Tenant Moving In Now Has A Roommate
Justin JohnsonPro Member
Fort Smith, AR · Member since 2018 · 122 posts · 70 votesSo, I have a tenant that is moving in on 2020-10-01 and we have already gone through the whole pre-screening, interview, application process, background/credit check, signing the lease agreement, everything was great. The lease is signed between him and myself. In our initial walk though/interview, I asked if there was going to be anyone with him and he said "no, just me" and 3 days before he is scheduled to move in he tells me about his roommate that he's been talking to, "telling her what's up", and her 2 kids. He mentioned she would pay him rent and he would pay me. I told him that I do not allow sub-letting and I would have to approve her anyway and her name would have to be on the lease. I have no idea what to do in this situation. I'm frustrated and I need a little advise from some more seasoned investors on how to handle this.
I've had them reapply for the property so that I could create a new lease with her name and her kids names listed. Any advise would be appreciated. Learning experience and I'm trying to learn all I can :-)
Just curious, did you do a thorough background check on the original tenant? By this I mean credit check, current employer and length of employment if possible (last 4 pay stubs usually works adequately for me), previous landlords (don't use reference phone numbers check them yourself by looking up the address and getting the person's contact information from publicly available sources - if they're renting they may have something listed currently or in the past. I never trust tenants to give me good info on previous LL's after I escaped a scam someone tried to run on me.), etc. Maybe even stop past their current address and see what situation they have going on there. A drive-by at various times may be fruitful. While I would be cautious here given how things developed, I would think that if you have done all of the relevant background research on the original applicant and he met your criteria (3x the rent plus the stuff I mentioned above - you'll need standards so you can treat everybody the same) then it wouldn't matter if he added someone else as his income and credibility should sufficiently cover. What you are mostly worried about is adding a second tenant that would be a problem, thus, all the background stuff needs to happen before the move in. Do not allow them to rush you. The background is complete when it is complete and neither tenant will be given a key until it is. He changed the parameters and you have your process. If he feels like it is a problem he can go find some other apartment/house. I don't mean to sound cruel, but when people are trying to rush me b/c of poor planning on their part it is a red flag and I'm less inclined to be open-minded. In this situation, I would look very hard as he is starting off changing things and I think this could lead to trouble later. I don't like trouble. I want very few problems with my tenants. If it starts bad it is likely to end badly in my mind. Honestly, I'd want to say no to both of them, but my wife would likely have to talk me down to something more reasonable. I can be a bit over-reactive at times.
Good luck.
@Justin Johnson. I would not like a sneaky or deceptive tenant. He probably knew this going into this and lied to you. On the flip side, he could have moved them all in and said nothing to you, which would have caused you more stress. My thoughts are, really check out this woman and vet HER thoroughly. This will avoid issues down the road if she is flaky and using boyfriend to play the tenant game.
This.
In my experience when they withhold information they know the other would not qualify. Eviction, bankruptcy, or felony being the most popular reasons.
However, he did tell you, albeit late, so there’s a small chance He just doesn’t know how it works. So I’d Be willing to give him a chance to correct it.
@Kevin S.
All advice has been valid. Go back, re-check the additional renter or just walk away. Don’t make a rushed decision when thrown a curve ball.
Consider going back to book ‘Rental Property Investing’ and review the chapter on the Application Process. Adjust your processes for screening to prevent future issues. It’s all about the processes.
Valid points on this thread.....It would be a “no go” for me.
@Jim Shepard, yes, absolutely I do both background/credit checks! She was more than happy to go through the application process and we got to have a little stand up meeting yesterday when she came to show her mum the place. She is a very nice, sweet lady and I felt 10 times better after talking to her, her mum, and meeting one of her kiddos.
@Tom O., I screened her and am currently putting her on the lease. She has a good job at a good company here. I am also all about saving money and having a roommate is definitely a good way for people to save money and hopefully have less issue paying rent with the two incomes.
@Kevin S. I definitely did not want anyone living here that was not on the lease. Someone visiting, that's okay, but if you're here more than 10 days and you get your mail here, you're either on the lease or everyone's out.
@Brianna Reynolds, I have a section that defines guests and the length of stay before they are considered a tenant, but not one that states how often guests can stay. There is a falsification clause, too, thankfully.
@Todd Powell, I was extremely critical and as thorough as I could be with background/credit/google and social media with her.
@Patrick Pierre, the one kiddo I got to meet yesterday was super sweet and well behaved. Last minute things do come up for sure! When they both were as willing to have her go through the same process of applying and vetting as the original tenant, I felt a tiny bit better. She filled out the application about 5 minutes after I emailed it to her.
@Brianna Reynolds, agreed! He is young and I think that he was renting from a family member for the last 5 years (since his graduation) so...possibly he has never had to rent from a landlord/lady other than his family. Yes, I did verify that the point of contact that he gave me for his previous landlady was the owner of the property.
@Aaron Maravilla, thank you! I will pick this book up today and read it.
Thank you all for your advise, tips, and input in general. I will post again as the saga continues...
Not quite the same, but I rented to a tenant who was coming from out-of-state, so I didn't meet her and her family until move-in day. Oh, huh. Look at that. An extra child (daughter) that was never mentioned. Who was supposedly living with grandma in FL (they were from GA), but they changed their mind at the last minute and brought her.
I swear I wasn't even trying to pry, lol. But, during their move-in day, I happened to be in the kitchen with the daughter for a couple minutes and made friendly chit-chat about the iguana (in a cage on the kitchen counter). She tells me ALL about that it is HER iguana. It was a birthday present. She loves it and takes good care of it. Interesting. Because the iguana was on their application, but this girl was not, lol.
During our discussions beforehand, I had even made mention to her that, while it was a good-sized 2 bedroom, it was still just a 2 bedroom and might be a bit cramped for four people so I just wanted to make sure she was thinking about the size and was good with that. Plus it had a shotgun style layout (no doors between rooms). She assured me all of that was fine. Cool, great.
In month #3, she wants to break their lease because the house is too small. But, of course, the terms she wants to break it under are outrageous. Including "living out their security deposit".
They were some of the worst tenants I ever had. And many, many much more serious lies were discovered during their tenancy. I was a newbie landlady at the time and they must have seen me as such an easy mark. At least they were a relatively inexpensive wake-up call and I hardened up my procedures big time after that.