Serious Problem with Unauthorized Occupants!

We have a small 32-unit community with no onsite manager. We have had consistent problems with new and existing tenants with unauthorized occupants since we took over 16 months ago. We have an addendum to the lease that is very specific about "Change in Your Household." We use the NAA lease for our state that also addresses it. It's in our ads, criteria and our application. We even ask each applicant before they are approved if they are the only adult occupant.
They still move in the bring husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends and entire families!! If they weren't causing problems, we probably wouldn't know they were there. There's trash, drug activity, noise, fights, everything!
We have evicted or not renewed leases on 12 since August!!!!! That's epidemic!
Any suggestions?

I take it you have no employees who would live onsite there? Or, there is not one chance to open an Office at least part time? At the very least, what about having a security service member live on site, or maintenance? I think if residents knew someone was there and could potentially impact their dishonest ways, maybe they would think twice about pushing the system.

Since you've evicted 12 households since August, it sounds to me like you're already doing what you need to do. Keep on strictly enforcing every element of the lease and things will settle down. It sure makes a bumpy road in the meantime, but once you've turned the corner with having more lease-abiding tenants on the property it will become much easier.

And I like the idea of discounting rent to get one or more law enforcement officers living there. They don't necessarily have to be employed by the locality the property is in; it's just as effective to have someone from a neighboring locality live there. Sometimes officers don't want to live where they work.

Hang in there!

I was told by our neighborhood officer who supervises the "rent a cop" department that there are so many nice apartment complexes in town offering free rent that none of the officers would live there.


We have a budget of $1000 per month for security temporarily. They have a minimum 3-hour per day work schedule. Maintenance is onsite almost everyday and does a great job of pointing out problems, which we address as quickly as possible. He's the reason we've caught the people we have.

Even though your community is smaller, start a neighborhood watch group. Find those residents who CARE and want to be involved....then give them a direct line of communication. Not only will they help weed out their neighbors who feel that lease compliance is not-so-mandatory, but they can also assist local law enforcement in reducing crime in the area.

In the past, I've also utilized a resident "courtesy patrol officer". I don't know that I'd go down that road now (experience has taught me that the liability may not outweigh the benefit), but it may be something to consider. What we did was offer compensation (at one property, a paycheck...at another, a rent concession) for the resident to make random nightly patrols. He kept a log that included noise complaints, parking violations, light checks, other minor property issues. His role was not to intervene or stop the activity, but to report to law enforcement and/or management those things that needed our attention. Strictly observe & report.

I really like the suggestion to offer a discounted unit to a police officer. The police officer would park their patrol car in the parking lot which would show the residents that there's an officer living onsite. Plus I would highly suggest regular community letters reminding the residents of the rules and that eviction will be enforced if the rules are broken. Residents tend to "forget" the rules but if you keep a file with the letters (dated) you can show how often they were reminded if you end up in court. I've had a similar issues here in the beginning and have an open door policy for my residents to speak with me if there's an issue. Make sure the residents know how to contact you and that everything said will be between you and them only so they'll be more comfortable speaking with you.

I would talk with the local law enforcement and see if there was a way to get them to come to your area and patrol a little more often. Normally the people living there know who the drug folks are and can tip the local authorities and maybe they can make their presence known and if they are around a lot it tends to drive the bad elements of drugs away.

Have town hall meeting with the residents and get them involved in cleaning up their areas. Offer one on one with those who may not want to speak up in a group.

It has been my experience the more you have law enforcement around, it tends to drive the bad elements away. The key is to get to know the people, do not come at the same time, have a hotline set up where residents can call in problems.

One thing for sure you want to clean up your area because if it becomes known as a place of bad folks, it will only attract bad folks which will increase the problems. Does not take long for a place to get a bad rep.

There was one manager I knew had a good relation with the local sheriff department and they would park their patrol vehicle out in the open and the officers would walk around with their ears and eyes open. I believe there was something where the officers could come to have free coffee and there would be little things which would cause there to be more of a presence which really had a good impact on those even thinking about bad.

Melissa Engebretson wrote: I really like the suggestion to offer a discounted unit to a police officer. The police officer would park their patrol car in the parking lot which would show the residents that there's an officer living onsite.

I like this idea! Some people view police presence as a sign of an issue, but I disagree. When I see police patrolling the area it makes me feel safer. Knowing a cop is living next door might make people think twice about illegal activity.

Having a staff member live on site at a discounted rate could also be very helpful.
You've already taken the first step towards improving the situation by removing those who don't follow the lease guidelines. Whenever we have a problem that can't be resolved through basic communication, we issue them a 5 day letter. It states that they have 5 days to resolve the issue or we will start the eviction process. Some people think "My landlord can't do anything because I have tenant rights", which is the wrong attitude. If they break the lease a landlord has every right to remove them.
Here is our 5 day for unauthorized tenants. Feel free to use it.


It sounds like you are well on your way to improving the situation. I know it sucks having to evict people, but sometimes it's just what you have to do. Hang in there!

Sandy,

In California we are required by law to have a "manager" living on site on all properties of 16 units or more. The presence of an on-site representative controls a lot of these type of problems. If you think about the amount of money that you've spent for evictions (e.g., legal cost, vacancy, advertising, turnover costs) you probably would find it cost effect to have an on-site manager. Ideally it could be a husband and wife, one of which would have a full time day job. They could do the janitorial work, do minor maintenance, collect the rent and most importantly be there 24/7. You'd want to be very aware of your states labor laws as it pertains to compensating on-site staff with free rent but I'm guessing you wouldn't need to compensate them with more that 50% of their rent free. When you look at the overall cost and related savings you're probably going to save money! Good luck.