Tennant wants to have friend move in for longer than 30 days

[Powell DiGangi]

Dear BP

I have a tenant is the only tenant tenant on her lease asking if a friend of hers can move in to the unit temporarily for more than 30 days.  The lease says that she must gain owners permission if the guest is to stay for longer than 30 days.  For a few reasons, we want to deny this request, but wanted to know how binding our denial would be.  What if the tenant ignores our denial and moves the friend in anyway?  Basically, Id like to know how much teeth does our lease have in light of larger oakland CA tenant law.

Any help would be much appreciated

thanks

[Kevin Sobilo]

@Powell DiGangi, why deny the request? You have a VERY GOOD tenant who is trying to follow the lease and ask permission. That is EXACTLY the kind of tenant I would want to provide flexibility to because that is the kind of tenant I want to keep.

I would probably require a background check and then add this person onto the lease as an occupant rather than a tenant. In this way, they have rights to stay at the unit but are not a tenant. When the lease ends and a new lease is signed this person can be removed if they have moved out by then.

The reasons I might deny a request like this include a failed background check or if the unit is already at maximum occupancy.

If the landlord is paying any utilities that are based on usage such as water, then I might discuss a rent bump to compensate for the anticipated increase in usage and address that with the lease update adding the person as an occupant.