New husband not on lease moves into the apartment

[Mike G.]

About 6 months ago we purchased a small apartment building. Most of the tenants are great, and we have very few issues. However, there is one tenant we inherited who accounts for 80% of our maintenance calls, most of which we suspect are caused but her two young children. The tenant and her 2 young kids live in a one bedroom apartment and the 3 of them all appear on the lease, which is currently month-to-month with 30 days written notice by either party (landlord or tenant).

We recently learned that the tenant's husband has moved into the apartment and he is not noted on the lease or any other documents. The tenant did not provide any notice that her husband had moved in and all leases state that anyone who is not on the lease is not permitted to stay in the apartment for more than 15 days.

We are sympathetic to fact that this is a family and so we asked the husband to go through the application process. He did complete the application and indicated he had been convicted of a felony, but until we see the background checks, we don't know any further details. Ultimately, we would not agree to have 4 people living in a one bedroom apartment, and we do have stated application requirements for new tenants. Depending on the conviction, we would also possibly decline the application.

So the question is how do we proceed with this tenant? Do we run the application and then send notice that the husband doesn't meet our criteria or do we add him to the lease but raise the rent considerably and hope they move out on their own? Or perhaps there are other options we are not considering? Thanks in advance.

[Robert Lindflott]

You might check if there is a municipal occupancy code in effect. Many municipalities have restrictions on the number of occupants permitted per bedroom, sometimes varying depending on the size of the bedroom(s). If the property is already maxed out, then Hubby can't move in legally. If they are already problem tenants, then adding a convicted felon into the mix doesn't sound too promising to me. If they are month-to-month tenants, I would probably give them their 30 days notice along with an offer of recommendation (or maybe 60 days notice, just to be generous) and be rid of them.