Student Housing - Any experience??

Question

I have a large 5 bedroom property on the rental market. It's geared toward a larger family. However, as the proeprty is close to a major college, I have been approached by students looking to rent the property on a room basis. And a group looking for fraternity house.

Does anybody know how renting to students works. Who pay the utilities? Would there be a sepearate tenancy for each student per room or a collectively tenancy. How much security deposit should I take?

Karen Margrave · Answer

Sounds like Rob has a great solution.

We had a large house (4400 sq. ft.) and guest house on 20 acres, pool, etc., close to a school of ministry. When we were moving to a new area (post crash) there weren't a lot of qualified tenants for the property. However; there were lots of students coming from around the world for the ministry school. Since we would be at the other end of the state, I put in a couple as house managers, and gave them the guest house rent free for managing it. We then put in 14 girls into the main house; and they shared bedrooms. Housekeeping was part of the deal, and they had a schedule to share it. Each tenant had seperate lease agreement.

My sister operates sober recovery houses, and has a situation similar to what Rob describes, however; she's the one on the main lease, with seperate agreements, that allows eviction without usual 30 day notice, if they break rules (no alcohol or drugs) or cannot pay.

Melissa W · Answer

I took over a property which was leased out by the room, and had common areas of the kitchen, bath and living room.

It was a problem, because when someone moved out, I was in the awkward position of finding a roommate for the other two.  They had no financial incentive for finding someone so it wasn't like they were going to do it.

It's hard enough dealing with squabbles between tenants in different units, but I don't want to be called upon for people who are fighting about doing the dishes or leaving toilet seat up.

Also, when damage is caused in common areas, there's no way to prove who did it.

I was relieved when the room renters all moved and I could rent it like a regular rental.

I actually am enjoying doing student rentals with whole apartments.  I've found some nice grad students and gotten parent co-signers.  I've gotten a lot of calls for room rentals but I don't want to go through that again.

K. Mitchell · Answer

I have parents sign the lease as guarantors (or guarantees, whatever...). I have them sign a separate form (the city actually provides it on their website) that spells out what I do with the security deposit, etc. I haven't had any problem with this.

But you should check your local rules, as most college towns have a rule that XX number of unrelated people can't live in a rental. In my two investment towns, it is 3.

Ramon Jenkins · Answer

Mr Shah ,,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would suggest getting as much cash upfront as possible

First month 
Last month 
Security deposit

Maybe check their driver licenses / photo

Reason  - I had one residence -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was originally told 3 students were moving in via there realtor

Now taking my city permit allowed for 4 people for the residence

On lease signing day 
   – 8 kids were trying to move into the 900 square residence

Then they also tried to move in some more kids 
who were not even on the lease

Believe me you must check up on student house rentals
( especially the first few days )

Most important 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
try getting a parent (s) to co-sign for lease
( on hook for lease ,, utilities )
 
just my opinion

Karim Shah · Answer

Thanks for the advice guys. I will speak to the prospects and see how it works out with them

Bill Gulley · Answer

I wouldn't go with hardwood floors, that's hard to repair if it is damaged. Mine was a thicker tip-sheared plush carpet, nuetral color and it was about 5 years without much wear until I got some burn holes when that dad replaced it all. Same was used and it's been about 8 years ago and still is good.

Jack Lee · Answer

I'd be interested in this as well.

Shouldn't there be a bias against renting to Frats? If I recall, the "frat floor effect" will require either hardwood flooring or bi-annual carpet replacement.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Hi, I used basically the same method as Rob, putting one primary on the lease, usually the oldest, but more important, is the mom and dad who made me warm and fuzzy about the deal. There is not a college student alive (18-24) that has sufficient credit for me so I always put mom and dad on as a guarantor. That puts the parent on the hook for damages and rents, makes a big difference in renting to this crowd. While I had good tenants (as good as could be expected) I had significant carpet damage one time and the kids dad just said "that's your property, just let me know what it costs and I'll pay for it".

Keep you property in good shape and get a good reputation with the tenants and they will keep the place full! If you are near their age, make sure you are seen in a professional light and not as one of them so to speak, friendly but business like. Follow good LL management techniques. Good luck

Rob Simpson · Answer

I had one instance where this worked in Southwest Florida.  I had one person sign a lease to me for the full rent amount and period.  I then told him to bind everyone else in the house to a roommate agreement which split different costs and responsibilities.  Each new roommate triggered a new roommate agreement, but my primary was always on the hook to me.