Couple dating applied for our unit and she has no job yet...

[Ryan Judah]

We recently purchased our first building and are turning one of our units. The applicants are a couple, not married yet, and he is moving into town about a month prior to her. He has filled out the application and completed our screening process. He's an ideal tenant with credit above 750, well above our income requirements, and has a clean background with no evictions/felonies/etc. His girlfriend however is staying back in MT until she finishes school and then will be coming to Seattle soon. He's disclosed to us that she doesn't have a job lined up yet, and therefore won't meet our 2.5 x rent income requirement.

What do we do? Require a higher security deposit, last month's rent, both? Input appreciated!

[John Barrett]

Hi Ryan, at the end of the day you want a tenant who is capable of paying the rent and will take care of the place. Based on the information provided it sounds like the boy friend meets all your requirements. Other than checking out that the girlfriend doesn’t have any red flags on her report, what is your real concern? If her having a job is a area of real concern for you, you could rent to the boy friend only and then add the girl friend to the lease later when she moves to the area and has secured a job.