Landlords - consequences I'm not thinking of?

[vanillacourage]

I manage three rental properties for my family. One of them rented last summer to a girl who was moving cross-country to go to school here. Her boyfriend was going to be moving here in the fall. As a student she didn't make enough to qualify for the property - and while she passed the full background check her boyfriend didn't have a high enough credit score. But, he did pass the criminal/eviction portion and she was willing to pre-pay for the entire year, so I went ahead and rented the property in her name only.

Now her boyfriend is living here and they want to add him to the lease. At least superficially I don't see a reason not to - in my state tenants are responsible for the lease both jointly and severally, so she's already fully on the hook for any damages (and after renting to her for several months I'm not worried about it). And, him not paying his portion is not a factor either as the rent's been taken care of. Thoughts?

[Chirp]

Not a landlord, but here's my anecdote...

H and I rented a couple different apartments together (pre-marriage). Both landlords required both of our names on the lease.

I rented an apartment alone while H and I were dating. A nosy neighbor called the landlord and told on me for having an overnight guest, so my landlord reminded me (through fits of laughter) that I would have to add H to the lease if he would be moving in. Stupid neighbors suck.

[vanillacourage]

Yes, typically I do not allow adults to live in the home without being on the lease. The only reason I did so in this case is that she pre-paid for the year ($12k+). The lease is written that boyfriend, by name, is the only other person allowed to stay at the house for more than 7 days.

[Deleted]

I would put him on the lease. Doesn't this just mean that there's one more person you can go after if they damage the property?

I wonder if he needs proof of residency in order to register to vote (or get a new driver's license or get a library card). If the utilities are in her name, he may not have anything that proves his residency for certain purposes.

[schrodinger]

How is your language written for continuing a lease after the term is up? If they break up, can he then stay there and continue to renew the lease without her? Are you okay with that? My concern would be getting into a situation where he takes over the lease, then asks to add someone else in the future. Other than that, I don't see it being a big deal.

[vanillacourage]

After thinking about it more my only real hesitation is that if he turns out to be a bad apple, it's a lot easier to get him out of the property if he's not named on the lease. But, he has been there a few months and no real problems so far.

[dragonfly08]

DH has been a landlord for 20 years and would never allow someone to live full-time in one of our properties without them being named on the lease. It gives him more legal protection to have each resident bound by the lease terms. Since he's very careful/particular before allowing someone to move in, he's not too worried about them becoming a "bad apple" he may have to get rid of at some point. Plus, you might want to check the law because I believe (here, at least) even if they're not on the lease if you let them live there and accept rent from them then they have rights, so you might as well at least have a signed lease to help protect yourself since getting them out if necessary is likely to be messy in any case.

[livinitup]

Why does she want him on the lease? How does it benefit her?

The whole pre-payment thing has me thrown. What would he sign? Every lease I have seen says so&so agrees to pay $XX, in monthly installments of $XX dor such& such months/yrs. How do you sign something that has already been paid? And do you give him a receipt for the half that he's now covering that she already paid??

So, it makes me wonder what they want for him to be on the lease.

Does she still want him to pay half, even if he moves out? If this was all her money, I think the girlfriend left herself a little exposed. If he's "on the lease" I suppose she can go after him for 1/2 of the rent/utilities if he walks out. But since YOU'VE already been paid, you don't have a finacial stake in their arrangment. This situation sounds more like a sub-let to the boyfriend.

I'd ask her why she wants it and then decide based upon her answer.

[Deleted]

He might just want to be on the lease so that when they go get their next place, he's been on a lease and vanillacourage can act as a reference. Or for residency requirements, like pp said.