I have a tenant whom just separated from her boyfriend. She is the primary month to month agreement holder. The boyfriend, however, IS on the month to month rental agreement as the co tenant. The girlfriend would like the locks changed and to remove him from the agreement. Do i need to speak with him first? Can I change the locks without his knowledge? Can I just remove him from the agreement without his consent?

State Specific Question About: MASSACHUSETTS (MA)

from everything I have read here the answer is no.

The highest & best answer is State specific. You are best served by making all notices/agreements IN WRITING and sent to both parties.

No, you can't remove him because she wants him off. He has a legal right to occupy property until such time as the Lease expires or everyone agrees to remove him. I never remove anyone.

YOU can't remove him at HER request but HE agreed, you could do it.

I had such a situation once and they both agreed to sign a mutual cancellation of THEIR agreement - she giving up all rights to possession - and HE signed a new one with just him as tenant at the same time.

This assumes they can agree on anything. :)

Legally, all parties must agree when a contract has to be modified, or a court of law must make the change when one or more parties cannot or will not agree. While it is not your problem to fix their domestic issue, as a practical step I'd see if you can get them to both sign a document releasing him and naming her the sole remaining tenant. This should hopefully keep things clear in case he ever decides to come back...seems like 1/3 of the time they do.

I might be tempted to do a modified version of my Early Lease Termination agreement. Maybe $200 instead of my normal 6 full weeks of rent. You are due compensation for having to sort out their personal dilemma, and this also gives you some added protection / cushion in case she defaults in the future since you won't be able to collect from him once he's released from the agreement.

If both of them agree you can but make sure that your form that they both sign stipulates:

What happens to the security deposit.

How damages that are discovered when she moves out a year from now will be dealt with.

As an example I move out one person on a lease. They both signed the same sheet that specified:

the SD would remain with Landlord and be paid out to the remaining person on the lease when the lease is terminated. All damages discovered at lease move out will be deducted from the SD. In the event that the SD is not big enough the tenant on the lease at move out will be solely responsible for the additional cost.

Those were my terms. The tenants can play the "but I paid the SD.." amongst themselves.

And that is why I never put the second party on the lease. The person who called and did the leg work is on the lease if qualified via credit check. If they arrive as a couple that is a different story.