Tenant's Guest Won't Leave

[Chad Cassaday]

Hi all,

One of my current tenants called me yesterday, and mentioned that they let a friend from out of the area crash on the couch while he looked for job interviews in the area. As of today, he has been there for 3 weeks, and according to my tenant, refuses to leave. My tenant says he has people over often, don't contribute monetarily, and says when she asks him to leave, he becomes angry and "unstable". She called the cops, but they said that "the homeowner (me) would need to deal with it". This guy is not on the lease, and I did not give permission for him to stay.

This becomes even more complicated in that the renter who called me, says that the other tenants are fine with him being there. But she is uncomfortable, and wants him gone.

I haven't gone over there to speak with him yet because, frankly, I don't even know where to begin.

Does anyone have an insight on what I should do? The house is located in Virginia.

[Jon Holdman]

OK, so a bit of legality, first, because that may be an issue if you take this to court. Is this property zoned to allow these four friends to live there? Many areas around here would not allow this.

Are all four of them on one lease? If so, all are violating the lease by having the extra person. From your perspective, that's all that matters. You would send a notice to all four people on the lease stating they have some period of time to cure the violation (i.e., kick this person out) or to quit (i.e., all of them move out.) If they don't, though, the next step is to start an eviction. You should consult with your attorney about the specific documents you need to use and the timelines in your state. If you don't have a landlord/tenant attorney now would be a good time to get one.

If you have four separate leases then, I guess, you would give notice to the one who let this person in.

Police do not normally get involved in tenancy issues. They don't really know who's supposed to be there and who's not. OTOH, you have no relationship with this person. Your relationship is with the people on the lease.