More tenants in my house than on the lease

More tenants in my house than on the lease

Investor · Parma, OH · Member since 2016 · 101 posts · 46 votes

Hey guys,

I have a house that I'm land-lording from afar (about a 5 hour drive).  It is a large house, near a college with flexible accommodations for up to 5.  My pricing structure is that I charge more for rent for each extra person in the house but they also save money per person with each person in the house.  I charge 900/month for 3 people, 1000/month for 4, and 1150/month for 5.  

Unfortunately, this is a small town with no real options for property management (although I'm looking into grooming someone to do a partial management situation).  The house is a good performing financially and my ultimate goals are to keep the money flowing and not have my property destroyed by college kids.  

There are currently 4 people on the lease resulting in a total of $1,000/month.  However, when the money is deposited directly into my bank, it has been with separate deposits of $200 or $400 dollars so I'm pretty sure there is an extra person who is living there.  

How would you guys handle this situation? On the one hand, the rent has been coming in, I don't want to jeopardize that, and I am too far away to realistically "swing by" or something to check.  On the other hand, there is more wear and tear on the house with an extra person, I'm missing out on potential money revenue, and I'm not sure what additional liability this places on me? 

Thanks, 

Nick

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  • Real Estate Marketing Professional · Columbus, OH · Member since 2015 · 299 posts · 125 votes
    10y

    Hi, @Nick Ferguson. Which college town is it? I guessed 5 hours from you might be OU in Athens? 

    We don't manage property at OSU here in Columbus but we've seen situations where there's likely another person living in the units we manage. My thoughts on how you address it is that you ask them if that's what's going on, and then just turn it back on them -- technically that's a lease breach and you can evict them, but if you don't want to go there yet, you can just explain to them that they're going to be liable for whatever damage that 5th person causes, and do they really want to be responsible for that? That can be bad for their future financial situations -- evictions on their histories, civil lawsuits for collections, etc. And is $30 each per month really that much more? I know it's college, but still. Good luck!

  • Reno, NV · Member since 2016 · 328 posts · 97 votes
    10y

    Does each tenant have a lease? You could nominate or ask for a tenant-volunteer to collect the rent and make one deposit.  Give that volunteer a rent reduction for being the "head man" and keeping things in order.

  • Investor · Parma, OH · Member since 2016 · 101 posts · 46 votes
    10y

    @Kim Younkin ... Thank you for the advice.  I think that that's a good way to explain it to them.  Hopefully they'll be honest and up front about it in the beginning.  It's actually in Portsmouth, Ohio which has Shawnee State.  Not a big school but definitely has a market for college kids and much cheaper to purchase than in Athens. 

  • Real Estate Marketing Professional · Columbus, OH · Member since 2015 · 299 posts · 125 votes
    10y

    I hope they will, too, @Nick Ferguson. Hope your investment continues to be successful. :)

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