Can A Landlord Refuse To Allow A Tenant To Have Visitors?

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10 Answers

Rosie Normanton Profile
Rosie Normanton answered
In general, the answer to this question is no, a landlord cannot refuse to allow a tenant to have visitors. The property that you are renting from him (or her) may belong to him but it is your home and you are allowed to have guests.

There could be exceptions to this, though, and they could come into being depending on what your visitors do when they are visiting you. If they are creating damage to his property, he certainly has a right to refuse them access. He may also want to press charges for criminal damage, or expect you to pay for any necessary repairs.

If your visitors stay the night at your house or flat, you will probably find that that is fine, but if it becomes so that your visitors are never away from the place, your landlord could take the view that you are subletting. Depending upon the contract that you have with him, it is likely that this breaks the terms of your lease. You could find, if this were the case, that your landlord has a very good reason could be evicted.

There are many rules that both you and your landlord have to stick to, and they should be set out in your lease. For example, your landlord is allowed to come to the house to make an inspection or to check up on something but he  must give you 24 hours notice that he is going to turn up. 

It will certainly state in your lease that you are responsible for taking care of the property, but the landlord is unable to dictate to you that you keep it tidy; that is entirely up to you and different people have different standards.
Aisha Profile
Aisha answered
No the landlord have no rights to do that. Until and unless there are certain legal cluses he had maintained for the visitors. Otherwise no landlord can restrict the visitors.
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cristina a
cristina a commented
i'm having the same problem and he told me i have 3 days to move out just cause i have visitors over I'm planing on suing ....do you think i could do that? i haven't sign the lease and before i move dhe told me it didn't mind..watt should i do?
cristina a
cristina a commented
i'm having the same problem and he told me i have 3 days to move out just cause i have visitors over I'm planing on suing ....do you think i could do that?
cristina a
cristina a commented
i'm having the same problem and he told me i have 3 days to move out just cause i have visitors over I'm planing on suing ....do you think i could do that?
Margaret Francher Profile
Yes, the landlord would have had to put in writing on the lease that no other person(s) are allowed on the property. If it was not done prior to you signing the lease, he can not change in mid stream.
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Anonymous
Anonymous commented
It depends on what you mean by visitors. If visitors begin to stay for several nights and days on end; and not pay rent? Yes, you bet ! An oral agreement is just as binding as a written one. I don't think your landlord would be a hard nose if you were up front and told him/her your visitor would only be your guess for say, ...one week vacation max. There is costs to him for wear and tear of property and various cost of utilities. How about offering to pay a stipen out of common decency
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
I am having a similar problem with my landlord in Wisconsin. There is nothing in the lease stating that I cannot have visitors or that I can only have them for certain lengths of time. My roommate and I are very cooperative and decent tenants. My boyfriend lives an hour and a half away and he comes to visit frequently. Due to his job, when he comes, he comes for usually 3 days at a time, leaves, and might return in 1 1/2 or 2 weeks to stay for 3 more nights. We're only 4 months into the lease and our landlord is beginning to harass me about my boyfriends being around a lot, etc. We are very quiet, and not disturbing others. He texted me saying "boy oh boy, your boyfriend sure does stay here a lot" and more. Before this text he had questioned it once before, but never said it was an issue. I emailed him and gave him my point of view (in a respectful manner) and re-told him that my boyfriend lives a ways away and thus visits for a few days at a time. I told him that because we are not disturbing anyone, that I didn't feel that it was his business if and when my boyfriend is there. He replied and said that he'd never had this "problem" in his 5 years of owning the building and that "we had a verbal agreement of visitors for no more than 3 days at a time." My BF has stayed a maximum of 4 days in a row maybe 2 times. There never was a verbal agreement made. The email was the first time he'd ever mentioned it. He also did not state how often someone could stay for 3 days at a time. I have not and will not respond to his last email because I don't want him to come up with other more ridiculous restrictions. If this sort of restriction was stated on the lease, I would not have moved in due to the fact it would limit my time with my boyfriend.

Do I have any rights here? He just stated this supposed "verbal agreement" 2 days ago. At what point is it harassment when my landlord asks me about my BF? Especially if my BF is only staying for 3 days at a time. I don;t think my landlord really keeps track of how long he stays, he Just sees his car and harasses me about it. If my bf didn't have his car near the property, my landlord wouldn't even know he was there (that's how quiet we are).

Any suggestions since this was only his idea of a "verbal agreement"? If there is a time that my boyfriend stays for 4 days, can my landlord legally do anything?
Jason Levy Profile
Jason Levy answered

Yes he would do that.Because some landlords have issue to allow a tenant to have visitors. If you sign a lease agreement with your landlords and written about this then you can not do anything. He have authority to refuse to allow visitors. But in case you didn't sign a lease then they can not do that.

Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered

I live in California. My Mormon landlord insists that I do not have my boyfriend spend the night on the house I am renting from him because of the influence it might have on his 13 year-old daughter. He had me sign under duress with a threat of a 24 hour notice to vacate and that he would keep my cleaning deposit even though there are no property damages or lost rent and I had to clean this place to move into it. Is this legal???

Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered

I live in CA. Recently I moved and have been renting a bedroom and bathroom in a private home for 2 months now. My 28-year old landlord/roommate (who is the home owner) finally gave me a Rental Agreement to go over and sign at the beginning of April. 

I objected  that some agreed-upon items were omitted and to the wording of several other items. I thought we had hashed things out this past week and have been waiting for him to present me the amended agreement to sign. 

Meantime, this afternoon after returning from a hike with a male friend, I asked him to join me in the back yard for a glass of wine before he went home. 

He and I chatted in the back yard when my landlord/roommate came home. Upon seeing I had company, he very melodramatically put his hand over his heart and told me I had violated the Rental Agreement because I had not  gotten his "permission" prior to bringing a visitor on premises. 

I was very taken aback and told him I didn't think it would be an issue because we were in the back yard. I apologized, said it wouldn't happen again, and he informed me it surely wouldn't happen again because I'd broken his trust. 

With that he taped a Three-Day Notice to Perform or Quit onto my door to vacate my room in 3 days. The Rental Agreement does state I must get his "permission" prior to having a guest in the house, but I believe that requirement violates my personal rights. Do I have any recourse? He's big on everything being legal, thus I need a code, regulation, or statute to quote to him re my rights as a Tenant/Lodger. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

lisa bell Profile
lisa bell answered
I have a rental aggreement that states " It shall not assign or sublet or allow any oher person to occupy the leased premises" Does tha mean that I can't have someone stay overnight? But then  again she has had people stay the night?
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
Hello I had some q's about my rental agreement...when I signed the rental agreement I agreed to no congregating of family or friends thinking that it meant I would not throw parties and things like that...I have been in my apartment for 3 days now and had a few friends come over "separately" just to see my place and visit...my landlord however says that this is congregating and that I have broken my rental agreement I told him that I didnt think that having a friend stop by to visit for a few hours was wrong or in any way breaking our agreement he said that friends can come over but only for 1 or 2 hours at a time...now my Q is can my landlord dictate who can come to my house and how long they can visit me? In the agreement it states that a visitor will b considered living there if they stay more than a total of 3 days what does this mean please get back with me as soon as possible.
Thank you,
  Donald Wirth

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