Tenant Wants to Bring in Girlfriend
So I have a tenant, the tenant has been living here for more then ten years. About a week ago, the tenant informed us that they were going to bring in a girlfriend. Legally she is allowed to bring in the girlfriend. The tenant is paying way under market value for the apartment. I approached…
So I have a tenant, the tenant has been living here for more then ten years. About a week ago, the tenant informed us that they were going to bring in a girlfriend. Legally she is allowed to bring in the girlfriend. The tenant is paying way under market value for the apartment. I approached the tenant about including the girlfriend on the lease. The tenant is not willing to include the girlfriend on the lease. Personally as the landlord, I do not believe it is fair. That another person is allowed to move into the apartment without any rent increase. There will be an increase in cost to me. How do u folks feel about it.
Please everybody, go back and READ the original post to understand what the question is. Tenant is bringing in girlfriend and doesnt want her on the lease. Tenant wants to protect herself in case relationship goes sour. They are not getting married, just living together.
Landlord should keep lease in original tenants name be cause she is the one responsible for the apartment. New girlfirend may or may not last, dont start contractualizing the situation.
Landlord could raise rent at lease renewal citing additional wear and tear on the apartment,along with additional water consumption. (I presume the wont be flushing together even if they showering together, and I bet those showers will be longer!)
In NY City as opposed to most other places, in a rent controlled(a much smaller portion of rent limited housing) and rent stabilization, the remainder when the lease term ends belongs to the tenant or any legally permitted successor or assigns. Out side NY City and a few other places(I think Yonkers, DC and San Fransisco), the remainder belongs to the landlord. So in general no other places experience is any way like NY City’s.
Putting the roommate on the lease makes them a legal tenant with these successors rights, if any.
I have tenants below market rates. A good tenant with no turnover is worth some consideration. When an apartment comes vacant it always takes at least a little time to rent it and you never know what the new tenant will be like.
rent limitations are a vestige of the WWII housing shortage in NYC. I had expected that the courts would eventually over turn them but in a case about 10 years ago, the US Supreme Court endorsed the SF limitations and by implication NY’s too.
If the apartment in question is RS or RC, you should probably divest yourself of the concept of “fair,” and familiarize yourself with the concept of “legal.” If the apartment is question is not RS or RC, charge them what you think is “fair” and find out if re-defining your relations with a long-term tenant is worth it.
For the poster who thinks a “way under market” rent is not RS/RC because “every landlord thinks their apartment is below market”, wake up! LL’s charge approximately market rent for non-RS/RC apartments. It’s called sensible business practice.
This LL has his hands tied.
I agree, you sound like a jerk.
How much do you really think it is going to cost you if another person moves in. Maybe an extra shower every day??? tennant pays electric, so that isnt it. tennant pays gas and cable so that isnt it…..
what is gonna cost you??
Everyone assumes the “Tenant” is splitting the rent or just having her “Girlfriend” move in, which would be acceptable to me. There is the possiblity she’s bringing in a roommate and charging her Market Value Rent for what she currently gets subsidized by us the Taxpayers as RC and RS properties don’t pay the same property taxes.
If it was so obvious…why didn’t the landlord state it was rent stabilized? How about the fact that maybe every landlord thinks their apartment is “below” market rate? Have you heard a landlord say…I charge EXACTLY what I should be getting?…and not a penny more or less! Control-freak landlords need a life outside of landlord-om. I had a below market rate apartment, for 9 years. I had a roomate for 10 mths and I told my landlord. Life went on for those 10 months and life went on after. Everyone isn’t on the same BS and it’s really not that crucial.
Well, some of the LL-hating pro-regulation freaks are wasting time and space here.
Look, first of all, the apartment is obviously RS or RC. That’s why it’s way below market and that’s why the tenant has been there ten years.
And that’s why the LL would like the new occupant on the lease. It would mean the equivalent of a vacancy increase.
But unfortunately the rent system allows a tenant to bring in a “roommate” freely.
The LL is stuck with this free-loading tenant, now two of them, for at least another ten years.
Just another greedy ass landlord on a power trip to control peoples lives. The thought of his tenant getting free,ready nookie for is driving him out of his little mind.
As long as the rent is paid in full on time what does it matter how many are in the apartment? Grant it there could be a dispute during a breakup,but if they were married that could still happen. And why does she need to be on the lease? Maybe primary tenant is a commitmentaphobe.
Go find something useful to worry about like rents that are too high!!!