Can You Add Someone to a Lease?
A rental home lease is usually one year long. However, life rarely conforms to that kind of schedule. When people need to change living arrangements, these moments happen organically. Perhaps your romantic partner is ready to move in, or maybe a good friend needs a place to stay. You might have a roommate moving out and need to bring in someone new. There are two sides to each situation. One side is personal and the other is logistics.
Inviting someone to live with you is personal, but adding them to the lease is absolutely necessary. Any time someone will be joining you for more than a single month, they probably need to also join your rental home lease.
Can You Add Someone to a Lease?
Yes. It's easy to add someone to a lease if you understand the process.
Reasons Why a New Person Might Need to Join Your Lease
- Moving In a Romantic Partner
- Welcoming a Friend Who Needs a New Place
- Taking Care of a Relative
- Sharing the Rent with a New Roommate
How to Add Someone to a Rental Home Lease
To add a new person to your lease, they will need to fill out an application. This provides information about the new person's income to run a background check . There will be a simple 4-step process:
- Fill out a new tenant application
- Pay the application fee
- Complete the background check
- Get added to the lease
An application ensures that landlords know who is living in their community and occupying each unit. In most cases, the new person will be approved - especially if you have already met the rent-to-income financial requirements. Then, the new person will be asked to sign a copy of the lease.
Landlord will make a new copy of the lease available with all current names, either printed or digital.
Why Add To Your Lease vs Just Moving In
There are plenty of reasons why someone might move in. Life happens, and living arrangements can change. However, a long-term guest is not the same thing as living together with a romantic partner or having an official roommate.
Equality
Two adults on a lease are equals. They are equally responsible for paying rent and taking care of the rental home. With only one person on the lease, the other person is just a guest. They are both staying on the good graces of the leased resident and also free to leave whenever they want without obligations. Sharing a lease is sharing permanance and equality.
Following the Rules
Leases also usually have rules regarding long-term guests. You could get into trouble if someone is living in your rental home that didn't go through the application process. This is seen as potentially unsafe by landlords because non-leased residents can lead to liability issues. If you don't want to violate your own lease, new living partners should apply, get their background check, and get officially added to the lease.
The Benefits of Adding Someone to Your Lease
Being on the lease provides some important benefits for everyone who shares a rental home. This isn't just for the sake of compliance with the lease terms regarding long-term guests. The current resident, new resident, and landlords benefit when everyone is on the lease.
Tenant Rights and Protections
The new resident gains the full rights and protections of a legal tenant. This includes the right to request repairs, access to amenities, and respect of their possessions as a rightful resident of the rental home.
Proof of Residence
The new resident can use their recently signed lease as proof of residence. This can be useful when applying for things like insurance, jobs, identification, and local discounts, among other things.
Shared Rent Responsibility
The current resident gains assurance that their new roommate can be held equally responsible for the rent. This often provides peace of mind when friends or friendly acquaintances move in together.
Liability for Damages
Likewise, all parties share liability for damage so no one can be left fully in the lurch if something goes wrong.
Can You Remove Someone from a Lease?
Yes. Swapping roommates is completely normal. When someone moves out, the practical answer is to have them removed from the lease. This gives you the right to take back their key and for all remaining (or new) residents to claim full control over the home.
You can have someone removed from the lease by talking to the landlord. If the person confirms that they are moving out, they can sign an addendum document that removes them from the lease for the rest of the term year.