Adding a Tenant with a DUI on Record

[Armand Soto]

My wife and I purchased a 2 flat a year and a half ago and we currently live in one unit while renting the other out.  I have a great tenant that has never been late on rent in the 1.5 years that she has been my tenant (I inherited her when I purchased) and has never caused any problems.  Her lease is up at the end of May and recently she asked about having her boyfriend move in with an anticipation of re-signing for an additional 12 months.  I let her know that I would like to go through the background check process on him (I used Smartmove) prior to him moving in and they agreed.  After pulling the report, I found that there was a DUI around 5 years ago.  The Smartmove report came back with an Accept recommendation but I don't know how much weight to put behind it.  My tenant has been exceptional and I would hate to lose her but adding her boyfriend to the lease is a bit unsettling to me.

Questions:

1. How have you treated DUI in terms of accepting/denying a prospective tenant?

2. Should I let the lease expire, let them live on a month to month as a trial period and if problems with him arise, look for a new tenant?

Thanks!