What to do about this tenant?

Question

I thought I've dealt with everything, but obviously not.

So, we've started this artist community and a guy applied and wanted to move in with his roommate, immediately. We got both of their applications (2nd roommate never looked at the place). 1st roommate has worst credit, 2nd roommate has absolutely perfect credit and makes about 8 times the rent in income. I verified that with his employer. Everything seems to check out.

Decided to rent to them, based on the strength of the 2nd roommate and also made it clear to both of them that we wouldn't have rented to 1st roommate and if anything goes wrong, 2nd roommate is the one having the most to lose.

1 month down. 2nd roommate never moved in. I live here, so, I know who's here and who's not. We just started and only have 2 units occupied right now. No 2nd car (impossible to take public transportation to work for 2nd roommate, due to distance). have only every seen 1st roommate.

Rent hasn't been paid for this month so far and neither one has signed up with cozy, as requested.

Sent an email to 2nd roommate this morning and asked when he was going to move in. He responded: "what makes you think that I haven't moved in?" " I haven't seen you and there's no 2nd car.".....No further response. Also sent text to 1st roommate, but no answer.  It certainly looks to me as if 2nd roommate fronted for 1st roommate. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions.

So, obviously we can't do anything until the 6th, when we'll put the 3-day notice up. But if they do pay the rent.....what would you do? Just ignore the situation? Since they're both on the lease it's not as if #2 subleased to #1. I certainly feel if they pulled one over and I'm not happy.

Ricardo R. · Answer

Michaela, just a few thoughts: Yes you can evict for things other than not paying rent, you can evict for illegal activity, you can evict for breaking lease terms, you can evict for health issues or destruction of property and offcourse for non-payment, although it may vary from state to state. However, one thing keeps bugging me with your scenario. So to my understanding you have NEVER met the 2nd roommate and have only had contact with him/her through email/phone/text, is that right? How do you know that the 2nd roommate is even a real person and not just a made up person? --- I noticed you ran a credit check (I hope you didnt just take a credit report some one just handed you) on the 2nd roommate so to some degree that person is real, but how about identity theft. Is it possible that the 2nd person doesn't even know they are on your lease (identity theft)? or that you haven't been emailing the second person at all rather emailing your first tenant to an email account they set up? --- You received their applications which is great, at this point continue with your background check on the 2nd roommate, you may have reason to believe this person does not even know they are on the lease. Visit their place of employment to re-verify employment, speak to the employer and then ask to speak to your 'tenant', if they are there and everything checks out just apologize for the inconvenience and reiterate what your concerns were. --- Take 2: If you did meet the 2nd roommate at some point, then obviously the 2nd roommate is 'real' or consenting but are they really? Did you ever verify the 2nd roommate's driver's license to ensure that the information on the application (to include the credit check) matches the person that was standing in front of you? ---- if at any point the information on the application  you received is fictitious, you have illegal activity and grounds for immediate eviction and possibly even charges. I hope I understood your situation correctly and hope this helps.

Kurt K. · Answer

@Michaela G. Are they on a M2M lease? Also, I would never approve two tenants based on only one good tenant. If its a package deal, then I would of said no. As Jd mentioned, proceed to eviction.

Wade Sikkink · Answer

If they pay the rent, there's nothing you can do.  If they don't pay, you evict them.  Those are really the only options.

As an aside, I agree with @Brad Russo.  We have learned to always ask for past landlord references and won't rent without them.

Good luck.

JD Martin · Answer

Proceed with eviction. Pretty simple. If you have the deposit and there's no damage, you've got the rent for the month. If they pay, then you've got what you bargained for, which was paying tenants.

Michaela G. · Answer

Alex R. , yes, we did meet the 'roommate' at the lease signing. I spoke to his boss at a big financial company and he filled out all the information through TransUnion/SmartMove.

I guess as long as they keep paying the rent we'll just keep going........

Vitaliy Merkulov · Answer

@Michaela G. There is one thing that you can do to keep your tenants on a leash if you can't figure out how to evict them.You can report them on RenterInc for free and there is an option that you can check off that will send a copy of your report to your tenant. Once they see that they are being reported and the future landlords will find a report about them. Landlords report that after they did this, their tenants start changing their ways and ask what they can do for you to change the report about them. Try it and see what happens.Disclaimer. I'm associated with the company.

Tony Castronovo · Answer

I had something similar once.  It was 3 possible roommates.  RM#1:  Let's consider him as the primary.  RM#2: Sister.  RM#3: Sister-In-Law (wife of sister).  RM#1 and #3 came by to see the property.  Never met RM#2.  RM#1 gave me his license and SS card...had paystubs, etc. on the spot.  RM#3 filled out the online application (used RM#1's info....but HER contact info).  I never did get RM#1's email/phone.  After the first meeting, I only ever got to speak with RM#3.  She kept insisting that she and RM#2 didn't want to complete an app until they knew RM#1 was approved.  RM#1 had good income, good credit, and clean background.  He qualified on his own.

The thing here was that I felt like they were hiding something.  I need to meet anyone who is going to live in one of my homes (I do my own property management).  The fact that I couldn't communicate directly with the primary tenant...and the fact that the other two didn't want to complete the application got me very suspicious.

I am perfectly fine if one person has the income.  And I am ok if roommates have poor credit.  But I am cautious to have a couple of prospective tenants seemingly use a friend or relative as a qualifier when I wouldn't consider renting to them otherwise.

Michaela G. · Answer

We'll address it to both of them, but since they still insist that he lives there, we can only deal with this address

What to do about this tenant?

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