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Guozheng Li struggled to find someone to sublet his apartment after he decided not to return to Syracuse University for the fall semester. 

Li, a sports management major from China, decided to take classes remotely this fall due to concerns about constantly shifting travel bans and what he felt was a growing anti-China sentiment in the U.S. But by the time he made the choice not to return to SU, he had already taken out a lease on an apartment in Syracuse.

“I need to pay around $1,000 every month for my rent,” said Li, who had taken out a lease for an apartment in The 505 on Walnut. “As of now, I will have to cancel my rent because wasting this much money doesn’t sound like a smart idea.” 

Li has yet to find someone else to take over his lease. He’s one of several SU international students who, in deciding to stay in their home countries this fall, have found themselves stuck in apartment leases they signed before the coronavirus pandemic. Some students’ off-campus apartments range from $11,000 to $21,000 annually.

The United States Department of Homeland Security’s travel guidelines prohibit students from countries like China and Brazil from traveling directly to the U.S from their home countries. Many have to travel to a third country to quarantine for two weeks and then fly to New York to quarantine for another 14 days. 

The nearly month-long travel process — combined with health concerns and other difficulties related to COVID-19 — has led some SU international students who returned home over the summer to study remotely this semester.

Emporia Meng, a senior advertising major who’s from Malaysia but now lives in China, signed a lease for an apartment at The Marshall before the pandemic. After deciding against returning to SU’s campus this fall, Meng had to find someone else to sublet her apartment. 

All residents of The 505, no matter if a new resident takes over their lease, must make their first rent payment Aug. 1, the leasing office said in an email to residents of the complex. New residents can’t move in until Aug. 21 and must find other places to stay before they move in.

Lynn Liu, a senior architecture student from China, signed a lease for a studio apartment at Theory Syracuse that costs $1,600 per month before she opted not to return to SU this semester. Liu managed to find someone else to take her place, but like Li, she had to pay a fee.

“The leasing contract I signed with Theory does not allow short-term sublet or cancel the lease before moving in,” said Liu. “The only solution is to sublet — either find someone by myself who is willing to (take) over my whole lease or the office can put me on their subletting list to help me find someone.” 

Residents who need to transfer their leases have to pay Theory a subletting fee between $300 and $500, Liu said, depending on whether they find someone to take the lease themselves or Theory helps with the search. 

Finding someone else to take over a lease isn’t complicated, as long as the leaseholder actively advertises the open apartment and contacts the leasing office to follow up, Liu said. But the process is one of several challenges for international students already grappling with the difficulties of taking remote courses thousands of miles from SU.

“I understand (landlords) not wanting lots of students to back out of their lease,” Meng said. “But at the same time, I wish they were more helpful with helping students who were unable to go back.”

Published on August 17, 2020 at 7:53 pm