BP Landlord forms "guests" definition

[Erin Zenger]

We just got the BP landlord forms and I was looking through the lease and noticed that the "Use of Premises" section has a very specific, (yet vague) amount of time for people to be in the house as guests before they need to be on the lease. 

In the NY forms it says, "Tenant may permit guests to stay with Tenant in the Premises for up to ten (10) days. Any guest staying with Tenant for longer than ten (10) dats shall be considered an occupant of the Premises." 

I didn't quite know how to take that. Would that be 10 days consecutively, monthly, annually? 

Any insight is appreciated.

Thanks!

[John Underwood]

@Erin Zenger Ultimately its your house and your rules as long as you don't violate any laws. So you can change that 10 days as you see fit. I might make it say 10 days in a 30 day period to keep someone from staying 9 days and then coming back after 24 hours to reset the clock. Or you could make it say 5 days with out written permission.

Make it how you want it to be.

You could also add that if someone is found to be living in the house that is not on the lease they will be billed an extra $100 per month.

Many of us tweak our leases after we have learned something the hard way.