Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Hello to all. i have rental property ( Single family dwelling) I want one Tenant to be the primary leaseholder, and be able to have 2 or 3 Tenants, which may change from time to time. My understanding is that each Tenant that is added on must always fill out a rental application to live at this property. Am i obligated to screen each sub tenant that comes and goes ( credit ,background check) as I do with the primary leaseholder, or is my doing my due diligence enough, if i make the final decision to ok the tenant to live there. My concern has always been that if you screen one, you must screen all, to protect myself from any civil liabilities to keep everything consistent. The primary leaseholder has the full deposit, and would like to be free from any issues, if that individual decides to ask a tenant to leave. For example, the sub tenant does not pay his fair share of rent to primary leaseholder and the leaseholder wants that tenant to leave. but is worried that an eviction would be the only way to get rid of the tenant. This would be a major concern on my part as well. The primary leaseholder is willing to accept all responsibilities of the property as outlined in the lease contract. But if a subtenant, or roommate, I'm not sure of the legal language that should be used here, is asked to leave by the primary leaseholder for just cause, the leaseholder in this case wants assurances that this would not lead into a legal meltdown. There are advantages here for me as a owner as well. I have a better chance of keeping my house rented , as the costs are shared. However I could not absorb the costs of evicting any tenant that simply refused to leave, if asked to by the primary leaseholder. I would like some help on how i should draw up this lease contract with the forms that are available on this site. Thanks much!

You are never obligated to screen tenants however, from my experience, you definitely always want to. This is one of the worse mistakes a landlord can make if they do not. You would want to state, that if the Primary tenant is allowed to Sub-lease, it is required that they carry out a tenant screening for each tenant. You would also want to be the one that draws up the sublease contract. As for legal language to add you may want to seek out an attorney to have you do so if there are specifics that you need. Ultimately you cannot screen a tenant enough and you always want to know as much about a person that resides in your property as possible.

Posted by Derrick D, PA on Sunday, March 29, 2015

Thanks Derrick. I specifically would like to know if it would be a legal problem to remove a sub tenant, if they are asked to leave by the primary leaseholder for ( not paying their fair share of the rent) for example. Let,s say that primary Leaseholder decides to rent out a portion of his premises to a roommate. The roommate does not pay the stated portion of rent by primary Leaseholder. If the police are called to remove sub-tenant, would that involve a possible need to have to evict sub tenant at that point, to have that person removed? Or could the police look at the lease as shown by Primary leaseholder, or Landlord, stating that there is only one primary leaseholder at the premises, and that would be enough for the police to tell subtenant to either leave or be arrested? Thanks. ( This is Ohio, by the way)

Posted by Tom 216-288-3972 Cell , OH on Monday, March 30, 2015