Rental agreement for multiple renters

[Brandon Montgomery]

My first rental is on the market and drawing quite a bit of interest! 90% of the would be tenants have been single family renters but the most promising applicants so far have been students. With that being said, how do you structure the lease agreement for a single family house that has 3 unrelated tenants? Their parents would obviously co-sign but would all 6 (tenant plus parent of each) need to do applications, back ground checks, etc? Would each student and parent have their own lease? We are going through turbo tenant and there is a place for co-signer and tenant applications but if they students don’t have credit/job history what would be the point of them doing one at all since they aren’t financially responsible for the rent?

[Dave Poeppelmeier]

I do Student Rentals, and I simply have them all on one lease. I like it better that way because the kids are more accountable to each other that way ("Dude, pay your rent!"), and if they do screw up big time, you can get rid of the whole group, not try to get one person out of the house with all of the he said/she said stuff. For student applications, I never worry about any income since Mom and Dad or their scholarship/student loans are what's paying for the house. The big thing I'm looking for is anything on their background check: drugs, disorderly conduct, etc, that is a red flag that this student is going to be a problem.  

Regarding co-signers, yes it's an absolute must. If you're going by the book, then both the student and their parents have to apply and be on the lease. What I've always done is simply have the parent sign a co-signer addendum, saying they'll be responsible, yada yada yada. I feel that psychologically, the students know that if they screw up big time, Mom and Dad are going to be ticked and that's enough of a deterrent to avoid any major drama. I've never had to go to a co-signer for anything, thankfully, but it's good to have your backside covered. 

The good thing about Student Rentals is that you can charge a little bit extra for rent, but if you can find a long term tenant that's willing to pay that rent rate, then that's fine too! The biggest thing is you have to give them a good house. If it's a nice house, likely what they came from at their parent's, then they're more likely to respect it. If you give them a piece of garbage, they will treat it as such. Good luck!