How to reduce the risk of renting a room in your home

Whether we like it or not to think about it, renting a spare room in your home involves taking some degree of risk. There is no nice way to affirm the fact that renting that unused room to a well-meaning relative or stranger can sometimes have an unpleasant result. Unless one is careful and follows some fundamental good business practices called "due diligence," problems with personal safety and money can arise, and often arise. So what can you do to protect yourself, your family and your home from these kinds of problems?

What is at stake is our natural human tendency to trust others. We want to be happy and earn the much-needed money to help pay the bills, so the decision is made to rent the room free. It is not difficult to find someone willing to rent the room, and after a brief search or a few phone calls to friends and family, a potential tenant arrives, bag in hand. This is good for us because we have now rented the empty room, effectively making it a commercial asset. On the other hand, this may not be as good if we don't bother to do a background check, credit, or character reference on the person who anticipates moving into our domain.

The due diligence principle requires doing all the background work before reaching a decision. Naturally, not all tenants will be characters from your favorite horror movie. Most people are good and can be trusted. However, by not having a rental application accompanied by a signed authorization to conduct a background check, references and credit, you could be facing a problem. Maybe you're a little too trusting, or maybe there isn't enough time to bother you. On the other hand, maybe you just don't know how to do it. All of these problems, big as they may seem at first, disappear as soon as you learn the ropes and fix it. You may need a little help getting it done, but the help is as close as the nearest apartment owners association.

You should start by contacting the nearest professional association. Another good resource is an attorney who specializes in property management and homeowner affairs. Check the phone book and you will surely find any number of helpful property attorneys and property managers. The Internet is also a good resource, and websites like pension dortmund have a variety of free forms and resource articles. You can download everything from rental apps to consent forms in the background quickly and easily. If you need additional help, be sure to call a property manager who has a reputation for maintaining a good tenant-landlord relationship. They will be happy to assist you as they are always looking for references and testimonials to help keep your units busy, just like you.

Minimizing the risk to your room rental business is an important step in providing some degree of assurance that your new tenant will be a good tenant. While the paperwork may seem troublesome, you should think of it as buying an insurance policy, which is exactly what you are doing. Be sure to take the time to pick up a properly completed and signed rental application form, a credit and background check consent form, and a reference check form. The next step is to complete all the checks before allowing the prospective tenant to do the cleaning. Once you have all the information you need, you will feel much more secure and less likely to have problems.

Due diligence is good business practice for anyone considering renting a room in their home. Like all good business practices, it requires a little discipline and effort; On the other hand, you should consider it as an insurance policy that is nice to have, but not necessary to use unless it is necessary. You are much more likely to avoid unnecessary repairs, unwanted guests, lost rent, and a host of other problems common to many homeowners if you take the little time to do so.