THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 17, 1995 TAG: 9506150341
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: LANDLORDS & TENANTS
SOURCE: BY WILLIAM MAZEL
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Q. I have been a landlord for many years and I have fairly many properties. When you rent and sign a lease with one person, and later find out that this person is no longer living on the property, but someone else is, what are the rights of the landlord?
In this case, the person living there is someone who was originally living with my tenant. When my tenant moved out, she did not notify me that she was moving and neither she nor the current occupant of the premises had any agreement with me allowing the current occupant to continue in occupation.
I know the original tenant is still liable on the lease, but since the current occupant never had an agreement with me, do I have to allow this person to stay there?
If I want to evict, would I have to go through the long process of unlawful detainer? This would be hard to do since I do not even know the name of the current occupant. Or could I just have the occupant cited for trespassing?
This situation has made me think of another interesting problem that could develop. If, at the end of the lease, a tenant gives proper notice to move, and then does move, but someone living there (a person not on the lease) remains on the property past the lease termination date, could the original tenant be held liable for holding over for another term?
After all, while the property was in control of the tenant, the tenant allowed someone else to live there and remain living there into another term?
Since the person living there never had an agreement with me and may not pay the rent, it would be important to be able to hold the original tenant liable (even though the lease had terminated) since he or she allowed the situation to occur. As in the first situation, would an unlawful detainer be necessary to get the non-leased tenant to move or could he just be cited for trespassing?
Also, could it change the situation if the person remaining on the property is related to the original tenant. What should I do?
A. I believe that as long as your current tenant is continuing to pay the rent and you do not have a provision in your written lease that prohibits any person living on the premises unless named in the lease, you probably are stuck with the tenant.
As far as not knowing the name of the current occupant, it would be exceedingly difficult, even if you have the right to do so, to have the person cited for trespassing because in order to have a person arrested for trespassing, you generally have to have the name so you can swear out a warrant.
It would be a very good move on your part to find the name of the current occupant as well as the license number of the car. Also, try to find information pertaining to where the occupant works. You should also notify the original tenant (who is still liable on the lease) that you want the name of the current occupant and other information that I have suggested that you obtain.
I would be very hesitant to suggest that you try to have anyone arrested for trespassing because as long as the rent is being paid, it appears the person has a right to live there because the original tenant is paying the rent and the current might be a sub-tenant of the original tenant.
We suggest you have a better drawn lease in the future to take care of such a situation. I also want to state that an unlawful detainer would be a good idea if you had any valid grounds for trying to evict the current occupier.
As to your second problem concerning your tenant moving at the end of the lease but leaving someone not on the lease living there past the termination date, I think the person staying there would not cause the original tenant to be held liable for another lease term.
If the person living there never had an agreement with you, I would immediately go to that person, find out his name and tell him to get out. One way to get the name is to use the car license tag number.
If the person does not voluntarily leave after you have told him to, I suggest that you have excellent grounds for a trespassing arrest. However, having a person arrested for trespassing does not always rid you of an unwanted tenant. The proper way is again to go through the courts with the unlawful detainer process.
I do not believe it changes the situation if the person remaining on the property is related to the original tenant. MEMO: William Mazel has taken over the ``Landlords and Tenants'' column while
Al Teich campaigns for city office in Norfolk. Mazel is a retired
lawyer and formerly co-wrote the column with Teich. Send comments and
questions to him at Real Estate Weekly, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk,
Va. 23510.
by CNB