tenant screen additional and alternate

cgothard

What is the difference between an additional address and alternate - how do we get additional people on the lease?

ThriftyStorage

At this facility we only put one person on the lease. Now, we use a Tenant Info sheet to add other information that may be useful to us in the future.

karen700

We have one person as primary, sometimes primary has a business and a personal address, we like to try to get 3 addresses total on tenant info sheet....personal, business and we have space for 2 alternate info...if unit goes to lien process, there are many avenues available for collections.

teamcapitola

Don't know if this will help any.....

In California, Our Rental Agreement has to have a section allowing tenant to put an "Alternate contact" for Lien notices to be sent to in addition to their primary address (B&P codes 21712); but that alternate has no legal rights to the unit or any access privileges. So that's where they go in Sitelink.

We only allow 2 people to be listed as "occupants". If they want to give access to other people, they can give them their code and key, But those people are not on the lease. 

We use the additional address section to put another address that we know will get to the tenant (such as a forwarding address, or address given over phone). Even if we know the tenant has moved, unless we have a signed address update, we still legally have to send to the "last known address" (i.e. what they wrote on the agreement initially)

ThriftyStorage

When you take a valued item to a pawn shop they only ask for the person's info that is pawning the item. Why is self storage so much different than that?? I do not get it!!

Riverbird

In storage an alternate contact is a second resource in your collection efforts especially if the primary's contact's information has changed.  Also, at our facility we encourage our tenants to assign a "Full Access" alternate.  That person is not a tenant but is given permission to request the unit number, gate code or a lock cut from our staff.  If something were to happen to the tenant, the Full Access alternate would not need permission from a court to access the unit.  We have the tenant fill out a form authorizing physical access (if desired) to a specific person and add that person under the alternate tab.

khemnis

We only allow one person on the contract.  It removes us from the he said/she said business when or if they get divorced.  We don't allow anyone else to get contract information, though the way Riverbird does it may not be a bad idea as long as all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.  We call the alternate person an Emergency Contact.  So if we have something catastrophic happen and we can't get a hold of the tenant we call the alternate.  Also, we use the alternate as a last point of contact during the auction process.

Personally, I'd be careful sending liens to anyone that is not the tenant.  Fair Debt Collection laws are very specific about what you can and cannot do to contact a tenant for collection of money.  Their alternate can only be contacted one time unless the alternate actually requests you to call back, in the process of collecting a debt.  You are also legally required to make sure that nothing goes to the tenant, that can be seen by anyone else, that says on the outside or through a window, that you are attempting to collect a debt.  I don't know how that relates to someone who's given you signed permission to send a lien to someone else, but I'd make sure it's very clear that's why you have the information.  If you send a lien to someone other than the tenant and the tenant pitches a fit, they can potentially get the federal government involved.  The chances of that happening are slim to none, but I wouldn't take the chance.

I'd also be careful about allowing access or giving information that allows access to anyone that is not the tenant when it comes to the death of the tenant.  If you give access to someone who is not the legal and rightful heir, through court documents, you may be held liable if someone takes items from the unit that were not intended to be theirs.  Requiring them to provide documentation via a will or probate is always best when CYA.

That's just my 2 cents worth.  :-)