Landlord slow on adding my wife to lease... what to do next?

[mogiftney 144]

Hey guys, so since December I have been trying to get my wife added to our lease. Our lease was up in July, so our HOA management said that the landlord told them to tell me to wait until July when we resign our lease to add my wife. I wasn’t ecstatic, but I accepted that. It’s been ~a month of me calling my apartments HOA management off the hook and them stating that “they’re working on it”. I’m really fed up to be honest. I don’t think they are going to add her before her medical expires.

 

My question to all of you wonderful people is, do we really need to provide the tenancy agreement with my wife’s name on it in the AOS packet? I am aware that it helps, because the more you can prove the better,  but we reaaaally need to get this sent off, it’s been way too long for comfort. So, exactly how important is this? We have many pics of us, scans of wedding and birthday cards from her family, social media posts to each other and our families,  our phone bill that shows her married name billed to our address, that’s about it. (We live with my brother who pays the utility bills, would it be kosher to add her to those? I don’t think 3 people can be added to the bill, and if not it would look weird if only he and her were on there. Also at this point, wouldn’t it take a while to receive the bill with her name on it? We really want this package sent off ASAP). 

 

But, we never got around to opening her a US bank account, or adding her to mine. COVID lockdown hit as soon as we were about to take care of that. Also, I’m on Medi-Cal so I cannot add her to my insurance. And I don’t file taxes, so no joint filing. 
 

Does our case look weak? I’m very worried. Should we wait for the landlord or just send it off without the tenancy agreement? Any further advice on how to strengthen our proof of relationship? Thanks a ton!

Edited August 2, 2020 by mogiftney

[Letspaintcookies 2,213]

All you need to send of the application is the marriage certificate. All the other stuff you bring to the interview. You had no reason at all to wait so long

[mogiftney 144]

25 minutes ago, Letspaintcookies said:

All you need to send of the application is the marriage certificate. All the other stuff you bring to the interview. You had no reason at all to wait so long

My goodness. Now I feel like a fool! Ha. Oh well, it is what it is. We’re going to send it off this week then, it’s all we can do now. Thanks for the helpful response, we really appreciate it!

[Joyoussinger 1,412]

9 hours ago, Letspaintcookies said:

All you need to send of the application is the marriage certificate. All the other stuff you bring to the interview. You had no reason at all to wait so long

And even if you don't have it by the time of the interview, it won't matter. I haven't put my husband on the title for my house, and we had no problem at all. We were able to show statements for our joint bank account, both names on our health insurance, and utility bills with both names. It was enough. So send your application in now and I wish you the best of luck!

[Sweetdreaming 384]

you dont have to have the lease document, you dont really HAVE to have any single piece of evidence (maybe outside of marriage certificate !) But the more evidence you have the better, from what youve said you dont really have that much evidence yet in terms of financial ties. Its really important you get some of this done ASAP and not wait too long, get her added to your bank account or set up a new joint account that will remain very active for your income and paying of bills - this is going to be very important seeing as you wont have tax or much other billing evidence outside of the phone plan. If this is likely to be your only source of this type of evidence then theyll likely want to see the account has been used from time of marriage until interview, so dont wait thinking you have plenty of time, you have to show that you are mingling finances in this way, doing this just 1 or 2 months prior to interview with nothing else probably wouldnt look good.

Edited August 2, 2020 by skjourney

[mogiftney 144]

2 hours ago, skjourney said:

you dont have to have the lease document, you dont really HAVE to have any single piece of evidence (maybe outside of marriage certificate !) But the more evidence you have the better, from what youve said you dont really have that much evidence yet in terms of financial ties. Its really important you get some of this done ASAP and not wait too long, get her added to your bank account or set up a new joint account that will remain very active for your income and paying of bills - this is going to be very important seeing as you wont have tax or much other billing evidence outside of the phone plan. If this is likely to be your only source of this type of evidence then theyll likely want to see the account has been used from time of marriage until interview, so dont wait thinking you have plenty of time, you have to show that you are mingling finances in this way, doing this just 1 or 2 months prior to interview with nothing else probably wouldnt look good.

We have had the phone plan since marriage. Everything else would be done now, so isn’t it too late? It’s been 7 months since we got married. Also, our county is being absolutely obliterated by COVID and we haven’t left our apartment at all since mid March. Is there any way we can add her to my account or create a joint account online/over the phone?

 

also I have no income and pay no bills. So I couldn’t show that through a joint account. 

Edited August 3, 2020 by mogiftney

[Sweetdreaming 384]

1 minute ago, mogiftney said:

We have had the phone plan since marriage. Everything else would be done now, so isn’t it too late? It’s been 7 months since we got married. Also, our county is being absolutely obliterated by COVID and we haven’t left our apartment at all since mid March. Is there any way we can add her to my account or create a joint account online/over the phone?

you usually have to do it in branch as they need ID. If youre only now applying for AOS you will have quite a while until your GC interview so you should be fine as long as you can get it done reasonably soon, but its something Id be looking to do ASAP so you can show along track record of co mingling finances.

[mogiftney 144]

12 minutes ago, skjourney said:

you usually have to do it in branch as they need ID. If youre only now applying for AOS you will have quite a while until your GC interview so you should be fine as long as you can get it done reasonably soon, but its something Id be looking to do ASAP so you can show along track record of co mingling finances.

I’m sure by the time we have our interview I should have her on the lease. We have tons of evidence of our relationship itself being legitimate, (pics and cards and posts) and if covid lets up here at any point we will go to the bank to add her to my account. I feel like the fact that we are using a joint sponsor because I have zero income explicitly explains why she isn’t on my taxes (I have none) and isn’t on an insurance plan with me (I’m on government insurance). If I don’t have any income, it explains why we’re living with my family and not paying bills. At that point, what other co-mingling is there for us to prove through a joint bank account? 
 

It was exactly the same week that we started quarantine that we were going to add her to my bank account as well, I was still going to do it because even if it’s not perfect proof, it’s something that shows trust. It just sucks that we’re being swept through so badly in my county. Our air quality is garbage and we’re one of the most likely cities to be hospitalized by covid. My wife is uninsured and I don’t want her catching covid. So we just stay in completely. No walks or anything. 

Edited August 3, 2020 by mogiftney