Landlord Question and Answer Forum

My spouse and I work together as landlords for the property we're renting out. She currently presented me with a lease agreement that she and another tenant both signed. However, that tenant has not submitted any screening application and guarantor application. Thus, I do not have any information regarding who this tenant is, how much income this tenant makes, how trustworthy this tenant is, and if this tenant is a criminal or average resident. Under a normal applicant screening, I would have rejected this tenant. But since my wife is new at this landlord business, she failed to give this tenant an official screening. I am skeptical about the credibility of this tenant as I have only heard about this person via my wife, but have never met him or her before. I do not want to sign the lease agreement that my wife presented to me, but I am wondering even if I don't sign the lease, it is still legally valid? Additionally, this tenant has presented many problems towards my wife and towards my other potential tenants that I want to accept and sign with. So I do not wish for unidentified tenants like this person to rent our property. The lease agreement states that the contract starts on August 1st, is there anyway to kick this tenant out of the agreement before the contract starts?

I believe for the lease to be valid, both parties need to sign.

Posted by karen s, WI on Friday, July 27, 2012