Somewhat confusing question about couples splitting up : ezLandlordForms

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Janet P

started a topic about 6 years ago

I have a current tenant that has been renting for a little over a year and a half. This is our only rental property and this has been a “learn as we go” kind of situation (with massive amounts of research). The current tenant signed the lease with his girlfriend but about a year ago, I had discovered she had moved out, without any notice to us. The remaining tenant has been continuing paying rent as usual (military). Now, he just let me know that his new girlfriend and her two year old son wishes to move in with him (also currently military but only until June). We do not have an issue with this except I’ve now realized that the current lease still has the old girlfriend still listed as a tenant. I had planned to do an addendum to the lease to add the new girlfriend. I also wanted to add a clause that the current tenant assumes all financial responsibility for the home (instead of dealing with deposit issues, should they break up down the road). Is this allowed in California? The reason we are doing this is we want to try to make renting to military as easy as possible (ie; very reduced rent, no pet deposit, ect. We are also military and know how easy it is to handle any issues relating to active duty members, should issues arise, such as skipping payment and severe damages). I’m not sure how to proceed here. Should I write a very late, exit amendment listing the former girlfriend (requiring me to track her down to get her to sign it) and then add another amendment adding the new girlfriend? Or should I just completely write up an entirely new rental agreement listing both parties (the original lease expired and we went into a month to month basis at that point)? Some issues with that, however, are we are having to take care of everything remotely (14 hours away). We have someone who can occasionally check on the house if needed but for the most part, this entire rental has been done from afar and acting on good faith it is being taken care of. My concern with writing a new rental agreement is will it potentially put us into a situation where damages will be missed (we wouldn’t have a move out inspection because he will not be moving out) and will this confuse the deposit amounts? Do I treat this as just a lease renewal and if so, can I do that with a change in tenants without an amedment? As I had said, this is a huge learning curve for us and I want to make sure this is done correctly. Thanks for the tips!

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Janet P

said about 6 years ago

I know this post was a bit confusing so in a nutshell: old girlfriend moved out, new one wants to move in. Old lease is expired. Do I create a bunch of amendments to the old lease or just completely draft a new one with the new girlfriend? Do I write it month to month (since the old, year lease rolled into month to month last June) or am I able to add a 15 month lease (we prefer to keep it on a June rotation). The current tenant says he hs no plans on moving until his next transfer in 2020. Thoughts?

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Scott H

said about 6 years ago

Just do a new lease state in it the original move-in condition form dated XXXXX will be used at move out. Date it so it runs out in June 2020.