Roommate vs subleasee vs ??

[Michelle Oblena]

Hello all - first post! I thought since this discussion is AZ-centric I would try my question here.

My son and I are about to close on a condo in Gilbert, AZ. My son - whose name is on the title and goes to college in the area - would like to rent out a couple of the rooms to 2 friends. We didn’t necessarily want the other kids to know that he owns the place. I’m really struggling on crafting the appropriate rental agreement and wanting to provide a level of separation and degree of confidentiality between his roommates, mainly to avoid any potential interpersonal conflicts. I would like the roomies to pay him the rent, but any issues should be directed to me. The plan is for each roommate and my son to occupy a bedroom, they'll each have private bathrooms and share the common spaces.

I have researched subleasing, which would require him to be the primary leasee, but that means he would have to sign a lease with a “landlord”? Which I suppose could be me? It would seem strange that an owner would sign a lease with a landlord. I’ve also looked at simply a roommate agreement, but if I understand that correctly, that means a new agreement would have to be crafted everytime there is a change in the composition of the current group? In a roommate agreement, I guess we’ll have to omit my son’s portion of the “rent” (because technically he wouldn’t be paying any)?

Are there other types of contracts/agreements that would make sense in this situation? Am I overthinking all this? 🙃

Our goal with this property is for the renters to cover the mortgage (in this case they will), build equity in a year or two, and 1031-exchange the equity for another property (perhaps a multifamily, duplex, or 4-unit apartment).

Many thanks for any insight!