Subletting and Unauthorized Occupants: What a Landlord Can Do (and the Clause That Prevents It)
There is a name on the mailbox you do not recognise. Or the tenant's "friend visiting for a while" has been there since March. Or the unit is on a short-stay site under a name that is not yours. All three are the same problem — someone is living in your property under no agreement with you — and the answer to all three starts with the lease you signed a year ago.
This guide covers where a guest becomes an occupant, what to do when you find one, when the right answer is to add them rather than remove them, the sublet request you should sometimes approve, and the clause that makes the next tenancy easier.
Guest, Occupant, Subtenant
- A guest visits. They do not receive mail, keep a key, or contribute to rent. Every tenant is entitled to guests, and a lease that tries to ban overnight guests is unenforceable in most states.
- An occupant lives there. The usual lease definition: more than 14 consecutive nights, or more than 30 nights in a year. Occupants must be on the lease — as a tenant if they are an adult, or listed if they are a minor — because your screening, your insurance and your legal remedies all depend on knowing who is inside.
- A subtenant pays the tenant rent to occupy all or part of the unit. Without your written consent this is a lease violation in nearly every lease and, in some states, in the statute itself.
The number matters. Put the guest limit in the lease as a number of nights, not as "extended stays." Fourteen consecutive nights or thirty in a year is the common standard and courts accept it. Without a number, the argument is about whether a partner who sleeps over five nights a week "lives there," and that argument is not one you win cleanly.
When You Find an Unauthorised Occupant
- Confirm before you act. A neighbour's report is not proof. A name on a package, a car every night for a month, or the tenant simply telling you is. Do not enter without notice to check — that creates a bigger problem than the one you are investigating.
- Talk to your tenant first. Most of the time, the tenant has a partner who moved in, or a relative in a hard patch, and did not think of it as a lease matter. One conversation — "I need everyone living there to be on the lease; here is how we do that" — resolves the majority of cases.
- Serve a notice to cure. If the conversation does not resolve it, a written notice citing the occupancy clause, stating the violation and the state's cure period: either the occupant applies and is added, or they leave, by the date. This is the same notice as any lease violation — the state notice pages have the period and the form.
- Follow through. If the cure period passes and nothing has changed, the violation is uncured and the lease's remedies apply. A notice you served and then ignored teaches the tenant that notices mean nothing.
You cannot remove the occupant yourself — not by changing the locks, not by calling the police for "trespass" (police will nearly always treat an occupant of a month as a resident), not by removing their belongings. The occupant is dealt with through the tenant and, if it comes to that, through the court, the same as any eviction.
When the Answer Is Yes
Adding an occupant is usually the better outcome. Your tenant stays, rent keeps coming, and you gain a second adult who is screened and liable. The process is short:
- The new occupant completes an application and screening like any applicant
- If approved, a lease addendum adds them as a tenant, jointly and severally liable with the original tenant
- The occupancy limit in the lease (and the local code — typically two per bedroom plus one) is not exceeded
- Any change to rent, deposit or utilities is written into the addendum
A sublet request can be worth approving too. A tenant leaving for a six-month work assignment who finds a qualified subtenant is solving your vacancy for you. Approve it in writing, screen the subtenant, and make clear that the original tenant remains fully liable — that is the point of a sublet, and it is why it is safer for you than a lease break.
How it works in My Rental Spot: the new occupant applies through the same link as any applicant, screening runs, and the addendum is generated from the lease and signed online by everyone. The notice to cure, if you need it, is generated from the tenant's record with the state period applied. See tenant screening.
Short-Term Rental Listings
A tenant listing your unit on a short-stay platform is a sublet, a lease violation, usually a breach of your insurance, and in many cities a licensing violation with fines that land on the owner. Treat it as urgent: notice to cure the same day you confirm it, with a screenshot of the listing attached, and a demand that the listing come down. Most platforms will remove a listing on the owner's request with proof of ownership. Then decide whether the tenancy continues — a tenant who did this once and stopped is one thing; one who argues about it is telling you what the next year looks like.
The Clause
Three things in that clause do the work: the night count, the requirement to apply and be approved (not just "notify"), and naming short-term listing specifically so there is no argument about whether it counts as subletting. See Lease Agreement Essentials for the rest of the lease.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can a guest stay before they are considered a tenant?
Whatever the lease says — commonly 14 consecutive nights or 30 nights in a year. Without a lease limit, states vary and the question becomes a factual one about whether the person lives there (mail, keys, belongings, contribution to rent).
Can I evict an unauthorised occupant directly?
No. The occupant is dealt with through the tenant: a notice to cure the lease violation, then, if uncured, the eviction process against the tenancy. You cannot change locks, remove belongings, or have police remove someone who has been living there.
Can a tenant sublet without my permission?
Almost every lease prohibits it, and several states prohibit it by statute absent the landlord's consent. Unauthorised subletting is a lease violation that supports a notice to cure and, if uncured, termination. Approving a well-screened sublet in writing is often the better outcome.
Can I charge more rent when someone moves in?
On a fixed-term lease, only if the lease provides for it or the tenant agrees in the addendum. On a month-to-month tenancy, with proper notice of the rent change. Many landlords add a modest amount for a second adult to cover utilities and wear.
What if the tenant lists my unit on Airbnb?
Serve a notice to cure immediately with a screenshot, demand the listing come down, and contact the platform with proof of ownership. It is a sublet violation, likely an insurance breach, and in many cities a licensing violation for which the owner is fined.
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