One applicant qualifies on their own - let other one live there as "occupant"?

[Kimberly T.]

Curious what other landlords do in this situation. Someone applies for a unit you have for rent, and meets all your qualifications (income, credit, rental history, etc.), but wants their friend/significant other to live with them. How do you handle that extra person, typically? Just make sure they're not a felon, then list them as an "occupant" and you don't have them sign the lease? Or do you run the same credit/income checks on them even though you don't need to count their income, then only accept them if they meet all the same standards (credit score, etc.) and list them as a "tenant" and you have them sign the lease?

If the friend doesn't meet, say, your credit cut-off, would you be ok listing them as an occupant only, and they don't sign the lease?

The reason I ask is that I've been told that if they're listed as an occupant and the "tenant" (the one you approved via income, credit, etc.) wants to move out, then the occupant doesn't have any tenancy rights to the unit and must also move out.

I've heard of all of the above options from different landlords, curious what the BP community has to say!

[Marcia Maynard]

@Kimberly T.

Consider this... all people who reside in the dwelling are occupants. Some will be authorized by the rental agreement to reside there (those named in the rental agreement as your tenants and minors associated with them) and those who may be short-term guests of your tenant. Others fall into the category of unauthorized occupants. Avoid allowing unauthorized occupants to stay.

During the application process: Require all adults who intend to reside in the unit to fill out an application and do background checks to make sure they meet your minimum criteria to rent. You decide if you want your minimum income to rent to be required by each applicant or as a combined household. We choose the latter. Have a clear policy in place that states the guest policy and also have rules about unauthorized occupancy.

Upon lease signing: Require all adults who will be living in the unit to sign the rental agreement and to become jointly and severally liable. At this time we review all of the terms of the rental agreement and emphasize the rules about guests and unauthorized occupants. We charge a $50 fee to the tenant for every unauthorized occupant. We also let our new tenant know that if they wish to change the make up of the household in the future, by removing or adding a person to the household, they need to contact us before doing such, so we can make adjustments to the rental agreement. We let them know we have a process in place for such an event. We do not allow people to move-in without prior written approval. If the change affects the amount of household income required to continue to rent the unit, we have the option to terminate the rental agreement or ask for an additional security deposit to cover our risk.

After tenancy has commenced: If someone moves in later without prior written approval or a guest overstays, they become an unauthorized occupant. They could become your tenant by default if you take no action, so check the landlord-tenant laws for your jurisdiction. If you want them to stay, make them an authorized tenant by requiring them to go through the application and qualification process. If you want them to go, hold your tenant accountable to make sure their invitee leaves the premises. If they don't do so, then it is best to clear out the whole unit (all authorized and unauthorized occupants) with a formal legal eviction process. Even if we convert an unauthorized occupant into an authorized tenant, we still charge the $50 unauthorized occupant fee to the initial tenant for violating our rental agreement.

Hope this helps!