Renting to unmarried (dating) couple

[Nicholas Potocki]

I have a house that will be listed for rent soon. There is a unmarried couple that is interested in the property. They have qualifying combined gross income of $7,000, good references and landlord history. They have been dating for a year. How concerned should I be to sign a lease with an unmarried couple?

One other note, the lady’s mom is an attorney. The mom has already sent me a message asking me to help her daughter. I feel like I have a good lease, but I don’t want to get in a legal battle because it’s easy for this lady to ask for her mom’s help. What would you do?

[Kyle J.]

@Nicholas Potocki  I assume you're worried because they're not married and might split up and need to break the lease.  For what it's worth, I've had unmarried couples split up, and I've also had married couples split up and break the lease.  So for me personally, that wouldn't really factor in as long as they met all of my screening criteria.

On the other hand, I will say that the attorney mother contacting you and asking you to "help" her daughter would give me pause.  I mean, you're just at the application stage and this woman is already messaging you and asking you to help her daughter?  What does that say about how involved she'll be?  And exactly what type of "help" are you supposed to give her at this point?  

Is this applicant 19 years old or 39 years old?  Maybe if she's 19 and this was her first time renting a place, I'd chalk it up to the mom just being a little over protective, or trying to help her daughter getting started in life, or something like that.  But if she's much older than that, to me that'd be a red flag and an indication that the daughter has lived a life that has required her mom's involvement and help getting bailed out of situations.  

In the end, if you do decide to accept her, I'd make it crystal clear that the daughter and her boyfriend are your tenants, and that's who you'll be dealing with (not the mom).

Good luck with whatever you decide.