Guest Policies: What Your Lease Says About Overnight Visitors

Your lease sets how long a guest can stay, so look in its guest clause for a limit on consecutive nights, total nights over a period, or both. A guest who stays past that limit, or who moves in without the landlord's approval, becomes an unauthorized occupant, which is a lease violation that can lead to a written notice and, if you do not fix it, an eviction case in court. Your landlord also cannot lock anyone out, remove belongings, or cut off utilities to enforce a guest rule; California and New York, for example, penalize those steps. In New York, a lease cannot stop a single tenant who lives in the unit from having immediate family and one additional occupant live there too.

How long can a guest stay?

As long as your guest clause allows. Read it for three things:

1. The limit. Note whether it counts consecutive nights, total nights in a month or year, or both, and count from your guest's first night.
2. What happens past the limit. The clause may require the landlord's written consent, registration of the guest, or adding the person to the lease.
3. Responsibility for guests. You answer for your guests: California's Department of Real Estate (DRE) says a tenant must repair damage, beyond normal wear and tear, caused by anyone the tenant is responsible for, including guests.

If your lease has no guest clause, check who it allows to live in the unit. The DRE lists the number of people allowed to live in the rental unit as a term your rental agreement should state, and a person who has moved in, rather than visiting, counts toward that number. Occupancy standards set a separate cap on how many people can live in a unit; see occupancy limits in rental housing.

If you have a Housing Choice Voucher

Under HUD's voucher rules, promptly notify your housing agency of a child's birth, adoption, or court-awarded custody; these additions do not require advance approval. Get agency approval before any other new resident moves in, including a live-in aide or a child placed in your care without adoption or court-awarded custody. Breaking these family obligations is grounds for the agency to end your assistance, so check your housing agency's guest policy as well as your lease before a guest stays long.

When a guest becomes an unauthorized occupant

Two states show how the law treats occupants who are not named on the lease:

• New York: under Real Property Law section 235-f, a lease cannot limit occupancy to the named tenant or the tenant's immediate family. If one tenant is on the lease, that tenant may live with immediate family, one additional occupant, and that occupant's dependent children, as long as the tenant or the tenant's spouse lives there as a primary residence. If two or more tenants are on the lease, an occupant can take the place of a named tenant who moves out, but tenants plus occupants, not counting occupants' dependent children, cannot outnumber the tenants named on the lease. You must give the landlord the occupant's name within 30 days after the person moves in, or within 30 days after the landlord asks. The occupant has no right to stay if you move out unless the landlord expressly agrees, and the attorney general's guide notes that a landlord can still limit the total number of residents to meet legal overcrowding standards.
• California: the DRE explains that adults who move in without being on the rental agreement can be added to an eviction case as "unnamed occupants" through a form called a Prejudgment Claim of Right to Possession. An occupant served with that form has 10 days to file it with the court, paying the filing fee or requesting a fee waiver, to join the case. If they do not file it and the named tenants lose, the sheriff can remove them. An occupant who was not served, is not named in the court's eviction order, and moved in before the lawsuit began may submit a Claim of Right to Possession before removal so the court can hear their claim.

What your landlord can do to enforce a guest limit

A landlord enforces a guest rule the way it enforces other lease terms, starting with notice:

• Florida: the statute names unauthorized guests as a violation the tenant must be allowed to cure. After the landlord delivers a written notice, you have 7 days to correct it, for example by having the guest leave, and if the same violation happens again within 12 months, the landlord can file for eviction without giving you another chance (Florida Statutes section 83.56).
• California: a three-day notice for a violation you can fix must give you the option to fix it, and if you do within three days, the tenancy continues. Count from the day after the notice is served, skipping Saturdays, Sundays, and court holidays. Where a just cause law such as the Tenant Protection Act covers your unit (these laws limit the reasons a landlord can end a tenancy), the landlord has to send a notice to cure, meaning a notice giving you time to fix the problem, before any three-day notice to quit.

If the violation is not fixed, the landlord's next step is an eviction case, and a court decides whether you and anyone living with you must leave. If your lease requires a long-term guest to apply or be added, our guide to adding someone to your lease covers the process.

What your landlord cannot do

Even when a guest has overstayed, these steps are off-limits:

• Locking anyone out or shutting off service. In California, a landlord that changes the locks, removes doors or windows, removes your belongings, or interrupts utilities to end your occupancy owes your actual damages plus up to $100 for each day of the violation, with at least $250 awarded for each separate cause of action, meaning a distinct legal claim (Civil Code section 789.3). In New York, a landlord cannot use force, threats, a lock change, removal of belongings, or a cutoff of essential services to push out a person who has lawfully occupied a unit for 30 consecutive days or more, or who has a lease. Only a court order or a government vacate order allows removal, and each violation carries a civil penalty of $1,000 to $10,000.
• Entering to check on guests. California allows a landlord to enter only for listed reasons, such as an emergency, repairs, or showing the unit, usually during business hours and with reasonable written notice, which is presumed to be 24 hours (Civil Code section 1954). Checking who is staying over is not on that list, and the landlord may not use its right of entry to harass you.
• Enforcing a clause that New York law voids. A New York lease term that bars your immediate family, or the one additional occupant section 235-f allows, is unenforceable.

Steps when a guest will stay longer than the lease allows

1. Count your guest's nights against the clause, including earlier visits if the limit covers a month or year.
2. Ask the landlord in writing for consent before the limit is reached, and keep the reply.
3. If the person is moving in, ask the landlord to approve them as an occupant or add them to the lease, unless New York's section 235-f protects the occupancy as described above. For that protected occupancy, no landlord consent or lease change is required; send the landlord the occupant's name within 30 days of move-in or within 30 days after the landlord asks.
4. If you receive a notice, fix the problem within the notice period and keep proof, such as the landlord's written consent or a record of the date your guest left.

Our guide to common lease violations and their consequences explains what can follow other notices, and understanding your lease terms covers the rest of your lease.