GUESTS, GIRLFRIENDS, BOYFRIENDS, and other VISITORS: WHAT CAN THE LANDLORD DO?

It can be frustrating to landlords and property owners to have a singed lease with all of your new tenants details only to return to find they have moved someone else in without permission. How much say-so as landlords do we have about who is living in our rentals? Ottawa lawyer Michael Thiele answers that question, the answers might surprise you. 

Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Some landlords attempt to restrict the number of occupants in a rental unit, restrict the number of guests, or they seek to require a tenant to obtain their permission before allowing friends to stay over, or before getting a roommate, or before allowing a romantic partner to move into the rental unit.   Landlords will often point to a clause in the lease that states that the tenant is "so and so" and the "only" occupants in the rental unit are the following people.

​ Where that section about additional occupants is blank the landlord maintains that the tenant is not entitled to have over-night guests, short or long term guests, roommates, or even have romantic partners move in with them.    Tenants are often convinced that this is true as the lease itself either explicitly or impliedly makes it appear that the occupants of the rental unit is something that has been contracted to and that the landlord has legally reserved the right to control who lives in the apartment.

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