Tenant changed locks on roommate . Any legal issues for owner?

Question

Hello BP family, here's the situation:

I have a tenant renting a single family property and a roomate who is not on the lease. Subletting is allowed by the tenants lease, but tenant never went through property steps with landlord to bring in a roommate (application, approval, etc).

The tenant claimed he lost the keys to his the property, got a locksmith to change locks and provided owner with a set of keys.  The issue? The true reason for the lock change was to lockout the roomate. Apparently the tenant recently had some issues with the roomate, including multiple month of non-payment of rent, so the tenant decided to "lockout" the roomate by putting the roomates items on the porch and not providing the roomate with a new set of keys.

My understanding is that the roomate never signed a sublet lease with the tenant or a normal lease with the owner. My question is - could this lockout cause issues for the owner in anyway?

Joe P. · Answer

How long has this been going on? Did you know about the roommate?

While I'm not a lawyer, and I know that's the focus of your questions, but I have other concerns about this situation:

• How long it's been going on? And did you know about it?
• The tenant lied to you about the locks change - he/she should not be initiating this because there is a probably an alteration clause in your lease.
• He/she did not follow the appropriate steps to sublet, again, lying/misleading you.
• What is the situation between these two? In most states you cannot place someone's belongings on the porch even if they aren't on the lease. My very limited knowledge comes from TV - I've seen cases on LivePD where someone was living in a residence -- "making a home" and someone tried to kick them out. Even though they weren't officially on the lease, in that particular state/county, they couldn't be shut out. If this is Philadelphia, I would imagine that similar rules apply.

There may not be any apparent legal issues, other than the need to evict your non-compliant tenant for creating a seemingly large issue. But as always, you should consult an eviction lawyer and pay them for the 15-30 minute phone call this might be if the legality question even enters your mind. Most will give a free consultation.

If I'm a judge and I hear this case, I'm starting to point the finger at the landlord for not being aware, or being aware and not doing anything about it.

Marie Kyle · Answer

@Chris K. - Normally, that's how we handle things with our residential properties - disputes between tenants/subtenants must be handled amongst themselves unless leased property is damaged, or there is a non-payment issue. I think we have a clause in the lease about indemnification against loss...but not by subtenant - so  we'll def. get something signed by the tenant. Thanks for the advise!

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@Joe Papp - tenant now reveals the issue has been going on for 3-4 months. the tenant had subtenants (roommates) in the past that we knew about, but to our knowledge those subtenants moved out months ago with no issues. we have several properties where tenants have frequent overnight guests - and we had made the assumption that this person (the roommate who was locked out) was simply a frequent guest, not an actual subtenant....if that makes any sense.

As far as changed locks - you're correct it's an alteration of the lease and we can probably end the tenants lease based on the breach but that's a separate issue from the unleased subtenant.

You make some valid points. I have an appointment with an eviction lawyer tomorrow....it was just such a bizarre situation, wanted to hear perspective of others who may have gone through something similar.

Thanks so much to taking the time to post a reply! Appreciate it!

Chris K. · Answer

@Marie Kyle

Can't say I dealt with this exact situation before. In a commercial setting, the tenants and the subtenants handle their disputes separately from the owner. I would think that would be the case here as well. But then, I've seen odd things happen.

If the underlying lease does not allow sublets with landlord approval, I would probably get the tenant to sign something to the effect that the tenant must indemnify the landlord from any kind of loss caused by this subtenant. But a lot of that involves a business decision more so than a legal decision.

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information.