Roommate sticky situation

[Keaton M.]

One of my long term tenants moved a roommate into his unit without my permission at the beginning of June in Austin Texas in a multi unit apartment. Their idea was to split rent. I told him I needed to add her to the lease and I decided to make her on a separate month to month lease with her own rent and security deposit. My thinking was that she would be liable for any damages incurred by her as well as I could remove her if there were any issues with a 60 day notice. Her security deposit was non refundable for the first 6 months as well. I checked with the existing tenant that she intended to stay until next summer and he was ok with that. I signed a lease with her and 2 days later the existing tenant said he was breaking his lease to move back home. He is fine losing his deposit and paying the exit fee. The m-m tenant had a bad rental history and criminal record and would not have met my minimum standards if not for the existing tenant. I gave her the option (1) to move immediately at no cost, (2) stay through July and the security deposit would be refunded, or (3) stay the 60 days and lose the deposit.

As of today, she has paid no rent ( says she’s still going to pay July), will not pay a deposit unless refundable, and wants to stay for the 60 days.

(1) should I have structured adding her differently through sublease or something? I wanted her to be liable for damages and to be able to get rid of her if needed.

(2) Should I just make the deposit refundable so she leaves and not have to go through eviction. Eviction moratorium lifts on July 25th.

[Bjorn Ahlblad]

@Keaton M. you need to get her out ASAP no matter what. Just because the roommate was there that really was no reason to compromise your screening standards. Criminal and bad tenant record, even after winning the lottery she'd be trouble. Don't make any deals with her, get her out. All the best!