Tenant broke lease but is still paying rent

Member since 2025 · 6 posts · 7 votes

I have a 5 bed/4 ba single family home in Houston TX and am using a property mgmt company who placed a tenant with a 12 month lease. The tenant has paid rent on time so far but I know there are more adults living in the home than just the single person on the lease and I strongly suspect they're subletting without permission. I provided proof to the property mgmt company who was not interested in pursuing anything. I intend on sending someone out for a "wellness check" at the 6 month mark. Since the legal tenant is paying rent, should I just let this go or should I let the tenant know they're breaking the lease?

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Jaycee GreenePro Member

Real Estate Consultant · St. Louis MSA · Member since 2024 · 3k+ posts · 727 votes

Quote from @Lauren Kilburn:

Hi @Lauren Kilburn, welcome to the BP Forum!

I'd try to talk to another PMC in the area and say you're interested in switching to them and ask for their procedure for such a situation.

Then I'd highly suggest you speak to an attorney that's familiar with the housing/rental laws in Texas/Houston to get their opinion (even if you have to pay them for their time). In general, if a tenant is using the property in a way that is not consistent with the lease, you should have grounds for eviction. However, in my experience, if you let this happen without notice/documentation, then you're allowing it to happen and in essence, you're not enforcing your lease. This could become a big problem down the line.

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Jaycee GreenePro Member
Real Estate Consultant · St. Louis MSA · Member since 2024 · 3k+ posts · 727 votes
1y
Quote from @Lauren Kilburn:

I have a 5 bed/4 ba single family home in Houston TX and am using a property mgmt company who placed a tenant with a 12 month lease. The tenant has paid rent on time so far but I know there are more adults living in the home than just the single person on the lease and I strongly suspect they're subletting without permission. I provided proof to the property mgmt company who was not interested in pursuing anything. I intend on sending someone out for a "wellness check" at the 6 month mark. Since the legal tenant is paying rent, should I just let this go or should I let the tenant know they're breaking the lease?

Hi @Lauren Kilburn, welcome to the BP Forum!

I'd try to talk to another PMC in the area and say you're interested in switching to them and ask for their procedure for such a situation.

Then I'd highly suggest you speak to an attorney that's familiar with the housing/rental laws in Texas/Houston to get their opinion (even if you have to pay them for their time). In general, if a tenant is using the property in a way that is not consistent with the lease, you should have grounds for eviction. However, in my experience, if you let this happen without notice/documentation, then you're allowing it to happen and in essence, you're not enforcing your lease. This could become a big problem down the line.
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Peter MckernanBusiness Member
Residential Real Estate Agent · Irvine, CA · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
1y
I would push the PM company on making sure they abide by the laws of the contract, if not... Then I would find a new PM company; if someone is subletting and you have a clause in your lease stating you do not allow that then you can kick those people out for breach of contract.. Or if you know there are more people in there, you can either charge those people higher rent or ask them to leave excluding the people on the lease. This is all on the PM company to handle this stuff, which is who you hired to do their job and you are currently paying to do their job correctly.
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Bill B.
Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 10k+ votes
1y
Make sure the loss is worth it to you. You’re going to have vacancy and new releasing costs. (They’re obviously not going to move in, they’re just going stop paying rent.).
Hopefully you don’t have to go through eviction on the subleased tenants that aren’t paying you rent. You could end up out a few months of rent, eviction costs, and whatever the PM charges to find a new tenant. So figure on a few thousand in costs if it goes well, $6-10k if it doesn’t. Good luck.
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Ned CareyPro Member
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Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
1y
Unless you find unreasonable wear and tear during the inspection, for the reasons above I would let it go.
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Michele FischerPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Seattle, WA · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
1y
You are getting good advice. It is frustrating, but we don't really control who is in our units and it probably isn't worth trying to enforce. If you were self managing you could be more aggressive, buth with a PM this is their issue to deal with and they don't want to. Let them do their job. They aren't being lazy, they know this is no win. We have parked outside units to figure out the comings and goings from time to time, but truth is it doesn't really matter and life is easier when you don't monitor it and let it raise your blood pressure. Having fewer people on the lease has advantages too. Your biggest risk is probably criminal activity since they have not had any kind of background check as an unauthorized occupant.
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Gustavo Delgado
Houston, TX · Member since 2015 · 261 posts · 170 votes
1y
During the lease application, how many people were stated that would reside at the home?
If the application only involved one adult (any children?) and no one else, I would have been very skeptical why they need to lease a 5 bed/4bath home. I think the PM dropped the ball and should have asked more questions and dug deeper on this tenant.
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Lauren KilburnPro Member
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Member since 2025 · 6 posts · 7 votes
1y
Thank you everyone for your insights! I appreciate you!!
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Ezekiel Trevino
Realtor · McAllen, TX · Member since 2025 · 141 posts · 58 votes
1y
What I would do that situation, is ask for a copy of the lease agreement and read the part where it adresses visitors and occupany. If the property management company dose not want to pursue it, I would consider consulting another property manager and ask what they would do in a situation like this. If you are not happy with your current property manager.
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Daniel TanasaBusiness Member
Realtor · Houston, TX · Member since 2019 · 351 posts · 174 votes
1y
Hey Lauren,
Were you planning to charge a higher rent if there were 5 people in the house instead of 1 when they applied in the beginning? If the answer is no, and they take good care of the property, I will probably let it slide. I would still like to at least know who the other persons are and maybe get a copy of their ID's.
Legally speaking, they are breaking the lease and you have the right to evict them, you just have to decide if is worth it for you. You also have the option to confront them, ask for ID's for everyone in the house and maybe ask for a couple of hundred dollars extra for the extra people.
Let us now how you decide to go about it.
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Drew SygitBusiness Member
Property Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
1y
@Lauren Kilburn a single person living in a 5/4 house?

That should have been a red flag!
An inquiry should have been made of the prospective tenant if they had family that would be staying there - who then should have been added to the lease.

Going to guess your PMC is one of the national companies with little local presence - in their world if the payments are coming in, nothing else matters.

Your PMC should be reasonably assisting you to determine if tenant is subletting or if their family is actually staying there. This doesn't mean you should expect them to visit the property daily or even weekly, but they can stop by here & there to verify who's living there and speak with the neighbors. Of course, you can pay them to stop by more often.

Otherwise, likes @Jaycee Greene recommended, it may be time to find a BETTER PMC:)
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Lauren KilburnPro Member
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Member since 2025 · 6 posts · 7 votes
1y
I interviewed a few other property mgmt companies and found one that might be okay. I am actually considering learning how to self-manage remotely since I want to learn the process and add value to my experiences since I am very green and am considering pursuing a partnership. I asked the current property mgmt company to do an inspection. If the property is in good condition, I'm willing to communicate with the current tenant and ask for a copy of the other inhabitants' DL. If the property is not in good condition, I'm willing to terminate the lease and suck up the turnover pain. Regardless, I'm trying to get a team in place while I'm waiting for more information because I don't want to continue working with my current company.
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