Renting Rooms Pros & Cons

[Joe Giusto II]

I am thinking of converting my 5 BR rental to renting rooms by the week.  I'd like to hear from people who have done is successfully.   How do you handle things like, keeping common areas clean, what to do when tenants don't get along, and other pitfalls to look out for.

[Chris Habets]

I haven't done weekly like this, but I have done monthly.

I did it as a "live-in" landlord (rent-hacking?), and then moved to a normal landlord doing this kind of thing. We told the tenants they all shared responsibility for common areas.

I wouldn't recommend it. One lease is MUCH better from a landlord and borrowing money perspective. As a landlord, there is a lot less work to maintain one lease. You can allow that lease to be flexible for a tenant - for example, JOHN is the tenant, but he can choose his roommates as long as there is max 1 per room and you're kept informed of the names. JOHN pays but JOHN can choose what he charges the roommates. For borrowing, renting by the room (at least where I am in Ontario) banks consider non-income.