Advice for renting out a room

Re: Advice for renting out a room

• Erikan73 member

  

  February 2015

  I can't help you with a sample contract or background check. We have a long time friend of my husbands' living with us. But I will give you this advise on things you may want to add to contract

  • Exact details of what rent amount is
  • Date rent is due
  • Consequences of rent being late (example, many apartments will add a late fee for being more then 5 days late on the rent
  • What is included in rent (cable, water, electric, food, laundry)
  • What you expect them to do around your home (wash their own dishes, cleaning of the bathroom or shared areas)
  • Food, are you sharing food, seperating food, will some food like condiments be community items
  • What spaces they have access and how much area they have for storage of items
  • Rules for smoking/drinking (is it ok, if not, is outside ok, then they know for guests too)
  • rules for guests (not that you have to have specific rules for this but expectations)
  • If you have a laundry machine can they use it & do they need to provide their own degergent is can they use that and your products as part of their rent
  • Make contract go for 6 months or max 12 months. I personally thing 6 month contracts are more reasonable until you know how well you get along with the person

   

  Most of these things are things I wish we would have done with our roommate, but he was there before I came into the picture so it was hard to change their arrangement, but I wish we would have had the above in place or at least a discussion about with him.

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• AprilZ81 member

  

  February 2015

  The above list is great, if you PM me your address I can email you the contract I used when I had roommates.  It isn't a "legal" document, but in most states an agreement like this would be binding if it came to that.

  
  

  Obviously I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advise.

  
  

  Otherwise just try to think through different scenarios and address any boundaries.  Does the laundry room share a wall with your bedroom?  If so you might want to have "no laundry after 11:00 pm" so you don't have to try to sleep with the washing machine running.  All of those types of situations should be considered and a plan in place to deal with them.

  Formerly AprilH81

  

  
  

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• short+sassy member

  

  February 2015

  I own a duplex and rent out the other side.  PM me your e-mail address and I would be happy to send you a blank copy of the rental contract I use.  I'm not a lawyer, nor did I get it drawn up with a lawyer, but it will give you a basic gist of what to include.

  Also, technical detail, but until the tenant moves in, you should call the security deposit a "holding deposit".  As in, it is non refundable and you all get to keep it if the tenant does not move in (per his/her choice).  Then it turns into the security deposit upon move-in.  You'll want that all spelled out in writing, as well, upon receiving the holding deposit.  Of course, if you decide not to rent to them after a background check, the deposit needs to be returned.

  I always find my tenants on Craig's List, though they have all lived and worked in the US before they moved in.  I typically verify employment, income, and speak to the previous landlord.  I am also going to start doing a credit checks.  However, some/most of that may not be easy to do for someone coming from another country.

  As others said, establishing rules for the household is key, especially since they will be living in your home.

  General FYI, landlord/tenant laws vary DRASTICALLY by state...often even by county.  You would not even believe how drastically different it can be.  However, you typically won't need to worry about that unless things go really bad and you potentially end up in an eviction situation. 

  Highly, highly doubt this would happen with the situation you are describing.  But, if it does, in "tenant friendly" states, you'll probably want to hire a real estate attorney to do the eviction proceeding correctly.  "Landlord friendly" states, you can probably do it yourself.  Your county should have their eviction procedure rules/guidelines/forms available online. 

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• csuave member

  

  February 2015

  @short+sassyTNwill not let me PM you. Can you PM me and then maybe I will have luck doing a reply? Thanks!!

  short+sassy said:

  I own a duplex and rent out the other side.  PM me your e-mail address and I would be happy to send you a blank copy of the rental contract I use.  I'm not a lawyer, nor did I get it drawn up with a lawyer, but it will give you a basic gist of what to include.

  Also, technical detail, but until the tenant moves in, you should call the security deposit a "holding deposit".  As in, it is non refundable and you all get to keep it if the tenant does not move in (per his/her choice).  Then it turns into the security deposit upon move-in.  You'll want that all spelled out in writing, as well, upon receiving the holding deposit.  Of course, if you decide not to rent to them after a background check, the deposit needs to be returned.

  I always find my tenants on Craig's List, though they have all lived and worked in the US before they moved in.  I typically verify employment, income, and speak to the previous landlord.  I am also going to start doing a credit checks.  However, some/most of that may not be easy to do for someone coming from another country.

  As others said, establishing rules for the household is key, especially since they will be living in your home.

  General FYI, landlord/tenant laws vary DRASTICALLY by state...often even by county.  You would not even believe how drastically different it can be.  However, you typically won't need to worry about that unless things go really bad and you potentially end up in an eviction situation. 

  Highly, highly doubt this would happen with the situation you are describing.  But, if it does, in "tenant friendly" states, you'll probably want to hire a real estate attorney to do the eviction proceeding correctly.  "Landlord friendly" states, you can probably do it yourself.  Your county should have their eviction procedure rules/guidelines/forms available online. 

  
  

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• short+sassy member

  

  February 2015

  @csuave, no problem.  I just PM'ed you my e-mail address.  Just send me an e-mail and I'll reply back to it with a blank copy of my lease.  Let me know here if, for some reason, you aren't able to read the message.

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