Landlords, Protect yourself the Right Way From Property Overcrowding

One of those things, and it is more common than you might think, is when your lease calls for the maximum occupancy to be six people and you find out there are about ten people living at your house.

Think it can’t happen? Think again. In my ten plus years of experience in being a landlord, it happens, and quite often. However it is not something to lose sleep over as you can protect yourself from this.

The first place to start is to specifically define this in the lease agreement you make your tenants sign. In the lease agreement that I use, it specifically lets the person know exactly the number of people that can live on the premises. Most leases do include that, but mine does not stop there.

I further customized mine to detail the specifics if the tenant breaches the contract. For instance, the lease tells the tenant that no one can stay longer than two days (you will have to check in your area of what is allowed and what is not), and if they do so, they are responsible for paying an additional $10 per day per person fee on top of their rent.

The first thing that pops into your head, I am sure, is “yeah right, how do you enforce them paying that, and how do you prove it.” It is not in there to have you make more money. It is another provision in the lease that gives you additional ammo, so to speak, when the time comes for an eviction.

I can not speak for all states, but in New Jersey, specifically in Trenton, the judge upholds the lease a tenant signs to the letter, so as long as the landlord shows no negligence in anyway. In other words you have done all of your due diligence to rectify a situation before it gets to court, and during that process you have not broken any laws.

Sounds pretty straight forward right? It is and should be. Now that you have that in place, you should have an additional line that reads, Landlord has the right to begin the eviction process if the tenant exceeds the maximum amount of people residing on the premises as noted in section x paragraph y of this lease agreement. Obviously the section and the paragraph are where you put the maximum number of people allowed.

This is just another piece of your lease that, again, gives you some firepower when it comes to enforcing the fact that the tenant can not have too many people living there. This lets them know that they risk eviction if they go above that number, and it lets them know in writing, that they agreed to it, by signing the lease agreement.

Many states already have maximum occupancy laws in place, and you should find out if your area already has them. However, do not leave it open for debate if you need to evict a tenant. Get it in your lease, in writing where the tenant agrees to it and signs the lease.