Evicting/Removing Third Party "Squatters"

[Mark Douglas]

Upon the purchase of a rental, I inherited a tenant.  The lease agreement only has this person's name on it.  I had this person sign a new lease with me.  The person on the lease has two or three people living in the unit at any given time.  I didn't necessarily have a problem with it, the tenant was paying rent, and there didn't seem to be any issue with the other people staying there.  

Now it seems that my tenant is having some pretty substantial personal problems with these people, but for whatever reason, continues to let them stay. 

Is there any recourse that I have, against these other people?  They aren't on the lease, but they are certainly "dwelling" there.  I don't want to evict my original tenant since there aren't any problems there, but these other people are giving my tenant major problems, which in turn are giving me problems.  

[Account Closed]

Originally posted by @Mark Douglas:

Upon the purchase of a rental, I inherited a tenant.  The lease agreement only has this person's name on it.  I had this person sign a new lease with me.  The person on the lease has two or three people living in the unit at any given time.  I didn't necessarily have a problem with it, the tenant was paying rent, and there didn't seem to be any issue with the other people staying there.  

Now it seems that my tenant is having some pretty substantial personal problems with these people, but for whatever reason, continues to let them stay. 

Is there any recourse that I have, against these other people?  They aren't on the lease, but they are certainly "dwelling" there.  I don't want to evict my original tenant since there aren't any problems there, but these other people are giving my tenant major problems, which in turn are giving me problems.  

 If you are having problems related to this tenant's tenancy, then you are having problems with this tenant.  In other words, you can't separate out your tenant from their pals who are living there causing the problems.  They are one and the same, as far as this tenancy.

So, what you have to do is give your tenant a cure or quit.  Notify them that anyone not on the lease must vacate or everyone will be evicted, including the tenant named on the lease.

Your best bet is to get rid of this tenant asap.  You should not be getting enmeshed in your tenant's personal problems.  What you have is a tenant who is handing problems to you.  Therefore, this is a problem tenant.  And you need to get rid of this tenant, because after they get rid of these pals, if they are even capable of doing that, they will replace them with other problem friends.  Because people who are into drama, will always have it in their lives, and will try to suck you into it, too.

This is what the saying "misery loves company" means.  They need participants in their drama.  And this tenant has already succeeded in sucking you in, by convincing you that the problems you are encountering are not their fault.  Um, yes they are.  If they didn't have crazy friends that they allowed to create drama in their home, there wouldn't be any drama.

Don't buy into the victim thing.  They aren't victims.  They are willing participants - or they'd kick them out, and never involve you in it.