[quote=njtosd][quote=UCGal]We’ve talked to her and gave her two options –
– Higher rent if he stays.
– Have him stay less.
She’s interested in the second option. I’m trying to figure out reasonable guidelines for the “staying less” part.[/quote]
I am not a real estate attorney, and you might want to talk to one, but I would think about two things: (1) Can he prove he has another place where he can legally reside? (Is he hanging out because they’re in love or because it’s convenient.) Harder to argue he’s your tenant if he has a lease somewhere else. (2) Have him sign a document saying that he is not now, and will never claim to be your tenant until/unless he signs a lease with you.
Again, I would talk to a lawyer to see if such an agreement is legal/would hold up, and what the ramifications would be. But you have some leverage now to say that you’ll be more generous if he’s willing to sign.[/quote]
Agree with what njtosd wrote here.
I had a similar problem, but they were actually living in my house (I owned the house and rented rooms out). Mind you, this house was under 1,300 sf. Three of my roommates had boyfriends who ended up living with us. Two of them were sneaking them through their bedroom windows so that I wouldn’t find out. I kicked those two roommates out (that, and they were both stealing stuff…and one was having sex in my bed when I was gone!). The third one had a boyfriend who “moved in” from day one. Eventually, I asked them to pay more rent since he was there everyday; he didn’t even have another place to live. That worked out well enough, but the guy liked to use my stuff, eat my food, and sit around on the couch in his bathrobe all day, etc. I never would have rented to him if he were the one to apply for the rental. The girlfriend, OTOH, was really helpful and an excellent roommate, outside of the boyfriend thing, so that’s why I put up with it for almost two years.
Best of luck to you, UCGal! This stuff can really suck. 🙁
