Disabled adult tenant not on lease

[Joe H.]

I'm not looking for legal advice from this forum and will escalate this to my attorney if necessary.

I'm currently under contract to purchase a fourplex and during my due diligence I have determined that one of the apartments has an additional adult living there who is not on the lease. This was brought to the attention of the current property manager who has indicated that the person in question is disabled and "protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act." 

I'm not an expert on the ADA or Fair Housing laws, but is there any reason that an adult with a disability would be legally protected from being on the lease?

[Thomas S.]

Landlords may not discriminate based on disability under fair housing. They are required to meet all standard criteria for financial stability, tenant history etc. Disability may not be considered as screen criteria.

In your situation you are not required too allow this non resident to stay. The tenant on the lease is the only person you must take into consideration. The unit is rented to one person and that is the only person on the lease. If it is your desire to have only one tenant, since the disabled individual did not apply at the time the lease was started you can, if you choose, request that he leave. If they wish to stay you screen him as any tenant and he must, as a individual, meet all the screening criteria including sufficient income to cover full rent, credit and tenant history etc.

Likely hood is he would not qualify on his own and you can reject his application. Keep in mind if you approve him at some point in time he could end up in the unit as a lone tenant.