New Landlord - Roommate Lease

[Steffan Daus]

Hello everyone,

I am working on getting my first deal under belt. This first deal will be done using a USDA Loan on a 3/2 single family which I will have to live in for a year (according to the loan). During that year I want to rent out the other two rooms. I have had a long standing agreement with a good friend to rent a room out to him when the time comes. He does have a stable job, pretty good credit, no criminal convictions (that I know of), and is generally a honorable person (as in I lent him money in the past and it was always paid back with interest). So I have no qualms what so ever renting to him, but he also knows that I would only do so under the conditions of a lease.

So my question is, what does that type of lease look like? What types of provisions should I include in it? Also would a house rules list be wise to work with him on and include as a part of the lease?

Some more technical questions:

• Do you include provisions for added utility costs if he gets a girlfriend?
• Are there any sorts of well known traps I should protect against (myself or him)?
• Would you do this on a month to month basis or would you do a year contract?

Any wisdom you have to share would be greatly appreciated.