Landlords contact me all the time because they are extremely worried and upset about a tenant who has moved someone into their rental that is not on the lease. They want to know what to do.
This used to really bother me as well. I manage a large number and variety of properties and have been a property manager since 2010. Tenants moving someone else into the rental property is actually very common. They live there and they pay the rent and they feel that they have the right to have anyone they want living with them.
My Opinion
I realize that my opinion is not going to be popular and many landlords won’t agree but I usually just talk to the tenant, monitor the situation going forward and let it go until a problem arises. I understand that I have a lease with specific people and I can legally enforce it. Over the years I have found that confronting the tenant and insisting on adding these people to the lease can cause other problems. Before I will agree to rent to anyone, I run a credit report and a criminal background check. The problem is that the people these tenants have moved in will rarely meet my guidelines and I would never rent to them.
Convincing these people to actually fill out an application and pay the application fee can be a challenge. Assuming I get them to do so, they almost never qualify to rent from me. When I tell them that they don’t meet my guidelines and they have to move out, this causes other issues. Usually, they just either flatly refuse to move or they tell me they will move but never do. Once this happens, it starts to get expensive, which affects profitability and it gets ugly.
Once I force the issue, it leads to an eviction filing. When this happens, the tenant and their unapproved guest, get mad, they stop paying and they usually tear up the property. Court dates in my area are usually booked out 4-6 weeks and then they get another week or two to pay or get out. So, I then have to hope they move out or I have to pay to set them out. Once they are all out, I am almost always left with a mess.
Then I have the cost and aggravation of a vacant property without the monthly rent payment. Repairs will be needed and in a perfect world, that can take a month or two to complete. Then I have to go through the entire process of finding a new tenant for the property and hope they don’t move someone else in as well.
You have to ask yourself, is it really worth the expense of enforcing this lease clause? For some landlords, the answer will be yes and I respect that. After several very costly situations that were the result of enforcing this clause. I no longer enforce it as long as there are no issues.
This Is A Common Issue
To be really honest, this is such a common issue and it got to very expensive to keep strictly enforcing this lease clause. While it annoys me, I stopped enforcing that years ago. The lease clearly states that only the people on the lease can live in the property. Once it comes to my attention that someone else is living there, I make contact with the tenant. They either tell me the truth or will lie and say that this person is only staying for a short time. My goal is to let the tenant know that I am aware they are breaking the lease. I always remind them that they are the only person on the lease and they are in violation of the lease. The conversation will also include me pointing out that the tenant is responsible for any damage the other person causes and if there are any issues, they are risking being evicted along with the person not on the lease. After that, I just keep an eye on them and just let it go unless there are problems.
Most of the time, there are no issues. I manage a large number of properties and I am not going to police the tenants to such an extent that they feel unwelcome in the home they are paying to live in. The vast majority of my tenants stay for 5 years or more. Some of my tenants have been in their property for more than 15 years.
A lot of landlords tell me they charge extra rent for the extra person and my question is “Why?”. The rent on the property is the rent and I am not going to charge extra for more people. As long as the tenant pays the rent, takes care of the property and doesn’t cause any problems, is it really worth creating a problem with such an otherwise good tenant?
If I have a 3 bedroom property, do I think it is great if only one or two people move into it? Yes! Less wear and tear. But, technically, a family of at least 6 could move into that property and by law I can’t charge more rent, especially if it is a family with kids. Student housing obviously works differently and I charge by the room because that is how that works.
I also feel that if the tenant on the lease is stupid enough to move someone else into the property and they cause damage, that is on them. I have a very stringent tenant screening process and I don’t rent to just anyone. The tenants that I rent to have good jobs, good rental histories and good credit scores. They tend to want to protect their credit and will either write a check for the damages or I turn them over for collections.
What If There Is A Problem?
While most of these situations work out fine, every so often there is a problem and I just deal with it. During Covid, a tenant called in a plumbing leak and I sent a plumber over to fix the problem. He called me and said there were at least a dozen people living there. There were three full sized beds in the basement along with several hanging racks of clothes and personal belongings. He also said he saw 5 dogs and 2 cats. This was a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom property that had a full unfinished basement. The basement did not have fire egress and was not considered to be a finished, livable area. I contacted the tenant who honestly told me that two different sets of family members had lost their jobs and had moved in with him and his wife. To make matters worse, he had just found out that he was going to be downsized at his job. I told him that there were too many people in the house and he agreed to be out at the end of the month.
There were two things that I told him would happen. First, he would be getting a Cease And Desist. That was my only legal recourse at that time as he was current on his rent. Second, I told him that I needed to set up a time to do a pre-move out inspection with him to determine what shape the house was in and what work needed to be done. He was fine with both. The only issue with the property were the walls. The house needed to be completely repainted. They otherwise left the property in great shape.
Use Commonsense
Anytime you are dealing with tenants, I recommend using commonsense. At the end of the day, one extra person is not going to cause that much wear and tear. The tenant who is on the lease assumes the liability for the person they allowed to move in. That tenant will have to pay for any damages that result from this extra person. Be sure your screening process is very strict and the people that you rent to have good credit scores, good income and good jobs. People who take care of their credit will not want to risk damaging it. On the other hand, people with bad credit won’t care if you go after them. Pick your tenants wisely and that will go a long way towards heading off any problems.
