Renting with roommates? (lease, tenants, evict, rental)

[CJMac02]

Soon, I'm moving back to South Carolina and to be able to afford to live in the house that I'll be renting, I'm going to almost depend on having roommates. The house is a spacious 3 bedroom owned by my parents and it's actually the house where I grew up in. The water is from an on-site well and electricity is fairly cheap. Rent is $500 currently but I plan on paying about $600. I figured the total cost of living there would be $1000 a month. If each of 3 people living there pays $400 a month with all expenses covered, it should be easy to find someone since Hartsville is a college town full of (private tuition paying) students. I want some advice on having and renting with roommates and also I'd like to know if the following is good for an ad.

My name is CJ and I am an 18 year old high school graduate seeking two roommates of either sex to rent a home with. The home is 3 bedrooms with 2 bathrooms, full kitchen, laundry, multiple storage buildings, large living room and dining room and airy screened in porch on the main entrance. Location is completely fenced in and there is a car port as well as a garage. Wi-fi is available. The neighborhood is clean and friendly about 10 minutes outside of town near the community of Antioch. Lot next door is empty and also owned by the same landlord (my parents) which is good for gardening or ATV's. The yard has low maintenance shrubbery and 20 or so trees including a large pecan tree. Garbage pickup is included as well. Pets are welcome other than snakes and anything poisonous. Each room has a lockable door. No smoking inside of the house whatsoever.

The ideal roommate would be someone who is at least mildly clean, down to earth and friendly, preferably non-racist, non-sexist, non-homophobic. I do not do any kind of drugs and as long as you don't do anything hard, I don't care. Drinking must be kept at a minimum. I will probably not spend a lot of time in the common areas other than cooking, dining, etc. I will maintain the yard and deal with disputes. Rent is $450 per person with all amenities and utilities (water, lights, internet, garbage pickup, TV, cleaning supplies, some furniture) included. If someone wants to pay $100 more, they can have the master bedroom, private bathroom, and walk-in closet, otherwise it's mine. If you have furniture, that's awesome and we'll definitely use it if you want and I don't really care how you decorate the home as long as it is somewhat proper.

Contact me for more information at [redacted]

I'm probably nit-picky on things, but it's for mine and the other peoples comfort.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

So, your rent would be $400? Is there any way you can find a place to rent on your own for $400?

Having roommates is a pain in so many ways.

If you do choose to do this, I advise you to at least take out of the ad your age and the mention of being a high school graduate.

Also, you need to be firm about what is allowed and what isn't. Your ad can be much shorter.

I'm just afraid your ad will attract people who want to park ugly travel trailers, saying the next door vacant lot is good for ATV's. Your mention of a fenced yard will attract people with dogs.

It's helpful if your ad works to pre-screen potential tenants, too.

Something like: 2 rooms for rent for $450 for private room and shared bath, $550 for master bedroom with private bath, including all utilities and wi-fi. Good neighborhood and plenty of parking.

You must have good credit and must pass a background check, and have good landlord references (not relatives). All will be verified. Rental term (1 year lease or month to month - I suggest month to month, as it's easier to get rid of someone if there are problems). Deposit is one month's rent.

Don't limit yourself to not using the common areas, etc. I think you should present yourself as the landlord. You are the boss. If the area is a good one for renting rooms, you can set the terms and you'll find tenants who will be okay with them.

Your ad above just makes you look like someone who can be taken advantaqe of, IMO. I suggest you come across more business-like. You can become friends later.

It would also be a good idea to come up with a roommate agreement regarding cleaning etc. You can find these easily online by googling roommate agreement.

Good luck to you.

[My Other Self]

Although not impossible, good roommates are really hard to come by. I rented a room out of a house for nearly 3 years and was roommates with the owner. We had a rotating 3rd roommate what seemed like every other month - there were quite a few flakes. I was lucky in that my rental agreement didn't require me to pay any added expenses due to the lack of that third person, but the owner had to fork over whatever was leftover after I paid. I don't envision it being cheap.

Your ad seems professional, but understand unless you're doing background checks on these people and holding them to rental agreements you could wind up footing a lot of the utilities and rent.

[willow wind]

OP, let's think about what you're doing. You're renting from your parents. They own the house. What you are trying to do is to sublet the rooms in the house.

Do your parents know you are doing this ? Are they willing to let you do this or would they rather handle the rental of the additional rooms on their own ? Have you shown your rent ad to them ? Are they willing to have strangers with pets in their house ? Are they willing to permit drugs ? Are they willing to permit underage drinking ? This is still their house. Any legal problems with drugs/drinking can come to haunt them as owners.

Can you legally sublet a house in your town ? Have you checked zoning regulations to see how many unrelated people can live in one home.

Do you have an attorney who can draw up rental agreements for you for these future room mates? You and your parents need the protection of legal sublet leases. You need to be able to evict problem tenants and not wind up with squatters who refuse to leave. You cannot do this on a handshake or some piece of paper you create.

I would suggest the following to both you and your parents.
No pets. Pets can quickly destroy a house. Too many unrelated people in a small space with pets is nothing but trouble. College students don't need pets. What will they do with them when they go home for breaks, holidays or summer ? Who will be responsible for the pet then.

No drinking allowed in the house. The legal drinking age is 21 in SC, is it not ? Turning the house into party central for underage drinking will have the police at your door quickly.

No drugs allowed. Last I heard SC has no legal drugs, not even weed. Even small amounts, 1 oz. is a misdemeanor, more than one ounce is trafficking ( serious). You and your parents don't need the problem.

You also need to figure out what you will do with room mates who want to have some one stay over. One night's stay can turn into another permanent resident quickly. You'll need to put wording into your contract about how many night's a room mate can have a guest out of a week, a month, etc.

Sorry to rain on your parade. If you want to be a landlord, then you need to worry less about being an easy going, cool guy and think of this as a business arrangement. There is a property to protect and rent that will need to be collected. Get an attorney involved who can draw up the correct leases with start and end dates, security deposits, provisions for damages, etc.

Renting out rooms may be something you can do and it will work out OK. You might also like to start out with one room mate for say $ 500 a month. Then add another at some point way down the road when you see how sharing with one goes. Good luck.

[Kim in FL]

Let your parents be the landlord and let them choose who lives in their house.

No offense, but you're 18....and you're inviting strangers into your home and giving them free reign (and telling them to bring their pets with them!!)