Can a landlord insist that an occupant provide a SSN?
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Can a landlord insist that an occupant provide a SSN?
I have a daughter studying at a university and she is renting an apartment. Her fiance, a legal emigrant on a fiance visa, came a couple weeks ago. Obviously he does not have SSN. The property manager does not allow him to stay because they cannot do a security check because he no SSN. Is this legal? I stress that he is legally in US and will get a SSN once they get married (they have 3 months for that).
Asked on March 28, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Washington
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Yes, it is legal to require a tenant or prospective tenant to provide a SSN for purposes of security check; renting an apartment to someone is a voluntary act (landlords don't have to be landlords; they choose to enter that business and provide that service), and so landlords may require various background or credit checks.
However, if the finance is not a prospective tenant but rather is a guest of your daughter, who is the tenant, then the landlord only has whatever authority or power over guests as the lease itself grants it. If there are any provisions or clauses in the lease which allow the landlord to exclude guests, limit their stays, ask them to leave, etc., those provisions are usually legal and enforceable...however, in the absence of some such term in the lease, the landlord would seem to have no authority over who your daughter has a guest, when.
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