Tenants increase by two

[hardel]

Hi All,

I recently purchased my first rental property in May of this year and all seems to be going well. The basement apartment is rented out to two mature students (4th year) and the main unit will be occupied shortly, but I have been collecting rent from the main since July.

In May I noticed another 2 people constantly at the basement apartment and questioned them on this. They informed me that the 2 extra people would be leaving at the middle to the end of August and they were just in for the summer working. I would like to be prepared with how to handle this situation if the additional 2 people plan to stay...."my spidey senses have been tingling". Do I increase rent? Do I say they cannot stay....may have to check my local tenants act on that one. Currently, the heat and hot water are included in the rent, they pay everything else. So far the tenants have been great, they pay rent on time, courteous and nice to talk to.....no problems. I want to handle this properly!

I appreciate any guidance you can offer. Thanks!

I frequent this site several times a week and what a learning experience it is. A lot of great topics and great feedback.

Best Regards,

Harold

 

[Sherilynn]

Please always include the province in your post. That helps ensure that you get relevant answers.

My next question is how many people occupy the upper suite. This is important for two reasons: 1) Houses, especially older ones, are not usually designed to handle the demands of excessively large households. If you have 8 adults in a house, that would be quite a drain on the plumbing system (pun intended). 2) There can be zoning restrictions on the number of unrelated occupants in a property; therefore it could be illegal for the extra tenants to be living downstairs.

"Guests" staying since May would be considered unauthorized tenants. They should be evicted. At the very least, they should be paying extra utilities.

Regards,
Sherilynn

 

[koop]

QUOTE (Sherilynn @ Aug 3 2010, 01:42 PM) Please always include the province in your post. That helps ensure that you get relevant answers.

My next question is how many people occupy the upper suite. This is important for two reasons: 1) Houses, especially older ones, are not usually designed to handle the demands of excessively large households. If you have 8 adults in a house, that would be quite a drain on the plumbing system (pun intended). 2) There can be zoning restrictions on the number of unrelated occupants in a property; therefore it could be illegal for the extra tenants to be living downstairs.

"Guests" staying since May would be considered unauthorized tenants. They should be evicted. At the very least, they should be paying extra utilities.

Regards,
Sherilynn

This would be one more thing to put in the house rules "no over night guests", we always have to explain that one to new tenants, yes your sister can spend the night, yes your grandchildren can stay a night or two, but no new tenants.

There is danger in letting these new tenants stay, they have sqauters rights if they live in your house and if you need to evict them it will be harder without names or contracts.

But if there are no other problems with them staying just get them into a lease.
You have to put your foot down with tenants, gentle yet firm, don`t let them get away with the small things, but be fair.

 

[hardel]

QUOTE (Sherilynn @ Aug 3 2010, 03:12 PM) Please always include the province in your post. That helps ensure that you get relevant answers.

My next question is how many people occupy the upper suite. This is important for two reasons: 1) Houses, especially older ones, are not usually designed to handle the demands of excessively large households. If you have 8 adults in a house, that would be quite a drain on the plumbing system (pun intended). 2) There can be zoning restrictions on the number of unrelated occupants in a property; therefore it could be illegal for the extra tenants to be living downstairs.

"Guests" staying since May would be considered unauthorized tenants. They should be evicted. At the very least, they should be paying extra utilities.

Regards,
Sherilynn


Thanks for your input Sherilynn and Koop! I am in Newfoundland. I will check the zoning restrictions and decide how to move forward if the tenants remain.

Regards,

Harold