I rent a lot of units in Boston and I had never heard the term "Authorised Occupant". Thanks Wallace, you just taught me something new!

Me too Wallace.  I had not heard the term authorized occupant.  Thanks.

Priceless...peace of mind for less $$$$ in the end. I learned a tip, too.

Wallace, good points to pass along. I have friends who rent, and then add roommates. The new roommates are the ones who seem to cause the issues with the landlord, yet they have no liability in the lease.

Wallace, You certainly know what you are talking about. Do you just do property management, or do you sell real estate as well? Do you think one can do both well?

Sadly we have no good property managers in this area that I feel comfortable enough to refer.  I wish someone would come here and show them how it's done - they would be successful.  Thanks for your post.

Wallace, Thanks, I will pass this along to my brother-in-law. He owns several properties.

Well written Wallace and I only wish that more folks took the advice that you share. Property Management is NOT just like real estate but is a distinct field with many bear traps waiting to catch the unwary. Hire a professional. 

Another hard money lesson to learn is if you add another primary tenant at the top of the lease and not just a permitted occupant it costs additional fees at the court house to evict the primary tenants.  More paperwork for the agent and additional liability in disputes.  That is why I only place one primary tenant on the lease and everyone else additional permitted occupants. 

Excellent, Wallace.  That a simple yet effective way of dealing with add-on tenants.  Thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom!

Excellent post.  HIring a professional property manager is the ticket to long term success for investment properties.  Everyone thinks that they can do it themselves, or some agents decide they will take care of the management because they really like this client and both of these usually turn out costing $$ money for the property owner. 

A specialist is necessary for many categories in life...PM is essential in this day and age and finding out that this is true later rather than sooner can be devastating...good one W

Hello Wallace:

 

In all my years of practicing  real estate, I had never heard the term Authorized Occupant, and now thanks to you and Active Rain I have.  Big difference indeed.

Wallace, 

Great plan.  Sometimes things don't work out and folks don't have an exit strategy in terms of leasing.  

All the best, Michelle

Check your state law, anyone considering this. We used to allow "occupants", but we had a situation where the tenant gave up possession but the occupant did not. According to our state REALTOR® Association's lawyers, we could NOT evict her, the TENANT had to evict her. What a nightmare. No more "occupants"!

Hi Wallace,

Very informative post. Thanks to you I am now aware of authorized occupants and the importance for a tenant to maintain control of their lease by adding fellow room mates as authorized occupants.

Wallace,
We can count on you to provide excellent information about handling tenants.  We could use a top notch professional in the Florida Keys; wish you were here! 
Maya 

I can provide testimony that when you own properties, regardless of how many, there's nothing like a professional property manager to oversee things, especially if the properties happen to be in a different state!

So true Wallace and the proof is in the numbers as in profit that we make our clients each and every month.