Tenant asking for Temporary Occupancy for friend

[Vishal Tarate]

My tenant is asking for temporary occupancy for a friend for five months (not paying rent) until their new house is being built.  tenant is accepting that they will be held liable for house. 

Can experts guide me how shall I manage this situation and be careful for any liability. Can just an mutual agreement over an email will be good enough to accept the temporary occupancy?

[Richard F.]

Five months is more than most MTR's. They need to be added to the existing rental agreement AFTER proper screening. You cannot charge rent based on number of people, as that is a Fair Housing issue, regardless of the circumstance you would be on the wrong side of that argument.

What happens if you just let the person(s) move in (do you even know for sure how many?), and your original "good" tenant decides to move...or just gets hit by a bus? With no info, no written agreement, no references, and a Security Deposit that belongs to someone's heirs, you are up a creek.