutes to review the entire agreement, and I wouldn't want a tenant to sign something that I know they haven't read.
When said person is occasionally and randomly having friends or guests over, sure.
When said person is making a fulltime income solely from renting space in an apartment that he is only leasing, well, "most people" would think "I should probably take a look at my lease first"...
I think it's pretty much de facto standard that you must disclose first hand before you sign the lease contract whether you rent the place for living or for business. Subletting is not always forbidden but you have inform the landlord before you subleasing.
> I don't find it that hard to believe that someone would blindly sign a lease after only quickly skimming over the important bits and then never look at it again.
I don't find that hard to believe either.
What I find revolting is someone not reading the lease, violating it, then playing the victim.
I don't find it that hard to believe that someone would blindly sign a lease after only quickly skimming over the important bits and then never look at it again. I remember one landlord looking quite surprised when I sat in his office and read all 8 pages of the contract, asked for clarifications on a couple of points and asked for one clause to be changed. It seemed to me that she'd never seen anybody do that before.