I just found out that my tenants are taking in foster children and have been lying to me about why there are always so many kids at the rental house (they have said they were neighborhood kids visiting).

Two adults and one child are listed on the M2M rental agreement.

My rental agreement states that it is not permitted to have "Long-term guest(s)--more than 28 consecutive or nonconsecutive days per year (total, [NOT per guest]), beginning with lease starting date, without written permission from landlord."

Anyone have experience renting to tenants who take in foster children? What to look out for / legal ramifications / insurance/liability issues / thoughts.

PS It appears that legally, the state does not require my permission as owner of the house.

How are you as the landlord suffering an economic loss from tenants having additional residents there? Do you pay for the sewer and water bills?

This can get a bit sticky for you as Bonanza described. Where I too would be upset that someone is lying to me, raising kids is a huge duty and responsibility. Would you fault the family if they were expecting a couple of kids on their own?

Bigger concerns I would have would be does my house offer enough space and bedroom to accommodate the extra residents. Are these residents over the age of 18? How do I recoup the added cost that I have incurred.

Hmmm.... tough situation.

On the one hand, I have a soft spot for helping out kids who don't have a family. It's one of the major crises we face today, but it's also very personal when you get down to each kid. So from a "tugging at my heartstrings" perspective, I probably wouldn't do anything right now unless there was evidence of damage or troubles being caused by the situation.

THAT SAID....

I always tell my tenants (and our lease affirms) that ALL CHANGES must be approved in writing, including adding new residents who are on lease or off-lease (i.e. not legal adults). Now... if a tenant has a baby (biologically) or adopts, then the laws say this is permitted and no changes are needed. But taking in kids from foster care... that's not the same thing. I would have expected the courtesy of them letting me know. And the lying... nope. That's an instant NO GO. Trust has been breached. What else are / will they be lying about?

Bottom line: As others have suggested, I would monitor the situation for now, but if no damages/issues, I'd simply non-renew the lease. They may have good hearts, but the breach of trust and the lies aren't something I'm prepared to tolerate.

Sid it IS the same thing. Children that are under the legal care of the tenant are their children, for legal purposes. You can't deny children because of their source!! And the foster parents are their legal guardians.

It's a federal Fair Housing thing for sure - you CANNOT deny them the right to legally foster children.

And - they didn't lie to you. They are not ALLOWED to say they are foster kids - that violates the kid's privacy!!!!!!

WMC: They lied INITIALLY but then volunteered that they take in foster kids for a living. So if as you said they're not ALLOWED to say they have foster kids, then THEY violated the kids' privacy.

But back to my rental business, they are in violation of the rental agreement regarding written permission for occupants not listed on the lease.

If they were going to evicted over the kids, they may have felt forced into speaking up as to why they had them.

Fair Housing is federal law. That's familial status which means a family can add all the kids they want to, natural born, adopted, foster, wards, or inherited, no matter why they are there, they are children and they are protected by fair housing laws.

All you can do is to not renew the lease when it comes due.

Exactly:

#1 They are allowed to say they take in foster kids. They don't HAVE to say that but legally they could, it violates no one's privacy. The income is steady if they keep kids but they are only paid if there are kids in the home.

#2 They are technically NOT allowed to designate which kid is a foster but everyone always knows :( (BTW: We need foster parents!)

#3 Foster kids come and go, sometimes very quickly. Another reason keeping track via the lease doesn't make sense.

Some of the responders here have ignored my 28-day clause -- which is standard language for a lease, FYI.

WMH - To have commented once would have been sufficient!! To continually comment and gripe and repeat yourself ETC. is a waste. Someone in your life must have really hit a nerve because you seem rattled !!! Landlords come here to exchange factual information / first-hand experiences regarding the housing business---not to be wade through this type of aggressive, inappropriate BS.

KH...My rental agreement states that it is not permitted to have "Long-term guest(s)--more than 28 consecutive or nonconsecutive days per year (total, [NOT per guest]), beginning with lease starting date, without written permission from landlord."

Wow..this clause would never be interpreted as applying to foster kids. They would be viewed the same as if tenants gave birth to a new child. PLEASE PLEASE don't attempt to evict based on this clause.

SL, several things:

#1) I am a sworn Guardian ad Litem trained child advocate - who is tasked with being the voice of the foster child in court. So I know a little bit about this subject.

#2) Our downstairs tenant, also a family friend of my granddaughter's, is a Foster Care Child Advocate for a private company. She calls on all her child clients weekly, inspects foster homes, etc. So again, we know a little bit about this.

#3) My granddaughter is a teacher, so a mandated court reporter, and housing issues sometimes come up. A child might be throwing a fit in class because he is suddenly homeless or being kicked out a foster home. So she knows a little bit about this stuff as well.

I stand corrected, thank you.

WMH: Thank you for all your expertise and your chosen profession advocating for children. We need more advocants for children.

KH,

Great question.

Me? I am I’m charge. Is this a big hairy deal that will intrude on my FREEDOM!!! or something minor.

If we evicted every res who fudges the truth all rental homes would be vacant.

The 28 day guest clause does not apply.

Listen to WMH. She knows her stuff. She re-posts to clarify and add more info when she sees errors that can hurt a LL.

Crabbing about a poster is not cool.

My daughter fosters. Lots of screening, house safety inspections, quarterly visits checking cleanliness etc, tons of rules, including yearly background checks for me and Wifey so we can babysit. I even had to buy a 75’ rope and floating rescue ring for my 36’ pool.

They must have the proper number of bedrooms for the number of people but sometimes small concessions are made to keep siblings together.

Sadly there are some grubbers who do it for the checks and all caseworkers are overworked.

Some of those kids might truly have been neighbors playing with the fosters.

I don’t appreciate them covering up the truth but that’s not the end of the world. Everybody only tells you what they want you to know (lies).

Take a breath, remain calm, and do an In Home Visit. If the home looks OK you can relax. If there is a problem you will SEE it and know. Then with the facts you can determine what to do.

Some foster homes are BETTER than regular rentals. --73.103.xxx.xxx

KH,

Great question.

Me? I am I’m charge. Is this a big hairy deal that will intrude on my FREEDOM!!! or something minor.

If we evicted every res who fudges the truth all rental homes would be vacant.

The 28 day guest clause does not apply.

Listen to WMH. She knows her stuff. She re-posts to clarify and add more info when she sees errors that can hurt a LL.

Crabbing about a poster is not cool.

My daughter fosters. Lots of screening, house safety inspections, quarterly visits checking cleanliness etc, tons of rules, including yearly background checks for me and Wifey so we can babysit. I even had to buy a 75’ rope and floating rescue ring for my 36’ pool.

They must have the proper number of bedrooms for the number of people but sometimes small concessions are made to keep siblings together.

Sadly there are some grubbers who do it for the checks and all caseworkers are overworked.

Some of those kids might truly have been neighbors playing with the fosters.

I don’t appreciate them covering up the truth but that’s not the end of the world. Everybody only tells you what they want you to know (lies).

Take a breath, remain calm, and do an In Home Visit. If the home looks OK you can relax. If there is a problem you will SEE it and know. Then with the facts you can determine what to do.

Some foster homes are BETTER than regular rentals. --73.103.xxx.xxx

Brad, did I know your daughter fosters? Old age...I didn't remember if I did know at one time :)

Fostering is a wonderful pursuit! Lying to your landlord by sneaking additional people in is NOT.