Author Topic: long term guest in single apartment...need advice  (Read 5891 times)

diymark

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long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« on: May 09, 2014, 08:53:05 AM »
Hello All,
I have a single bedroom apartment adjacent to my home (often called Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU)). I built this unit about 7 years ago and it has been a great income generator over the years. My most recent tenant is a young single that is quiet and pays on time. The issue is that they have a guest stay with them more than 75% of the time for the last 7 months. The problem with this long term guest is parking impact on the public street. The additional vehicle starts to impact my neighbors ability to park in front of their own homes. I know it would bug me if every time I came home there was someone else parked in front of my house and it was because of my neighbors rental. So what should I do? Can I specifically call out in the lease agreement about parking impacts on a public street? Can I limit the amount of time someone has a guest? Any other suggestions??

totoro

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2014, 09:25:15 AM »
As far as parking impacts on a public street, have your neighbours complained?  Where I live guests of residents are permitted to park on the street if the suite is legal.  Is there any rule against parking on the street where you are?

A normal term of a tenancy agreement is that tenants are permitted guests but there is no subletting without the permission of a landlord.  If someone is there 75% of the time they turn into an occupant and this is subletting without permission.  Where I live you could serve a notice to vacate for this reason.

If you don't have the same rules you still may have rules that apply to res ten set by your state that you may be able to refer to.  You should figure that out. 

The better way to handle it in future is in your lease or rental agreement.  You can include a clause that states: "no overnight guests for more than seven nights without written permission of the landlord".    That, or build a guest parking space on your property if possible.

richschmidt

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2014, 12:09:23 PM »
The better way to handle it in future is in your lease or rental agreement.  You can include a clause that states: "no overnight guests for more than seven nights without written permission of the landlord".

All our leases have something like that in them. I've never tried to enforce it... or felt a need to.  But it sets the expectation right from the start, and I could pull it out and refer to it if I needed to.

totoro

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2014, 01:54:42 PM »
I've never enforced it either.  Best to have it to set things up right at the start.  I think mine says seven days out of a 30-day period.

diymark

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2014, 02:47:05 PM »
We don't have any on public street parking restrictions other than a vehicle cannot remain in the same parking location for longer than 72 hours. It is more of a courtesy thing for my neighbors. I really like the idea of including a clause in the lease of greater than 7 overnights in a 30 day period is cause or requires specific landlord permission. That would nip this problem as they do get up each morning and go to work/school. Thanks for the feedback.

zataks

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2014, 03:00:24 PM »
The lease for the rental I just got out of stated something to the effect of "a fee will be imposed on the tenant for any overnight guests at a rate of 1% of monthly rent per guest per day."  When I asked the manager about it upon signing he said they pretty much never imposed the fee as it's understandable having someone stay over on occasion but would consider charging it if the guest was there all the time.  I got a little concerned the last month or two I was there because GF was always over and parked in one of my two [very visible] parking spots.  No charge though!

Wolf_Stache

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2014, 03:27:04 PM »
The lease for the rental I just got out of stated something to the effect of "a fee will be imposed on the tenant for any overnight guests at a rate of 1% of monthly rent per guest per day."  When I asked the manager about it upon signing he said they pretty much never imposed the fee as it's understandable having someone stay over on occasion but would consider charging it if the guest was there all the time.  I got a little concerned the last month or two I was there because GF was always over and parked in one of my two [very visible] parking spots.  No charge though!

I actually did have a landlord try to charge me for a guest.... who didn't exist! I never could convince him I lived alone, no guests, long term or otherwise, ended up breaking the lease and moving out early.

Be very very very sure that the person parking on the street is actually your tenants guest before you go throwing out accusations.

SunshineGirl

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2014, 12:38:43 PM »
If your only concern is him parking on the public street, try getting over it. Any car can park there, including his.

Even if you try to solve the (perceived) problem by limiting hsi number of overnights, I don't think you would, because even if he left each night at midnight, he'd still have taken up the space during the time the neighbors would have come home.

And your neighbors are grown adults and should understand the first come, first serve rule of the parking.

phred

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2014, 01:09:37 PM »
Nothing like pissing off a golden tenant - quiet & pays on time - by telling them who they can or can't have in their own home.  This would be little different than the town council telling you you couldn't open your own house to anyone.
  You might ask the tenant for an extra ten every month to pay for the increased water use.
  Other than that, you should have provided two parking spaces from the start.  If a couple had rented, and each drove to work, there would be two vehicle parking spaces needed

dragoncar

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #9 on: May 13, 2014, 02:05:51 PM »
Yeah, I think you are being unreasonable.  If there are no laws against it, you can say whatever you want in your lease.  But then you are being a pain-in-the-ass type landlord.  Your tenant is quiet and pays on time, and it's not you are sharing a bathroom with a random guest.  So I'd suck it up.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #10 on: May 13, 2014, 08:02:17 PM »
Nothing like pissing off a golden tenant - quiet & pays on time - by telling them who they can or can't have in their own home.  This would be little different than the town council telling you you couldn't open your own house to anyone.
  You might ask the tenant for an extra ten every month to pay for the increased water use.
  Other than that, you should have provided two parking spaces from the start.  If a couple had rented, and each drove to work, there would be two vehicle parking spaces needed

+1 unless it becomes an issue...don't make it an issue.

AccidentalMiser

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #11 on: May 14, 2014, 07:39:16 PM »
Nothing like pissing off a golden tenant - quiet & pays on time - by telling them who they can or can't have in their own home.  This would be little different than the town council telling you you couldn't open your own house to anyone.
  You might ask the tenant for an extra ten every month to pay for the increased water use.
  Other than that, you should have provided two parking spaces from the start.  If a couple had rented, and each drove to work, there would be two vehicle parking spaces needed

+1 unless it becomes an issue...don't make it an issue.

+2.  Can you talk to your great tenant and ask them to vary which house their guest parks in front of?

ritchie70

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #12 on: May 15, 2014, 07:20:05 AM »
As far as parking impacts on a public street, have your neighbours complained?  Where I live guests of residents are permitted to park on the street if the suite is legal.  Is there any rule against parking on the street where you are?

There are places - for instance, Chicago - where people act like they own the street in front of their house for parking purposes, and become quite irate if anyone else parks there. And God help you if you park in a space that someone cleared the snow from. That's THEIR space for sure until all the snow melts - you can tell by the kitchen chair sitting in it!

This may be common in big cities or it may be a unique Chicago thing. I have no idea. But it does exist.

SunshineGirl

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #13 on: May 16, 2014, 10:56:40 AM »

[/quote]

There are places - for instance, Chicago - where people act like they own the street in front of their house for parking purposes, and become quite irate if anyone else parks there. And God help you if you park in a space that someone cleared the snow from. That's THEIR space for sure until all the snow melts - you can tell by the kitchen chair sitting in it!

This may be common in big cities or it may be a unique Chicago thing. I have no idea. But it does exist.
[/quote]

My mom has grumbled for ten years about this car that parks opposite her driveway, as if it has no right to be there, when all she'd need to do is say to the person, "I worry that one day I'm going to back into your car" and her problem would be solved.

rmendpara

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #14 on: May 17, 2014, 03:20:43 PM »
It's only enforceable if you put some sort of clause in your lease. Otherwise, tough nuts.

Next time you extend the lease, or get a new tenant, it's best to include that. As long as they're not bugging your neighbors or causing problems, I personally wouldn't care. However, if they start to cause some sort of problems, then you have something to support yourself to get them to stop.

phred

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Re: long term guest in single apartment...need advice
« Reply #15 on: May 19, 2014, 03:15:07 PM »
Any other suggestions??

can you not just put in a second parking space?