Add tenant's dad to the lease?

Question

I have a great tenant who's been at the house for 1 1/2 years and is now on a M2M. I recently discovered that his dad has moved in temporarily, though I don't know for how long, after recovering from what I gather was a rough spot. My lease states that anyone residing on the property for more than 2 weeks must be added to the lease. I'm willing to make an exception here since my tenant is responsible and is clearly the one paying all the bills, but would I be making a mistake? How important is it that dad be added to the lease?

Pier C. · Answer

Thank you so much, Kevin. I think the occupant option would be the right one in this case. I don't have any experience with adding such a clause in my lease, however. What should it contain? That the occupant agrees to all the terms and conditions in the lease but that the tenant will solely be responsible for the rent and utilities?

Kevin Sobilo · Answer

@Pier C., there are reasons to care about additional people moving into your rental.

Do you as the landlord pay any of the utilities like water, hot water, electricity, etc? If so, more people could mean higher bills!

Will the people moving in cause problems. Will they be doing illegal things in your unit? Drugs?

If you are happy with your tenant and utilities aren't an issue, I would do a background check on them and add them on the lease as an occupant not as a tenant. This way, they can move out anytime without having any financial responsibility to you. It also allows the tenant to control whether they stay or not and give them the boot if they choose. If they are added as a tenant then the original tenant cannot ask them to leave.

I would only add the new person(s) as tenant(s) if the existing tenant requested it and if they understood the implications.