Tenants often request adding someone new — either a roommate or partner — to a lease agreement once it’s legally binding. In most cases, it is possible and easy to add someone to an existing lease if it’s allowed by the landlord. However, the landlord will need to write a lease addendum or lease amendment to add new information to the lease that can protect all parties. Tenants must also know how to notify the landlord to avoid violating the lease.
Here’s everything landlords and tenants should know about adding someone new to a lease.
Before officially adding someone to an existing lease, it’s recommended to perform the following tasks for a smooth process.
We outlined the top steps to adding a new tenant to an existing lease to help guide you along the process.
You’ll need to create an Avail account to request a rental application and tenant screening reports from an applicant. There are two options: Unlimited or Unlimited Plus, which gives you access to additional features such as waived ACH fees, lease cloning, customizable rental applications, and lease agreements.
Once you’ve picked your subscription, add your rental property (if you haven’t already) to request a rental application and your preferred tenant screening reports from the prospective tenant. Depending on the applicant’s application, you can decide if you want to accept or deny it. If their application is accepted, the next step is creating a lease amendment to update the rental agreement terms.
To create an Avail lease amendment, you’ll need to compile the following information:
You can then email the ready-to-sign document to all the parties involved to collect their signatures.
The tenants will need to download the document to add their signatures, but once signed, it can be re-uploaded to the platform for easy access. Once the landlord has added their signature, the document will be considered legally binding, like the lease agreement.
With the new tenant being added, you’ll need to onboard them to your rent collection platform to collect their portion of rent and any one-time fees. In most cases, multiple tenants split rent evenly so you may also need to adjust your current tenant’s monthly payment to reflect the new changes.
Landlords can refuse to add someone to the lease as they are not legally required to allow changes to legally-binding lease agreements. If the landlord denies the prospective tenant’s application, tenants must find a different option or keep the lease agreement as is.
In most cases, active lease agreements include a clause about adding a new tenant to the lease and the consequences of not notifying the landlord. This can result in costly fees or violating the lease terms, potentially leading to eviction. If there isn’t a clause in the lease, notify the landlord since it’s their rental property, and occupancy limits could limit how many people live in the property type.
For that reason, tenants are advised to notify the landlord when considering adding a roommate to the lease to ensure all parties are aware and reduce the chances of violating the lease.
Adding someone to an existing lease agreement is easy, but landlords need to screen prospective tenants and protect themselves with a lease amendment. With Avail, you can access our free lawyer-written lease amendment and lease agreements to help protect your rental business, yourself, and your tenants throughout the lease term.
Create an account or log in today to set up your rental property, manage your rentals, and more in one place.
