How do you address/define in your lease that no one is allowed to "reside" in the house other than those on the lease?

The reason I'm asking is that one of our tenants has a girlfriend that seems to be at the house a lot. We do state in our lease that anyone "staying 2 weeks or more, even if on non-contiguous days" is not considered a visitor and must be on the lease....but this language does not define "staying" and the guy might just claim she visits every day for a few hours then leaves. He has stated to me in an email that she is not living there, but I do see her car there a lot.

I'd like some help with suggested wording that would make this more clear and give me a clause with more "teeth" on this topic.

I know that during my maintenance visits I can look for obvious signs like her clothes in the closet or toothbrush on the bath counter...but I don't want to be snooping around any more than necessary.

I can think of a few ways to word it in the lease, but you're still going to have problems to "prove" she is living there.

Instead, require the tenant to provide proof the girlfriend has another residence. Much the same way a school requires proof of residence, like their own property deed, lease, utility bill, bank statement etc.

I think you are interfering in someone's private life.

My kids and grandkids come visit over Memorial Day for 3 days, then later every summer for 10-12 days. Then they come again at Thanksgiving for 4 days, and again at Christmas. Hopefully other weekends as well.

Well more than 2 weeks over the course of a year.

There are differences between extra "guests" in a House, Apartment or Condo.

With a Single Family House, the tenants pay the water, power and gas. An extra person only adds to extra wear and tear.

With an apartment or condo the Owner(s) pay for the water and sometimes some of the power.

In my case an apartment tenant kept on having his and her parents over for dinner, sleep overs etc. The tenants didn't understand what my fuss was about. I showed them the Water and Sewer Bills from when they first moved in and later on when the had an open door policy for their family and friends. For each extra person, my water and sewer cost rose around $25 a month. This included my central water heaters gas bill. Thus two or three extra person meant a minimum of an extra $50 to $75 per month.

My tenant said, "well Robert, that's too bad"! So I gave my tenants a 10% rent hike, allowable for each extra occupant. My tenant added a sisters name to the mailbox directory and the sister ordered a weekly magazine delivered there.

Look at it from a different angle. If you don't strictly enforce who lives at your property, when you are processing applications, how do you ensure every adult submits an app?

I'll give you two examples from my experience

First, a young couple with an infant. The man submits only his application. I ask about the woman, He says she won't be living there. What would you do?

Second, a middle age couple (no kids). The woman applies by herself, says her husband isn't moving in, he has a govt job in DC. Her current place says both her and her husband on the lease, but they gave notice. What would you do here?

(neither of them ended up signing a lease)

I understand what Ken and WMH are saying, I did it myself when I married my wife and moved into her apt. Had the PM asked me, I would not have lied and gladly filled an app and signed a lease , which I did after a few months.

Like wmh, I have grandchildren. I actually have quite a few of them. Mine all live close - more than 1/2 within bike riding / walking distance. Weekends there is usually someone here. Often times, nosiness/fear of missing out on something "important" leads one or several others appearing and deciding to stay. I guarantee each and every one of my grandchildren are sleeping at my house more than 14 days a year. They all have their own dresser drawer and section of the closet. There are bikes here. There are toys here. There are little kids cups and dishes in the sink. There are 12 toothbrushes here. None of these kids "lives" here.

I realize you are probably talking about adults. In today's world, staying over at your girl/boyfriend's place is probably more common than not. It does not mean they are living there. Asking them to prove they don't can also be problematic - what if they live w/parents (no deed, no lease, no utility bills).

Nicole, my lease says that the only people who can live there are the people on the lease AND all their minor children. I am lax about it and include their minor grandchildren.

LOL...well this has not been very helpful.

And WMH...you said you thought the lease rule was rediculous "FWIW"...well your view in this case ain't worth much LOL.

If a LL has no boundaries, I believe you are opening yourself up to lots of things. Someone above said "if they are not causing any problems" to me that's not being proactive. Let's wait until there's a problem, THEN we'll do something. If he wants her to be there all the time, let's add her to the lease so I can check her criminal background and credit so I can hold her accountable if she damages something or causes some other issue.

The "visitor" could bring in drugs, animals, THEIR children (what if the guy gets a girlfriend who has 3 kids and they "visit" the house for 8 hours every day?), liability issues and so much more.

Hoosier, as Jerry mentioned if they receive mail at the address,or utility accounts ,or if this person gives this address as their residence to others.

Use of PO boxes and utilities in BF/GF name makes this method of proof too prone to faulty information.

None of these methods is likely to provide the conclusive evidence that you seek.....I don't think a singular item can be conclusive evidence.

You will instead need to evict and take the evidence that you have before the Judge.

Thanks Sisco.

This guy was married when they started renting...and then they split less than a month after their second child!

If the girl friend spends the night - who cares. I am not the sleeping police.

If the girl friend is driving over there in a U-Haul - you need to get involved.

I pay for my residents first year of renters insurance. I let them know that in the event of say a fire - it will look a great deal like fraud if he ends up claiming five of her bras if she isn't on the lease.