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Hi,
I have an unusual request on a rental house and I am wondering about rights and options.
They are five adults and one child. A couple, two relatives and two others, one adult and one child. For now, let's assume all the adults and child are related.
All adults on fixed income with social security or guarantors.
My house is a newly renovated, 3/1 and smallish, with two bedrooms 10x10 and one 10x12. One room can serve as a bedroom (though when advertised I was thinking of the teenager in need of more space. Each bedroom can fit one queen or two twin beds. There is only one bath.
My questions:
1) Am I required to rent to them by law? My read on the Federal law is that two occupants per room is the standard, but this law was written to protect families. What if all adults and only one couple?
2) What is the credit test? Each adult must qualify for the rent in its entirety?
3) If they do not pass the credit test, then can I increase the rent to reflect the wear and tear that a five adult lease will present?
4) Related to #3, can I increase the deposit to reflect risk of damage?
I do not want to discriminate. I do want to be compensated for risk and excess wear and tear. I do want to give a home to people who might otherwise not have this chance?
Is this your only rental property? If it is, you're not bound by the more stringent laws applicable to landlords who own multiple properties. I'm sure others are better equipped to answer your questions where the legalities are concerned but if I were in your position I would be giving an absolute thumbs down to this group.
Your house in my opinion is way too small for this many people and being a landlord is a business not a philanthropic exercise. As far as security deposits, you can only charge the maximum your state law allows. You'll find your state landlord tenant laws linked in the first "sticky" on this forum.
I hope you can avoid this - to me it's a sure recipe for total disaster. Good luck!
Hi,
My house is a newly renovated, 3/1 and smallish, with two bedrooms 10x10 and one 10x12.
...five adults and one child. I do not want to discriminate.
How long has this group been living together?
If long standing with good experiences as a group... maybe so.
Otherwise I'd want to lease to as few people as possible.
If the parents of the child qualify for the income needed...
then list the others (Grandparents?) as known occupants.
You may want to check your zoning ordinances as well.
In the county I live, there is an Occupancy and Overcrowding ordinance. For 5 adults, the range of total finished area must be 1501 - 2000 square feet. Additionally the Uniform Statewide Building Code requires that sleeping areas designated for one person are at minimum 70 square feet and two or more persons require 50 square feet minimum per person.
First of all, make sure that your policies and application procedures are clear to everyone (in writing) you show the property to and that you apply them EQUALLY to everyone. Every time.
Now, say you have your policy such as ours: All adults must qualify and be named on the lease. All must have good credit with a FICO of at least 640 to 675. Gross monthly income must be 3 times the rent. All must have positive rental history.
Forget any idea of raising the rent or deposit if they do not meet your standards, keep looking for a tenant that does.
If any of the above is lacking in any one adult, turn down their application. The size of the family is not the risk here, it's their ability to pay and their creditworthiness and good rental references from past landlords.
Federal Fair Housing laws and most county codes generally adhere to the 2 persons per bedroom plus 2 persons in a living area (not a kitchen or bathroom) as occupancy guidelines, but the hint of discrimination based on a person's family is the last place you want to go.
Hi,
I have an unusual request on a rental house and I am wondering about rights and options.
They are five adults and one child. A couple, two relatives and two others, one adult and one child. For now, let's assume all the adults and child are related.
All adults on fixed income with social security or guarantors.
My house is a newly renovated, 3/1 and smallish, with two bedrooms 10x10 and one 10x12. One room can serve as a bedroom (though when advertised I was thinking of the teenager in need of more space. Each bedroom can fit one queen or two twin beds. There is only one bath.
My questions:
1) Am I required to rent to them by law? My read on the Federal law is that two occupants per room is the standard, but this law was written to protect families. What if all adults and only one couple?
2) What is the credit test? Each adult must qualify for the rent in its entirety?
3) If they do not pass the credit test, then can I increase the rent to reflect the wear and tear that a five adult lease will present?
4) Related to #3, can I increase the deposit to reflect risk of damage?
I do not want to discriminate. I do want to be compensated for risk and excess wear and tear. I do want to give a home to people who might otherwise not have this chance?
I really appreciate your timely help and wisdom!
S.
1) Occupancy limits vary, but the general rule of thumb is 2 persons per bedroom plus 1. That would equal 7 people. You've got 6.
Depending on the ages of children, you can have even more people in the house, if there are babies (not sure of the age cut-off). The law allows a baby in a room where otherwise only two people would be allowed.
Some local occupancy laws include laws about how many unrelated people can live in a house together. Since you said to assume they're all related, in that case, I don't see any way around your occupancy laws, unless there's something in addition to these issues.
The only other way around an occupancy law, is if you have a good argument why your property should have an exception, and you enforce this exception across the board to all applicants. An example would be, for instance, if your septic system could only handle a household of 4 people, something like that.
2) I don't know if this law applies to ID, so check on this, but in CA we have to allow the tenants to pool their income in order to qualify. We can't deny them if they don't each qualify on their own income, but do qualify when their incomes are combined.
3) I think you'd be walking on shaky ground regarding discrimination, if you charge this group more rent than you'd charge someone else, or more rent than you advertised. What I think you could do legally, is charge them a bigger deposit, though. Even this would be a bit tricky, if they chose to question if you always do this. But, I think I'd do it anyway, and from that point onward, have a formal policy in place that over a certain number of occupants the security deposit goes up by 1/2 month's rent or whatever you decide.
4) Woops, answered in #3.
It's entirely possible that these people will be wonderful tenants. One of my best friends is Filipino, and the house they rented was officially occupied by three generations, and was regularly filled to the brim with relatives coming and going from the Philippines of all ages, and they were great tenants, keeping the place spotless and the yard beautiful. They now own their own humongous home that is constantly filled with kids and multiple generations. And the place is spotless and the yard is gorgeous. So, a house full of people is not automatically a bad risk, IMO.
Last edited by NoMoreSnowForMe; 11-12-2014 at 10:00 PM..
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