3 adults living in house, only 2 willing to sign lease renewal

[Marci Stein]

Lovely couple and her sister living in House . great tenants .
sister says she might move back to Florida one day and refuses to sign the lease renwal along with the others. 
not sure how to proceed.
I don’t see any negative impact of leaving her off the lease, but wondering if there’s something I don’t know.? she did sign it for the first year. Ttia!

[John Clark]

Quote from @Marci Stein:

Lovely couple and her sister living in House . great tenants .
sister says she might move back to Florida one day and refuses to sign the lease renwal along with the others. 
not sure how to proceed.
I don’t see any negative impact of leaving her off the lease, but wondering if there’s something I don’t know.? she did sign it for the first year. Ttia!

Evict all three. Check lease, but it should say that all adults have to sign lease. Also makes allocation of apartment damage easier. There is a negative effect.


when all three are faced with eviction, she’ll sign.

[Marci Stein]

John , please let me know the consequences of her not signing. These are country people in their 70s. I would not want to evict them if i don’t have to. 

[V.G Jason]

Quote from @Marci Stein:

John , please let me know the consequences of her not signing. These are country people in their 70s. I would not want to evict them if i don’t have to. 

 Ask an attorney that or find out the hard way.

Ask them to leave if she cannot sign. You're not kicking them out, you're giving them an option. They can stay, she just needs to sign.

[Marci Stein]

I am aware she can stay if she signs the lease. If you don’t know the consequences of her staying without signing , 

that’s fine . Just say so - but don’t refer me to a lawyer for $500 an hour.

[JD Martin]

If the other two can qualify financially without her, that's easy - just make her an authorized resident but not financially responsible. If they can't qualify without her, then you should probably give them walking papers.

[Marci Stein]

They do not depend on her financially. 
how do I make her an authorize Tenant? I appreciate your help thank you.

[Kristine Ann]

Can you do a month-to-month with them?  Or allow them to break the lease with 30 days notice and then rewrite a new lease after she moves out?

I never understood the idea of locking people into a whole year. Especially if they are established tenants. I don’t need more than 30 days notice to move out.

[Nathan Gesner]

All adults are named on the lease and sign the lease, agreeing to the terms and conditions. Let her know she can sign it now and then be removed when she moves out. 

They either play ball or they move out. It doesn't matter if they are elderly country folk or not. The policy exists for a reason.

[Matt B.]

Quote from @Marci Stein:

John , please let me know the consequences of her not signing. These are country people in their 70s. I would not want to evict them if i don’t have to. 

 Hi @Marci Stein. There are generally some negative consequences with all adults not being named on the lease as a responsible party. It's been a while since I had rentals in NY but some of those consequences (some may not apply in NY) include the following:

1. Unnamed person may not be held legally or financially liable for damages and/or unpaid rent in landlord/tenant court. You may have to pursue criminal charges and civil charges in both criminal court and civil court (different courts in NY) to go after unnamed tenants. Police reports will also be required, and someone is potentially going to jail.  

2. Evictions can be more difficult as this person is not recognized on the lease explicitly. You may be able to evict the named persons on the lease, but you'll potentially have to file a separate case for the unnamed adult. Similar to evicting a squatter as this person may not qualify as a holdover tenant under NY law (lawyer question here).  

3. Any damages awarded will be easier to collect spread over 3 parties instead of 2. For example, Judge awards $9K in damages to you, $9K for 2 ppl is $4,500 each, $9K for 3 ppl is $3K each. easier to collect $3K than $4,500. The additional person also increases the chances they have funds in a bank account that can be seized, as well as other assets that can be seized (verify bank vacuuming is allowed in NY). 

Using basic risk vs reward metrics, you're increasing your risk by allowing an adult to be in the property and not a responsible party to the lease, but you get no additional reward. There is a multitude of reasons, some of which are above, that naming all adults on the lease have become a standard practice, and most board of realtors leases have this in their standard leases. 

I wish you the best of luck in your decision! 
  

Matt 

[Rick Albert]

You are in a tenant friendly state, having her off the lease is a very bad idea.

What if the updated lease either made her or everyone on month-to-month? It's a win-win. You get updated price and terms, that tenant has a way out.

The reality is evictions are expensive and time consuming. Often times it is better just to part ways. 

[Kristine Ann]

Quote from @Marci Stein:

....These are country people in their 70s. I would not want to evict them if i don’t have to. 

I really don't see the hardline advice you're getting of "if they don't sign, evict them" benefiting anyone in this situation.  They are good tenants and you should continue treating them with the respect and consideration of nice neighbor. The culture in some of these communities in rural NY need to be respected and I think you are doing a good job trying to do that.

I'm not sure where in "upstate ny" this is (I hate that tag. It's way too general) but you are right to give them wiggle room and work with their situation.  There is Westchester County "upstate" and there is Saranac Lake or Tug Hill "upstate" and they might as well be different countries they are so different.    If  you end up approaching this with an antagonistic attitude like many are suggesting, it's not going to fly well and you'll damage your relationship.  

[Will Crowley]

Convert the lease to month to month. Not being on a lease helps her case in court not yours

[Marci Stein]

Thank you everyone for your beautiful, helpful advice .
feeling more confident,  I discussed this with her and she agreed to sign the lease. Will remove her name if and when she moves out.😊

[Gustavo Delgado]

not to worry, can the other two comfortably cover the lease amount? maybe re-verify the couples income to make sure it meets your rental income criteria. If not, the notify the couple that their income alone does not meet your criteria. But if you feel you know the tenants well enough and the couple are good tenants I would not sweat the sister not being on the lease

[Theresa Harris]

First, you can't evict someone for not signing a lease renewal.  If they don't want to sign, then they just leave when the lease is up.

If the other two qualify on their own, then let them sign and ask her to sign stating that she is a long term guest of the couple and if they leave, she must leave as well.

[JD Martin]

Quote from @Marci Stein:

They do not depend on her financially. 
how do I make her an authorize Tenant? I appreciate your help thank you.

 I know you've already solved the issue but going forward you simply list the other adult as an "authorized guest" of one of the individuals financially responsible for the lease. Your lease should describe guest rights, which should generally be none other than what's allowed in your lease and at the mercy of the person financially responsible. We do this occasionally when a single woman wants to move her boyfriend/girlfriend in, but maintain sole financial responsibility. We still run the credit/background check on the individual but then make them an authorized guest of the person on the lease so that if/when things go south and it becomes a domestic issue the woman isn't put out of her own residence by the boyfriend. However, you should be familiar with your own state's residency laws because this may not work everywhere.