When can landlord charge for overnight visitors?

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bluemoon82

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Ok, I never thought this could happen but never say never.

I received a letter from my apartment complex manager insinuating that my boyfriend has been staying at my place I quote "on a regular basis, overnight in violation of the controlling Rental Agreement".
There is a provision in my lease that says that I have to ask for written permission for overnight guests in my apartment otherwise I will get charged a monthly fee BUT the fact of the matter is that my boyfriend lives in another state and only came to visit for two days two weeks ago!!! As a side note: I told my manager that I was looking into possibly moving three days ago so I think the letter was triggered by that conversation(which was very polite by non-crazy people standards) .
There is no doorman nor any cameras that I know of in my apartment complex nor has my manager ever met my boyfriend or interacted with me besides when I drop off rent at his office(I am guessing that someone has seen me and my boyfriend enter the premises but how did they establish overnight staying? No car parked anywhere either!). I do not feel I have to pay anything this person based on such ridiculous allegations.

However, before I confront him I need some advice on a couple of things.

1) Can he charge me money without having some proof that I had overnight guests for extended periods of time? Does he have enough grounds to take me to court for this?
2) What is the best way to deal with this, should I write back or talk in person or both? Manager/Landlord is an attorney so I want to be very careful about our communication.
Any input would be very much appreciated.
 
If management comes back wanting to charge you for his past stays, have them list the dates they have on their records so you can verify them. The letter is just a warning that you are in violation of your lease agreement. Next time your BF comes to town, write a letter telling mgmt about his stay and how long it will be. Good Luck!
 
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If management comes back wanting to charge you for his past stays, have them list the dates they have on their records so you can verify them. The letter is just a warning that you are in violation of your lease agreement. Next time your BF comes to town, write a letter telling mgmt about his stay and how long it will be. Good Luck!

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Before sending in my letter I went in this morning to try and talk to the manager today to see if things could be ironed out in a friendly manner. Manager was unnecessarily confrontational; he would not talk to me in his office but insisted that I talk to him in the parking lot about the letter he sent me. Went so far as to yelling in the parking lot demanding to know if my BF had stayed even a single night at my place (isn't this invasion of privacy?). I told him that he could't ask me that. I feel that I am being harassed at this stage.

As far as records go he doesn't have any. Let me explain the letter I received more closely. The letter alleges that someone told my manager that BF had been staying on regular basis. Manager wants to charge me extra for the months that alleged overnigtting occured but in order to do that he wanted me to tell him the date of the first night the staying started.

Clearly this person has no records of my visitor staying over or the dates when this happened except for hearsay. I refuse to pay a dime on such basis .

Again I am really worried he is trying to screw me over for money. Can he do it without records?Plus what does a record constitute anyways? Can I get legally evicted for this?

Also his rental agreement demands that I ask for written permission when I am going to have an overnight guest even for a single night. Is this a legal thing to put on a lease? It sounds very intrusive.

I am drafting a written reply to his letter. Any suggestions as in what to put in it are very much appreciated.
 
Eviction will only happen if he has concrete proof that you have violated your lease agreement. For now, it is all hearsay. The sticky point here is that you signed a rental agreement acknowledging and agreeing that in order to have guests stay at your place, you would communicate their stay to the LL. As far as the letter, you should write that you have received management's letter and that from now on you will communicate to the leasing office when you will have guests over until the date you move out of the unit. Good Luck!
 
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