I'm a new landlord renting out the single-family house I lived in when I lived in Ladson, South Carolina and I think I’m going to have a problem with a “Designated Occupant” coming up. I rented a room in the house to my current Tenant for 4-5 months before I had to move across the country for work this past summer and signed a year lease with her for the house before I moved so I figured it’d be okay to manage myself for the first year since I knew her.  As part of the lease, she found a roommate to split rent with and, at the advice of a real estate investor friend from the area with much more experience than I have, I listed the roommate as a “Designated Occupant” instead of as a Tenant. This was because if she didn’t end up getting along with them, she would be free to ask them to move out and find a new roommate she got along with better.

Well turns out a couple of months later, the designated occupant has invited his friend to live there too and also gotten a dog (which are both not permitted without written landlord approval and are lease violations). They’ve also been harassing my tenant at the house by doing things like taking off the AC control from the wall while she’s sleeping (and AC is essential in SC!). So she informed me last week that she intends to break the lease at the end of this month because she can’t live there anymore. I talked to her and convinced her that she could tell them to move out and that I’d give her a discount for the next month while she was looking for a roommate since if she breaks the lease I’d be using their security deposit for associated expenses and she’d be on the hook for the rent until I found a new tenant. She initially said she’d take this approach but then came back a couple of days ago and said she’d talked to her roommate and he and the guest said they’d move out by the first rather than show the insurance paperwork I asked for the dog and pay her for their share of utilities.  My Tenant is still planning to break the lease at the end of the month though and move elsewhere.  

I’m not convinced these guys are actually going to move out by the end of the month and if she doesn’t take me up on the reduced rent offer or pay rent for October my plan is to file for an eviction for all of them on the 6th for non-payment of rent (they've been notified in the lease). 

So, does anyone have experience with a Designated Occupant refusing to leave? I’m going to call and talk to him in the next day or two to let him know that I know about his lease violations, that my tenant is planning to break the lease and move out, and so his best shot at getting his security deposit back is by moving out by the 1st.  Any other advice/suggestions?

The designated occupant is subject to the same rules as my Tenant by the lease but if my Tenant doesn't pay for October, I don't have to accept rent from a designated occupant right?