Extra people living in the rental unit, what should I do?

Question

I have a two bedroom unit that recently have extra tenants living in it. I sat outside in my car and watched them, there were at least four or five more people going in and out of the house. My other tenants had complained about their behavior and loud noise . I would like to know what should I do to get them out. Should I go to an attorney and do the eviction?

Roy Lam · Answer

If I send them a certified letter like Annette suggested, should I send it under my name or have an attorney to do it. Any suggestion on what I should say in the letter?

Annette Hibbler · Answer

I recommend you have your other tenants or neighbors who are complaining provide you with photos, dates and times. You don't want to lose good tenants due to noise issues. A weeks worth of photos showing loads of cars in the drive every night can be very compelling.

In the meantime, you could send them a CERTIFIED letter stating that there have been complaints about noise. Also mention the part in the agreement regarding number of tenants and sub-leasing. Remind them they are obligated to seek your consent for any new tenants on the premises either temporary or permanent.

Keep a copy of this letter and the Certification Ticket and Receipt together. If you eventually have to evict, it will work in your favor to prove to judge that you did in fact give them notice of breach of contract. So don't lose it.

Colleen F. · Answer

Let them know you are coming by for an inspection and also let them know there have been noise complaints or whatever. give a notice to correct the complaints. We struggle with this with our students and the give away is always the number of cars. You should have a related issue that you can give them notice on.

Michele Fischer · Answer

If you see them going in and out, do you really have proof that they are living there? As my husband often says, tenants are allowed to have guests. Which makes it very hard to determine if they really are unauthorized occupants. You could give notice to do an inspection, check for beds and damage, and ask them to verify who is living there (then they'd have to lie to your face at least). But this is an issue we constantly struggle with without many tools available to solve the problem.

Joel Owens · Answer

The fire code thing first you need to check if you are in county limits only or city. Then the inspector needs to come out but has to catch them all there for a violation which is tough as many work.

Used to have a person renting out his house and slamming people in there to live. Inspector for the city worked 9 to 5. The people would always be gone and when inspector left for the day they would come back from jobs with cars everywhere etc. so could never catch them.

If you have people living there NOT listed on the lease above 18 years old then it should be a violation of your lease agreement. The unauthorized tenants could also be paying your tenant on a sub leases that Is not disclosed to you which is probably another violation if it's written in your lease.

Get ready to here all kinds of untruths from the tenant on they are just staying there occasionally blah, blah, blah. You have to show your serious and evict right away. If you evict today you might have a chance of re-renting before the holidays. If you wait until October to decide and get them out in November your place may sit for 2 to 3 months until next year for re-renting which opens up your property to vandals. Not only will you have no rent coming in but could incur thousands in damage from theft.

Make sure if evicting you include something like "and all others" in the filing to cover your tenants on the lease but also anyone unknown living in the unit so you do not have to evict again.

If the tenant you have doing this is nice you might try to work something out with them. If they pay late, keep the place dirty, and are lying about extra tenants staying there then it's three strikes and your out.

No legal advice.

Jassem A. · Answer

I would warn them and if they don't correct the situation then you can evict them if you'd like. If they are there less than a month you might be able to get the police to remove them on the basis of trespassing or because it violates fire code.

Extra people living in the rental unit, what should I do?

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