As a landlord, it can be difficult to determine when a tenant’s guest becomes a tenant. For clarification or background on this topic visit “When do Guests become Tenants?” at https://www.schedulemyrent.com/blog/. A good rule to follow is that if a legal adult is living at the property, they must be listed on the lease and sign it.
What is a long-term guest?
A long term guest is someone who lives at the property without permission or approval (aka an unofficial tenant). In most cases, long-term guests usually move in thinking they will only be visiting the tenant for a short amount of time, but end up living for much longer than anticipated without prior approval.
As a landlord, a guest implies someone visiting your tenant, and long term suggests someone who is living at the property. Long-term guests should be considered tenants.
There are many examples of visitors and guests who have overstayed their visit without approval. This could be a college student who moved back for the summer or a tenant’s aging parent. For more situations refer to the article at https://www.schedulemyrent.com/blog/.
If a tenant is not on the lease, they are not subject to the terms and conditions of the lease and are not held accountable for paying rent. This could cause all sorts of problems in the future.
Long-term guests are not deal breakers, but they need to be placed on the lease and therefore held accountable for the terms. A good response to tenants asking about long-term guests is that if they are an adult living at the property, they must fill out an application. You also need to communicate with your tenant that their new roommate will be jointly liable for rent and damages (this occurs when they are put on the lease).
Include in your lease a use of premises clause
It is always important to have a clear lease in order to have good communication with your tenants. When you establish expectations in the lease, it is important to enforce all clauses of it. If you are lenient on one aspect, then your tenants might assume that you will also be waive other clauses of the lease such as late fees. It is important to establish and enforce firm lease terms from the beginning.
In your lease, you can add a clause that limits the number of people that are allowed in the unit. You should also explain to your tenant the difference between a guest and a tenant. The clause could be titled “Use of Premises” and look something like this.
*insert use of premises clause*
There will always be tenants who will try to hide guests from their landlords because they don’t want their rent amount to increase. In reality, most landlords might not raise the rent for when a kid from college comes back to live with the tenant during summer break, but it is important for landlords to have the option to. If your tenant decides to move in 8 extended family members, landlord will want to use this clause to raise rent.
Have all the parties sign the lease
If a tenant’s long-term guest refuses to sign the lease, then landlords have the option to terminate the tenant’s lease based on the violation of the “Use of Premises” clause stated above.
The main purpose of this clause is not to raise tenant’s rent, but to have adults living on the property liable and accounted for in the case that the original tenants abandon the lease. Most tenants will be willing to sign the lease, especially if you don’t charge them any extra expenses.
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