unauthorized occupants - Landlord Forum thread

unauthorized occupants by N. R. (Corpus Christi, Texas) on November 17, 2009 @23:42

I have a serious problem with a tenant who has added a child to her tenancy without any prior notification for authorization of the child's tenancy. When I interviewed her and reviewed the application she did not mention a child that would in any way become a tenant. Initially she had told me that she would be the only tenant if we accepted her application. We accepted her application but prior to accepting a security deposit I asked her about her daughter as listed on the application since she had not mentioned her previously. She let me know that her daughter was a college student in Houston and would feel much better if she were on the lease since she would spend some weekends, most holidays, and possibly summer months with her and did not want any problems with anyone questioning her visits. I had previously let her know that we did not rent to families with small children in the upstairs unit to avoid any noise tolerance problems (the upstairs unit has wooden floors in the central area where there is more traffic) with the tenants in the lower unit. I also let her know that our experience with previous tenants with small children was not positive and that the stairs alone could be a safety problem if children were to become unattended. She told me that this would not be problem since she would be the only tenant and occasional visits from her daughter. We had discussed small children as tenants because from prior experience some tenants have legal visiting/custodial rights on weekends, etc. One month after her tenancy began we noticed a small child (2-3 yrs old) playing outside with a young woman as we were working on the lower unit to get is ready for a new lease. Then the volume of noise from the child's running daily as we worked in the lower unit increased and then finally became intolerable when we were showing the unit to the prospective tenants. My husband went upstairs immediately and let her know that she needed to keep the noise down due to showing the unit. We had not said anything to her in the beginning since we thought someone was only visiting and then would be leaving soon. That soon never came and our new tenants in the lower unit moved in. The same day they moved in, I notice the child in the window of the upper unit and spoke with the tenant to ask why this child was visiting for such an extended period and that her lease required her to notify me of visitors staying over seven days, which I had not received. She stated her daughter had problems with her father in Houston and she left her father's home. She said that she did not have a choice but to let her move in with her. I told her that this did not explain the child and she stated that the child was her daughter's child. I let her know that the lease only included her and her daughter, two adults, and zero children, n0 children. I let her know that she was to have notified me of the extended visit by the child and that I had let her know prior to signing the lease that no children would be accepted into the unit for tenancy. I told her that she would need to correct this and that it would not be possible to add him to the lease since we had been experiencing the noise made by the child which would possibly not be tolerated by the new tenants. One week later the new tenants complained about the child jumping off furniture, running, bouncing a ball, skateboarding inside the unit which was driving them crazy. They let me know that they had gone upstairs to request that they keep the noise down, called the police twice, and spoken to the child's mother, besides calling us. I called the tenant in the upper unit to let the tenant know that the child's stay was not tolerable and not acceptable. She was very upset since she felt that I would expect her to throw out her daughter and child and if I wanted her to move. I let her know that she did not have to move but that the child could not live with her and if that meant that she needed to move out because her daughter and her child had to live with her then she needed to start making plans to move. I mailed an Unauthorized Tenant Violation form to give her a deadline to correct the problem or to vacate. I think I've given her enough time to correct the problem and everyone has reached their limits. That was almost two weeks ago and they are still in the unit, still making noise. I had let the tenants in the lower unit know the steps I had taken to correct the problem and they have been patient, hoping that the tenant above will move out soon because they really are happy with the unit itself. I'm afraid to loose my tenants in the lower unit and if they move out, the next tenants will have the same complaints. I need to know what to do next. I would greatly appreciate any advise that could help me to get these tenants in the upper unit out and off the property and if this causes the tenants in the lower unit to break the lease, what are my options regarding security deposits? The lease states that if the tenant violates any of the house rules that they will have to vacate the property upon notice of the violation and that they will lose their security deposit. The child has already torn out the window screen in one of the windows with his head as witnessed by the neighbor in the next property.

Sincere & desperate,

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Re: unauthorized occupants by OK-LL on November 17, 2009 @23:51	[ Reply ]
If you gave them a proper TX cure or quit notice, and they haven't cured the lease violation, then file the eviction case in court.

Re: unauthorized occupants by P-Bone in WNY (NY) on November 18, 2009 @08:36

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In relation to the statement above: "I had previously let her know that we did not rent to families with small children in the upstairs unit to avoid any noise tolerance problems (the upstairs unit has wooden floors in the central area where there is more traffic) with the tenants in the lower unit."

This would be considered discriminatory. Just because the unit is upstairs does not make it legal to justify not renting to families with children.

Living in a multi-unit property comes with the possibility of other tenants who make noise. Although you may be able to get a judge to evict them based on noise violations, I highly doubt a judge would support the occupancy rules you have placed on them.

In New York, a tenant is guaranteed the right to move in immediate family, so long as they do not exceed housing code limits.

The best course of action might be to install some large area rugs with thick carpet pad in all the rooms with hardwood floors to dampen the sound being carried. This would be a much cheaper way to go than a discrimination lawsuit.

Re: unauthorized occupants

Re: unauthorized occupants by Anonymous on November 18, 2009 @14:10

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Everything that you just said is illegal. It is discrimination. You better just let her stay there with the child until her lease is ended and not renew. Otherwise you better hope she doesn't consult a lawyer cause you could really be in for some hefty court costs. You can't discriminate or even say discriminatory statements. Families are included. People are allowed to live with their immediate family and children are not considered tenants that have to be on a lease. You have this lady and her daughter on the lease as tenants, so legally they have every right to allow daughter's son to stay there. You better start back pedling. Below is just a small section of the fair housing act that you violated.

Unless a building or community qualifies as housing for older persons, it may not discriminate based on familial status. That is, it may not discriminate against families in which one or more children under 18 live with:

A parent
A person who has legal custody of the child or children or
The designee of the parent or legal custodian, with the parent or custodian's written permission.
Familial status protection also applies to pregnant women and anyone securing legal custody of a child under 18.

If the ALA decides that discrimination occurred, the respondent can be ordered:

To compensate you for actual damages, including humiliation, pain and suffering.
To provide injunctive or other equitable relief, for example, to make the housing available to you.
To pay the Federal Government a civil penalty to vindicate the public interest. The maximum penalties are $10,000 for a first violation and $50,000 for a third violation within seven years.
To pay reasonable attorney's fees and costs.

Re: unauthorized occupants by Ultimate M-Bone on November 19, 2009 @10:55	[ Reply ]
Yeah, you need to back down before a lawsuit is filed against you for discrimination. How many bedrooms does that apartment have? If 2 or more, you will have a hard time only renting it to a single person or a couple without children without discrimintaing. You need to make remodeling preperations and insulate the floors between the units.

Re: unauthorized occupants by Anonymous on November 19, 2009 @10:57

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I agree with the others about discriminating. But you do have an unauthorized tenant, and you can evict based on that. Everyone must be listed on the lease, it doesn't matter the age, but it will be hard to prove that the child is living there and not just a visitor.

As for the security deposit, TX does not allow for forfieture of deposit, you will have to show actual damages, unpaid rent, broken window screen, etc after they move out. If another tenant breaks their lease because of the noise, you do not have to approve it, and you can charge for unpaid rent until you are able to re-rent the unit because this is not a valid reason to break a lease.