If one of your tenants, without your consent or knowledge, sub-let a room inside her leased house,...what would your reaction be? The details of my idiot tenant here will be posted later, but for now,...what are the legal issues of tenants who sub-let behind your back? --68.63.xxx.xxx

The main issue is that she lacks respect for you as a landlord and the lease she signed. You have no idea who this person is or if they meet your criteria. I would also be concerned as to why your tenant felt the need to sublease - was your tenant fired or their work hours cut significantly? There will now be more wear and tear on your house while you still collect the same amount of rent. It's like you ordering the salad bar at Ruby Tuesdays (mmmmm) and bringing it back for the whole table to enjoy. Legally, if you know about it and dont take action, you are passively approving of the situation and the subleaser becomes a tenant with all the rights thereof even if you dont know their name or contact information. You could demand that the subleaser fill out an application, pay the application fee and clear your screening criteria to become approved. If accepted the rent should be increased 10 to 20% and the subleaser and tenant should sign your lease reflecting the new rental amount. If the subleaser does not qualify, or if you dont want a subleasrr or if your tenant has broken your trust by subleasing, both the subleaser and your tenant need to be sent a legal notification to cure the situation immediately or face eviction. You need to take some action immediately to show the tenant who is in charge. --67.149.xxx.xx

Assuming your lease has a no subletting clause, I’d give them a N2Q, if they didn’t leave I’d evict. I wouldn’t allow a tenant to sneak in a sub-let if the lease has a no subletting clause, (which mine does). Because of this site I have enacted a zero tolerance rule to several things. 1) late rent, 2) subletting, 3) violence and drug use, Had they ASKED before hand and I was able to properly screen them I would probably allow it, especially with a SFH. But the fact that they snuck them in, so to speak, even thought the lease says no subletting, nope, they should have inquired about it first. I want to know who’s living in my property, especially since having people move in that are not on the lease is a COMMON trick tenants use when they know that their partner, friend, boy/girlfriend won’t pass the screening process. --71.248.xxx.xxx

My tenant called me last night and said things with her CL roommate are going really bad and she (my tenant) may need to move out just to get away from this CL nutcase from Hades. It reminded me of the movie,..."Single White Female". (Every LL needs to watch this movie). --68.63.xxx.xxx

I got sued by a sub let tenant 25 years ago,my tenant kicked them out and wouldn't let them have there stuff,they sued me and claimed my tenants were my manager and a jury bought the whole thing,fortunately it was only about $3000 plus my attorney fees.I didn't even know my tenant was subletting a room in the first place --72.231.xxx.xxx

Depending on the tenant mix and property, I had slightly different standards. --47.156.xx.xx

I think you have to send an eviction notice to the current tenant and it has to say something like "and others at this address". I forget the exact wording, to cover the subletter if it goes to court. I rented a room in the house I rented from my mother. The first applicant looked at my poor little old Shih Tzu and said "I don't like dogs". I knew Adrienne would not survive that woman and denied her the room. The second applicant was a friend of a friend. I took her and spent the time of the Iraq war with a Jordanian woman upstairs whose sister had a hotel full of Kuwaitis that couldn't pay because they had fled Saddam in Kuwait. She also worked for the State of New Jersey with foreign students and tole me that some of the young Arab boys had come here to "make mischief". She went to DC to testify about this to one of the agencies. Didn't help much did it? But she was interesting and decided she didn't like her crazy boss anymore, Commissioner of Education, and left. I was sorry to see her go but didn't like the little brown cigarettes she smoked. Also I think the phones were tapped. I made a call and right after that a man called and asked me who I was and a guy in the background said "you are not supposed to call them." Yikes. --173.61.xxx.xx

I would raise the rent 50bux like it says in my lease for every extra person, sometimes they pay and sometimes they move. --76.188.xxx.xx

My lease specifies no sub-letting. So I would post a fix or quit. The sub-tenant would have 3 days to get out. And then I would get rid of my tenant as soon as the lease expires. If they are going to sublet behind my back, what else are they doing? --71.218.xxx.xxx

Are you in a weaker position legally for accepting rent 2 months w knowledge of sublet? --99.203.xx.xx

Zero tolerance. Did the roommate fill out an application and is she on the lease? Give your lawyer a call and see what your options are then you can make some informed decisions. She shouldn't have moved anyone in without having them go through the application process with you. If she had worked with you she might have bern able to avoided the mess. --174.233.xx.xxx

I am trying to coax my tenant out. She fully understands the problem she created and that problem has backfired on her. My tenant has told me she will be moving out on August 1st mainly because she can't afford the rent there anymore (she lost her high paying job and has taken a much lower paying job). If push comes to shove, I may have to evict my tenant and any other misc. occupants. --68.63.xxx.xxx