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What to do if Your Tenant is Subletting

Frustrated Cutler Bay Property Manager with a Laptop
As a rental property owner, your livelihood is based on how well you screen a tenant for your Cutler Bay rental property. The goal is to find people you can entrust your property to. As it is, when a tenant decides to sublet the rental house without your knowledge or permission, not surprisingly, it can be very problematic. Setting the terms of your tenant’s stay in your rental home starts with clear language in the lease. If you have already clearly presented the subletting policy but still your tenant violates it, here are some tips to handling that situation.

Gather Evidence

Are you suspicious that your tenant is subletting your property without your permission? Your first step should be to confirm your suspicions. It may very well be that the new “tenant” is just house-sitting the property and not subletting. What you can do is start interviewing both the original and “new” tenant so that you can document their responses and gather evidence to eventually come to a conclusion once the investigation is over.

If you want to get a better view of the situation, ask the neighbors for information, as well. If your tenant is using an app like Airbnb to sublet your property, you can simply go on the app and look for your property. If you do find it there, that can be evidence of the lease violation.

Give Notice of Lease Violation

If your research leads you to confirm that your tenant is indeed subletting, even when the lease specifically states against it, then you have to notify your tenant that they violated the lease. Include all other violations in your research so that it’s even more evident that the tenant who is subletting is really not following through on the terms of the lease.

Remember that no matter who is living in the rental, and regardless of what agreement they have with your tenant, it is still your tenant that is responsible for upholding the lease agreement. Usually, when this happens, a tenant can be given time to remedy the situation in order to comply with the lease. After the allotted time, you might have to make a follow-up to make sure the subletting tenant is gone.

Take Legal Action, If Needed

If in any case, your tenant refuses to remove the person subletting the property, you can then begin the eviction process. Don’t overlook your state and local laws so that you can follow all the statutes and rules thoroughly.

A subletting tenant is a challenging situation; which is why it’s important for you to know what your rights are and how you can legally remove the subletting tenant without violating any laws yourself. It may depend on where you are at, but in certain areas, you have to evict both tenant and subletting tenant in order for you to get full rights and access to your rental property.

The trajectory of your legal recourse will be dependent on the location of your property and the language in your lease. If your lease has unclear articulation on the policy of subletting, you should rectify that immediately. The best course of action is stopping it before it happens when it comes to preventing subletting.

 

Are you currently handling a situation with a subletting tenant? There are professionals that can help you. The property management professionals at Real Property Management Genesis have the experience and legal knowledge to guide you through any lease violation situations, getting you back to business as quickly and as painlessly as possible. Learn more about what we can do for property owners like you by contacting us online or calling us at 619-842-1150.

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