Should a Roommate be treated like a Tenant?

[Breanne Beadle]

Hi, Thanks for reading my post!

I am a new investor looking to rent a room in my house to free up some of my personal income for other opportunities. I am looking for a bit of professional advice. My question is if I am going to get a roommate in my house (owner/occupy), sharing the same space, should I have them do an application process like I would have a standard tenant renting the whole house? I plan to definitely have a lease agreement in writing, but should I make them also do a background check and credit check? Is that a fair thing to do? They would pay the fees for those screening processes. What do you think? If you were renting a room from someone would you pay for this to be considered?

(I would not be pulling from a pool of people that I already know, and I have never rented to anyone before) 

[Katie Stewart]

Hi Breanne! You should definitely still go through the full application process with a new roommate. You want to make sure they will be able to pay rent on time and don't have a criminal history (especially because they are living in the same house as you)! I would recommend utilizing the free landlord software out there that will provide you with marketing, online applications, and instant screening reports. To make sure your roommate is serious about renting from you, I would have them pay the application fee as will. 

Let me know if you need any software recommendations!