First Purchase Inheriting Tenant

[David S.]

Hi everyone, I just purchased my first property in Westerly, Rhode Island. It is a 2 family and I moved into the second floor. I inherited the tenants on the first floor who were on a month to month lease.

The tenant seemed nice during the home inspection and the seller said she was good so I felt okay with it.

I originally planned to have the tenant sign on to a month to month lease. Previously there was just one tenant on the lease plus her children. She is a young mother with a newborn baby and a toddler.

I wasn’t aware until purchasing the house that the boyfriend also lives there and now he wants to sign on the lease too. He also has a child who is 16-17yrs old who plans to live there too.

My concern is that the first floor is a 2 bedroom unit and that is a total of 5 people. 2 adults, 1 teenager, 1 new born and 1 toddler. This is more people than I would prefer but I would rather not attempt to evict them as I imagine it would be rather difficult with her being a new mother and coronavirus going on. Are there legal limits to the amount of bedrooms needed for each tenant?

Another concern I have is, I do not have a lead certificate of conformance for the property. It was built in 76’. I do not think there are any lead issues with first floor unit as it was recently renovated, however the 2nd floor I am living in looks like it may have lead issues with the windows so I am not sure if I can get a certificate of conformance. Is it possible to get one for just the first floor?

In my research it seems as if I do not need the certificate on conformance since it is a 2 family and I the owner am living in one of the units. However, I am not certain of this and I’m also unsure if having a tenant with a newborn changes this.

If anyone has any information or advice on what I should do about having 5 people living in a 2br or can confirm if I do or don’t need a lead conformance certificate it would be greatly appreciated.

Any other general advice for a first time landlord would be appreciated also.