Do all occupants need to meet screening qualificaiton on their own?

Question

I have a rental application came in, total three occupants. Mom and son have good income and credit; son's girlfriend is currently in nursing school, works part time, does not have qualifying income and credit on her own. Could the lease be signed with the mom and son as they are the tenants, girlfriend is authorized occupant who will not be on the lease with Authorized Occupants Clause? All of them are on the lease with the current place.

Jim Johnson · Answer

I've seen landlords handle this differently depending on their screening criteria and local regulations, but the bigger question for me is whether the combined household meets the qualification standards and whether all adult occupants have been properly screened.

In situations like the one you described, some landlords will have the financially qualified applicants sign the lease while listing another adult as an authorized occupant. Others prefer all adult occupants to be leaseholders so everyone living in the property is contractually responsible.

A few things I'd consider:

• Does your screening policy require all adult occupants to apply?
• Have all adults passed background and credit screening?
• Who do you want legally responsible for rent and lease compliance?
• Are there any local laws that affect how occupants versus tenants are handled?

Personally, I'd be cautious about having an adult resident who isn't clearly addressed in the lease documentation. Whether that means leaseholder or authorized occupant, I'd want their status documented from day one rather than leaving it ambiguous.

Out of curiosity, is the girlfriend's credit/history acceptable but just lacking income, or are there credit concerns as well? That would probably influence how I'd structure the arrangement.

Celina Cheng · Answer

Jimmy, thank you for the detailed explanation.

Jimmy Lieu · Answer

Hi Celina, a lot of landlords handle situations like this by having the financially qualifying applicants sign the lease and listing the third person as an authorized occupant, but it really comes down to your screening criteria and how your lease is written. One thing I'd think about is whether you want the girlfriend to have the same responsibilities and accountability as the other occupants. If she's living there full-time, some landlords prefer all adults to be on the lease regardless of income so everyone is bound by the lease terms and can be held responsible for damages, violations, or other issues. Others are comfortable with an authorized occupant arrangement if the primary tenants clearly meet the income and credit requirements on their own. The biggest thing is being consistent with your policies and applying the same standards to every applicant to avoid any fair housing concerns. I'd also make sure your lease clearly defines the difference between a tenant and an authorized occupant so expectations are clear from day one.

Drew Sygit · Answer

Why are you trying to keep girlfriend off the lease and what are you hoping that will accomplish?

Drew Sygit · Answer

What's the negatives of having someone sign the lease that doesn't qualify on their own?

Would you follow the same process for a husband & wife, where one of them didn't qualify on their own?

Celina Cheng · Answer

I was debating whether to approve the application based on overall household income and credit or decline the application based on the girlfriend's information if the rule is all occupants need to qualify on their own. I wasn't sure what the best option is and googled and read about Authorized Occupant online.

Richard F. · Answer

No, based on your description, she is far more likely to move before the others, and is a secondary income producer. As long as when she DOES give notice, and before you draft an add/remove addendum for all to sign, you need to be sure the remaining parties still have sufficient income to meet your total household criteria, or sufficient savings to offset.

Celina Cheng · Answer

Thanks for the advice.

Celina Cheng · Answer

Thank you Richard for your response. Would you recommend to have GF get a guarantor to sign LEASE GUARANTY AGREEMENT?

Richard F. · Answer

All adults sign. Period. Screen individually for background and Bad Habits, collectively for total household income. Assume the GF will not be there forever, so Mom & son should have income to meet your threshold.

What do you do if Mom and Son disappear, and GF is not on the rental agreement? How does your locale deal with squatters?

Also ensure, depending on local law, that tenants understand they do not each owe 1/3, but, in fact they each owe 100% if somebody doesn't pay. You want one payment, one Sec Dep, how they split it internally is up to them.

Now would be the time to develop an addendum for your rental agreement to add/remove Tenants. That way, when GF moves out, ALL three parties need to sign in agreement that she gets removed, otherwise she remains responsible. Further advise that at final move out of all, there will be one Sec Dep check made out to all authorized occupants per most recent addendum. Reverse the process to add a new GF/roomate.