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My mom's condo is empty now that a tenant broke the lease early, and she is trying to get it filled, and this is the scenario we are dealing with:
A man with his gf, and his roommate, and they are looking for a two bedroom. He tells my mom that only him and his roommate will be on the lease and fill out an application, but his gf will live there with them. And that "maybe later" they will add her to the lease.
I tell my mom that sounds shady, that either this gf has bad credit, bad rental history, or a criminal record. Either way, it doesn't fly and I told my mom to tell him "No rental application for 3 people, no apartment."
Seriously, am I over-reacting? Overly paranoid? I'm not an expert but that's all I can think of as to why not have one person fill out an application.
Oh and just to add, she already told him okay (but then confesses to me she doesn't feel okay with it) but I told her she has to tell him she changed her mind and everyone must be on the lease. I told her in the future if she doesn't feel okay she can tell a person "I need to think about it" if she doesn't want to answer them right then and there then can let them know the answer is no over the phone. BTW they have not turned in anything yet so we have taken no money from them for credit checks.
Last edited by beera; 09-23-2013 at 10:43 PM..
Reason: Add info
There is something about the girlfriend that will get the whole group rejected. That's why they don't want her to put in an application.
Everyone who lives there needs to be on the lease and should be properly screened. If for no other reason than you want everyone to be bound by the rules that are written in the lease.
Over reacting? Heck no. I'm with you. Either everyone over the age of 18 fills out app and gets a credit/background check or none of them rent the unit.
Tell your mom to stand strong, dont' fall for the "Ok, gf won't be living there, it's just us two" Yeah, right.::::eyeroll::::
Also make sure that your lease clearly stipulates that all occupants must be signatories to the lease ...
With prospective tenants like this you also need to watch out that if only the two end up signing the lease, the girlfriend doesn't slip in as an alleged "visitor" who actually lives there. They all should probably find somewhere else to live. These "couple plus one roommate" combinations don't usually work out too well.
My mom's condo is empty now that a tenant broke the lease early, and she is trying to get it filled, and this is the scenario we are dealing with:
A man with his gf, and his roommate, and they are looking for a two bedroom. He tells my mom that only him and his roommate will be on the lease and fill out an application, but his gf will live there with them. And that "maybe later" they will add her to the lease.
I tell my mom that sounds shady, that either this gf has bad credit, bad rental history, or a criminal record. Either way, it doesn't fly and I told my mom to tell him "No rental application for 3 people, no apartment."
Seriously, am I over-reacting? Overly paranoid? I'm not an expert but that's all I can think of as to why not have one person fill out an application.
Oh and just to add, she already told him okay (but then confesses to me she doesn't feel okay with it) but I told her she has to tell him she changed her mind and everyone must be on the lease. I told her in the future if she doesn't feel okay she can tell a person "I need to think about it" if she doesn't want to answer them right then and there then can let them know the answer is no over the phone. BTW they have not turned in anything yet so we have taken no money from them for credit checks.
Huge red flag and shady indeed. If she lives there she can become a squatter...so never do this without every adult on the lease and passing a background check.
Even just assuming they are young and not really trying to "get you" on this, its a bad idea. In their head they just probably think that if they girlfriend is not on the lease, the boyfriend can just tell her to get out when they break up. It doesn't work that way, if she stays there for any length of time past 30 days and gets mail there, that makes her a resident in most areas, there would then have to be a formal eviction process by the landlord to get her out, and I can only imagine the amount of damage, broken mirrors and such during fights with the ex.
Even just assuming they are young and not really trying to "get you" on this, its a bad idea. In their head they just probably think that if they girlfriend is not on the lease, the boyfriend can just tell her to get out when they break up. It doesn't work that way, if she stays there for any length of time past 30 days and gets mail there, that makes her a resident in most areas, there would then have to be a formal eviction process by the landlord to get her out, and I can only imagine the amount of damage, broken mirrors and such during fights with the ex.
I agree with this...I'm also assuming that they're young, early 20s-ish? This situation just sounds like a problem waiting to happen.
The girlfriend needs to be added, at the very minimum -- and credit/background checks done to all. But even if those all come back fine, your Mom should think carefully about inviting this situation into her life.
Just like the big apartment complexes, everyone over the age of 18 that is not a son/daughter needs to be on the lease. Some even make the sons/daughters over 18 be on the lease (some don't). I don't think they are actually hiding anything I bet the guy just wants to keep the GF off the lease in case they break up. He obviously doesn't know that its not that easy even if she isn't on the lease. They sound like young renters, I'd pass on them or put him and his roommate on the lease and list the GF as an occupant and do a background/credit check on her to make sure she is someone you would want to live there.
I told my mom to tell him the gf needs to fill out an application and sign the lease. She let him know this last night and this morning he told her that's fine. I'm still slightly skeptical but we'll see. We did think about the breakup thing, but I think it's easier to get out of a lease later on because of a breakup than to not perform a check on someone and find they wouldn't have passed it anyways.
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