Landlord Question and Answer Forum

A week ago our month to month renter passed away. Her boyfriend moved in with her and was not on the lease. We are trying to be sensitive to his situation but we do not want him to stay do of a number of lease violations such as smoking on premises, not keeping the peace, unauthorized tenants etc. We are thinking of giving him a month rent free to find another place but we want to make sure we have the right legal documents in order to make sure we are following the law. We also do not know his last name. Can we still file legal documents without his full name? Any advice would be helpful thank you.

Sorry to hear that it is sad when you loose a tenant, especially if they are a good one. As for this case it is very nice that you want to help however, this is a business. Run it like one. They are not on a lease they are unauthorized to be there,if you give them this time they may turn it around and try to take advantage. They have not respected the rules this far they will not when you try to get them out and new paying tenants in. I would definitely with all due respect let them go now. Give them a set time and date for move out and enforce it. Don't let their other halves death be an excuse for your lost investment.

Posted by Justin R, IL on Monday, December 15, 2014