I have a tenant whose father is on the lease because the father has great credit and always makes the monthly rent payments on time. The father is asking to be removed from the lease because he is looking to buy a secondary property and is concerned that having the lease in his name will impact their debt ratio/monthly liabilities which he believes will affect his mortgage possibilities. The father is asking if there is a way he can be removed from the lease and/or if he “can add to the deposit or pre-pay.” The father will continue to pay the monthly rent. Has anyone experienced something like this or has any advice?
I don't see how a lease could/should impact his credit. Unless the rent payments are reported to the credit agencies. His name on the lease should have no impact.
You can advise him that you do not report to credit agencies or to anyone really. Nobody knows that he's on the lease unless he defaults and you have to go into some kinda eviction process. So there is no need to take his name off.
According to your agreement with him, he is a tenant and I would treat it like if any other tenant "living in the property" asked to be taken off their lease. The lease doesn't work without a tenant. A qualified tenant.
If he insisted on being taken off the lease, I would explain to him he has agreed to the lease and everything included (payment included). If he wants to take his name off that would end the lease. He has to pay the termination fee and move out protocol. Good luck! Keep us posted!