Help with house hack

[Joshua Land]

Help for my sister: She has a 5 bedroom home with two bedrooms and a full bath in the basement that is fully furnished. She would like to rent out one of the basement rooms but does not know where to start. Does anyone know the best places for info on how to do this safely/effectively?

[Stephen Dispensa]

Basement apartments are a sticky issue because there's a number of code issues that can make them illegal. Big things to consider are:

1. Ingress / Egress - In order for a basement apartment to be considered legal, it needs to be able to be accessed from the outside. Tenant needs a separate doorway/stairwell for access. If they're accessing through the main house, it starts to become a bit of a legal issue. Since this is more of a "house hack" and they're merely renting a room, it isn't illegal per se but you would do well to protect yourself from liability in the event of a tragedy. I would start by making sure there are egress windows in every room, including the bathroom. 

2. Safety monitoring - A big concern in basement apartments is Carbon Monoxide. Make sure you've got carbon monoxide alarms installed and maintained regularly. Also smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, etc. 

3. Finding Tenants - Easy enough using zillow, roomates.com, spareroom, etc. Just take your time finding someone because she is going to essentially be making this person her roommate. Do a deep background check, I would even go so far as to try to view all of their social media, etc.

4. Draw up an iron clad lease. Make sure to be very specific about the rules, etc. Depending on your municipality, the tenant may have some heavy protections in place. The more you put in writing beforehand, the less that can be left up to a judge's decision later on.