Rental Property Investor · Anchorage, AK and Utah · Member since 2020 · 50 posts · 30 votes
I recently purchased a 4-plex, and one of the units is rented to a girl who has two roommates. The previous lease listed all three of the roommates, but they all paid separately. Now that I've inherited these tenants and am trying to establish a new lease, I am wondering how best to go about having multiple tenants in one unit who are not related to each other. Does anyone have experience with renting by the bedroom? Should I have each of them sign their own lease agreement, or just use one that has all three people listed as tenants? If they want to pay independently of each other, should the lease reflect that smaller amount, instead of the unit rate?
Lender · Boulder, CO · Member since 2016 · 53 posts · 21 votes
5y
Hey Landon,
I use the bigger pockets lease. I am not a lawyer, but I believe that this issue is usually addressed as "Joint and severable" clauses. This means that every tenant is responsible for the full rent amount. Restated, if roommate 1 cannot pay...everyone in the unit is responsible for paying the full rent amount.
My personal opinion is that having a different leases for every tenant will only serve to get you wrapped up in your tenants drama. For example: if roommate 1 has their boyfriend over an he stumbles and knocks over roommates 2's guest. Who's security deposit does the wall repair come out of?
I require 1 check in order to avoid minutia. The only advantage I could see to doing individual leases is if you get higher rents.