Landlord vs. Friend w/ Cancer

[Matthew Olszak]

This came up as a suggested link on a story I was reading, courtesy of the Chicago Tribune and Amy Dickinson:(http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/askamy/ct...)

I think this makes for good discussion. Not only about renting to friends, and on top of that for under market rates, but also when major medical problems come up in a tenant's life.  What is everyone's thoughts here?

Me personally, I try not to mix business/pleasure to avoid these types of situations, despite how much I value my ability to help my friends/family when in need (and I value their reciprocation equally). I know how it should be handled, but when one is in that position, will that "business decision" actually happen?

This story demonstrates in many ways how the business can get tough, and I'm reading into a lot of "classic" tenant tricks being played by the friend in this situation.

BTW: Amy's answer should have been..."Get on BiggerPockets.com!" It wasn't :-(.

[Kim Meredith Hampton]

@Matthew Olszak Been there, done that. Here is a blog I wrote on this subject:

We love our family and friends, but beware of them becoming your tenants. It’s always a good idea to treat your rental property like a business. Treating family or friends just like you would any other tenant regardless of your relationship is just good business. Its important to seperate business and personal relationships, and sometimes I think this is what gets lost in translation when it comes to family or friends.

Here are some things that I’ve seen regarding this type of rental:

• ● The owner never seems to want to run a background check
• ● they never want them to pay a deposit
• ● they want to give them “free rent” or a huge discount while they look for a job
• ● Family or friends become or seem entitled to special requests and take

  advantage

• ● Friends or family may hesitate to tell you about maintenance issues because you

  gave them a break

• ● They make you feel guilty when you ask for a late fee
• ● When the property gets damaged, you dont feel comfortable asking for money to

  make repairs

• ● Lastly you may have to evict a friend or family member. This is when really go

  south.

  Protecting yourself from a business standpoint is still number one, no matter who you rent to.