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I rent out a little single family house, that is partially furnished, in a suburb of San Diego, CA, to two separate people. The house only has one bathroom. The two tenants each rent a separate bedroom, and are on separate month to month rental agreements. One tenant is in his 50s and is on disability and could not afford to rent the entire home, which is why we did the separate rental agreements where the tenants would each rent a bedroom with access to the community areas of the house. The other tenant is in his 50s and is not disabled.
The disabled tenant has lived there for 10 years, and the non-disabled tenant has lived there for 7 years. The non-disabled tenant has recently given notice due to his job layoff & his moving in with a family member.
I don't want to break any laws when I advertise for another tenant.
The current tenant who is staying would like to have a single male roommate around his age.
Is this legal to advertise for this on Craig's List etc?
I do not live at the house, so it's not an owner-occupied-person-renting-out-the-bedroom-in-the-house situation. Is there anything I need to know about this kind of situation? I've been reading the Nolo Press book for landlords and, so far, it doesn't address this kind of situation where the owner does not live in the residence, and where the tenants have separate agreements (it's a BIG book and I'm not finished).
The house is located near a state university. Even though one would think students would not be in their 50s, could I advertise for grad students or international students, just because they seem more stable?? Can I say that the current tenant is a Taoist (sorta like a Buddhist) or is that illegal?
Beside Craigs List, where are other good places to advertise?
Where do I go to do a credit check, a background check, a criminal background check, etc on applicants????
You could face discrimination charges for stating the "type" of tenant you want. However, that said, you are NOT obligated to rent to all people who apply, as long as you have a valid, not discriminatory, reason for the refusal. Also, if you are honest about the living situation (which you should be) I am guessing you are only going to get people wiling to live with a single, 50 year old male. Can't say for sure, but I am guessing that would inherently mean that people who are single females, etc, would get no farther than asking about the conditions of the rental. I know I would not be willing to put myself in that situation if I were single. Not saying that all females would feel this way, but still guessing you will lose a lot of applicants when the situation becomes known.
Go to mrlandlord dot com. there is a Q and A section and there is a link to it that says "Ask a Question". Use this site and get advice. It is used by landlords that know the laws well. There also is a credit check service available on that web site, to be used by landlords. You have to fax proof of property ownership to be able to set up an acct for credit checks. I used it before and it was approx $10 per credit check.
Federal law says if you have less than 4 rentals you CAN discriminate when selecting a tenant BUT you cannot discriminate in your advertisement (cannot say nobody under 50 but you can use as criteria when selecting). MAKE SURE you meet the criteria about the 4 rentals and any other criteria you must meet to be able to discriminate. Also state law and city/county law must be adhered to as well and they might be more strict. One would assume CA has a pretty detailed Fair Housing rule of its own. You must meet Fed, state and county rules as far as fair housing.
When it's time to advertise, I planned to make sure the ad states that what's available is a bedroom in a private house, and the current roommate who will continue to reside there is a single male in his 50s. That way, people would know at the outset that the house wouldn't be a student "party house" as is the rep for some places that are closer to the state university.
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