I need advice on working with a tenant and their lease

[Jeff Lehman]

Hello. I have a question regarding a tenant and their lease that I would like some advice on.

Here is the background.

I bought this property just over a year ago. It is my first and only rental property, currently. I have one tenant living in the property, that came with the property, when I purchased it.

I bought this rental property from a friend who was going through a divorce and needed  to free up some cash. In all of his time of owning they have been good tenants. At the beginning of this year I signed a new one-year lease with them. The lease has only one adult listed as being the responsible party but there are three adults and several children living in the apartment. The tenant asked me today if she could end her lease and have her daughter take over for her. I have not spoken to her about this yet but I believe that she wants to move out and that her daughter wants to stay behind and continue to live in the property.

Here is my dilemma. I am 95% sure that the daughter does not have a job but I'm assuming may have some sort of government assistance income. I have come up with two possible solutions and I would like some more experienced landlords to weigh in.

The first solution is to allow the daughter to continue paying the lease with the understanding that the tenant who is currently responsible, would remain responsible until the end of the lease. My theory is that if the daughter has sufficient income and is able to pay the rent, the mom should have no issue with her name being on the lease as the responsible party until the lease ends. If she pays the last four or five months of the lease on time and everything goes smoothly,  I can sign a new lease with her at the end of the current one. The thing that makes me a little bit nervous about this scenario is that the current tenant has been struggling just a bit, the last two months to pay the rent on time. Since the daughter is living in the apartment, why does she not help to pay the rent now, so that it is not late?

My other solution is to make the daughter apply just like a new tenant would have to do. This way I can verify her income Etc. If she meets the criteria, I can then sign a new lease with her. My reservation with this solution is that I'm guessing the daughter may not meet my criteria for a new tenant. If that is the case, I will be looking for a new tenant.

Maybe you have another solution. I am open to hearing what you have to say

[Brie Schmidt]

@Jeff Lehman - The daughter should apply like any new tenant, if she does not qualify she may need the other adults living at the property to apply as well.  You set your criteria and they must meet it.