What's the procedural path?

Standard unauthorized-occupant analysis: 3-day cure or quit citing the lease occupancy clause. Cure = partner moves out or is added to the lease through landlord approval. The practical outcome is usually a lease amendment adding the partner.

Do FEHA familial status / marital status rules affect this?

You cannot refuse to add a partner solely on marital status grounds — FEHA protects marital status. But you can apply consistent screening criteria to any added occupant: income, credit, rental history. The decision must be based on the screening, not the relationship.

What if I want to keep the lease just-one-tenant?

Enforce the occupancy provision through cure or quit. Tenant chooses: partner moves out or vacates the unit. But if the relationship continues and the partner keeps living there, the practical reality favors amending the lease to capture rent obligations from both.

How do I add the partner to the lease?

Standard screening: application, credit check, income verification, prior rental references. If passes screening, lease amendment listing both tenants jointly and severally liable. If fails screening, deny and proceed with the unauthorized-occupant cure or quit if they remain.

What about a long-term partner of multiple years?

Time can create implied-tenancy arguments. The longer a partner has lived there with landlord knowledge, the harder a cure-or-quit becomes. Address promptly rather than letting tenure compound.

Unauthorized occupant · FEHA marital status

Tenant moved a partner in. Cure or quit — but the cure is usually a lease amendment.

Same procedural framework as any unauthorized occupant. Different in practice: the cure is usually adding the partner to the lease through standard screening rather than removing them.

TL;DR

3-day cure or quit citing lease occupancy clause. Cure = partner moves out OR gets added to lease via standard screening. Apply consistent screening criteria to avoid marital-status discrimination under FEHA. Long-term partners with landlord knowledge → implied tenancy risk.

Unauthorized Occupant
Roommates & Co-Tenants
Fair Housing & FEHA

Common questions — partner moved in

Procedural path?

3-day cure or quit citing occupancy clause.

FEHA marital status?

Protected. Apply consistent screening to any added occupant.

Keep single-tenant lease?

Enforce occupancy clause. Tenant chooses path.

How to add to lease?

Standard screening, then amendment with joint-and-several liability.

Long-term partner?

Implied-tenancy risk. Act promptly.