All Forum Posts by: Julie Clark

Thank you I appreciate that info on number of people. At this time remodels are not in the cards but i have looked at possibilities for the future.

Hello,

I am looking to determine thoughts, knowledge, etc. on how much space is reasonable to the number of tenants occupying a rental property. Firstly if someone is aware of a law specific to Georgia about this topic please let me know and also please provide any links to government sites that you know of I am happy to read up on the matter. 
The background is this. I have a guest house that my sister is currently occupying but will be moving out in the next few months. I would like to rent this out and have someone who may be interested. The issue I face is the guest house is fairly small but fine for a single individual. This interested party is a single mom with a toddler. I want to address space/safety concerns before beginning any kind of screening process. 
The guest house is set up as a studio apartment. The square footage is about 250sq/ft. There is also an attached storage closet that is about 140sq/ft. The guest house is set up with a kitchen, bathroom, and then a large living room area that would double as a bedroom. There is a large closet off the living room that I would imagine some would look at to be a very small bedroom however, this room does not have any windows so I do not believe it can be used as a bedroom. 

The main question here is this. Would renting this space to a single mother and her toddler pose any safety / space issues legally? If there is no legal problem and she tours the space and finds it adequate then I would be happy to rent but I want to do my due diligence in determining if this space is acceptable to rent to more than just a single individual. If everything is fine on the legal / rental side of things I would stipulate in the lease that the large living room closet would not be allowed to be used as a bedroom and would need to be utilized in some other capacity i.e walk in closet.

I understand no one can give legal advice on this site but guidance or websites to look over would be a huge help! Thank you in advance.

I will state upfront I already know what most people will say which is why I am posting here to get advice from more experienced landlords.

I have a single property that I am renting out.
The very short back story is I successfully evicted my first tenant. However, this took time and while doing so I was paying the bills for the property, then needed to clean and re-list, etc. All of which took time and money. I do not need to go over all of the eviction details but the first tenant was basically ghosting and I will never see another dime from him so before saying go after him for money that is not an immediate option.

I then finally had a renter who passed the backgroud, credit, and application process and wanted to move in. She scheduled a date to do the paperwork / money for the keys. The date came and went and she essentially ghosted. I am sure I was too nice and gave the benefit of the doubt that maybe something happened. I finally hear from her and she states she cannot move forward and was sorry. Frustrating, but I continued my search for a tenant. 

Currently, I am still looking and have not had many bites this time around. I had one person make an inquiry and was interested but has not done any part of the process so not someone I can consider a potential tenant yet. Today, the woman who ghosted called again and said she worked everything out and wanted to know if she could move forward again.
(This all occured, up to today, over about a week's time)

I found some good advice on here about giving 24 hours to get the security deposit to you which I will be utilizing going forward.

The bottom line for this post is I need advice on what to do because I do not want to keep having issues with this woman if she does follow through and get all the requirements done in order to move in. But, I also really need a new tenant in there because of all the expenses that came with the eviction before.

I appreciate your help and insight on the matter.

@Nathan Gesner In your answer above. I am wondering based on your verbiage that the deposit stays in place and anything owed to them is to be worked out between them and the remaining tenants. When the remaining tenants do move out who do you return any remaining security deposit to?
I have this currently in an addendum to a lease where one person moved out and the other stayed. The person who moved out is the person who actually sent the deposit at the beginning. They are now asking about it and how it will be handled. 
What would your repsonse be in this situation having that verbiage in the addendum?

Angie Russell if the tenant had pursued adding her to the lease vs lying when directly asked and having the sister lie as well then agreed. I have only been flexible with this tenant thus far and have amended different pieces of the lease so he is aware. There are other violations that are smaller with this tenant that have also been discovered. 

the bottom line is I'm not asking if you think he should stay or go. I'm gathering information so if the end result has to be eviction then I can do this with as much information as I can.

Also to the second poster when the rent is due has nothing to do with this tenant violating the lease.

truthfully thought I'd receive some actual info here like I've seen on other posts. 

First I don't have it backwards I did not once say I'm evicting the sister. I will be evicting the tenant, male, if needed.

Second my lease does have provisions about guests which I reminded him of. 

Please don't assume things when I am just looking for further advice.

Hello,

Looking for help for my current situation. 

I have a single tenant, male, who has already needed the lease changed due to his girlfriend leaving. I was hesitant to allow him to stay but based on my lease terms he had not violated the lease so I wrote an addendum for him to stay.

The original lease and well as the addendum (both signed by him) states that only the listed occupants can reside in the house and anyone residing in the house not listed will need to vacate the premises / if they do not there will be cause for eviction.

As his girlfriend was leaving she let me know that he was letting his sister move in. I took this with a grain of salt as they ended on bad terms but noted it. 

Due to all of the changes with the addendum I informed the current tenant that I will be doing a walkthrough today 10/25. I sent this information to him Monday morning 10/23 via text as well as via email. I received no response from either contact. I last heard from him on 10/13 which was him asking if i received the signed copy of the addendum from him.

My sister lives near by and has let me know she has not seen him lately but does continue to see and woman and her child at the property. Per the addendum there should only be the sole tenant who is a male residing at the property. 

I did reach out to the local magistrate to find out what to do at this point and she said if my lease states no one else can live there then I do have the right to begin the eviction process. 

My questions are this:

1) I will be letting the sister know today that she has 24 hours to vacate the premises. But, if she does vacate I cannot then begin the eviction process unless the actual tenant also stops paying rent? (The next rent is due 11/15). 

2) If the actual tenant does not pay rent am I able to keep the security deposit to cover a month of rent to allow me to look for a new tenant (yes it is written in the lease for an early termination fee)

3) If she does not vacate the premises in the 24 hours provided do I call the police to ask them to notify her to leave as she is now trespassing?  Or do I then begin the eviction process?

4) The actual tenant has not responded to me since 10/13 and I do not have any forwarding address information. If I do begin the ecivtion process how do I go about that with out any information for him? ( I do have a copy of his license from his application but do not know if that is where he would have returned to).