Last month, Alison from Diamond-Cut Life shared a guest post about providing lodging to a housemate in exchange for work (instead of rent). Her story prompted a number of readers to ask about the mechanics and practicalities of actually renting an extra room to generate income. For example, Penny wrote with the following:
In August, my brother-in-law moved in with us. By December, he couldn’t find a job, so moved back out. While I had mixed emotions about his leaving, I did lament losing the potential income, because I thought my husband would never agree to renting a room to a stranger. Imagine my surprise when I mentioned the idea and he agreed to it.
I need some advice as to some things we should consider when finding a renter.
- What would be the best way to charge for rent? Flat monthly rate with utilities included? Weekly rate plus a third of the utilities? In our immediate area, rooms rent for $485-500 with utilities, or $125/week plus a portion of the utilities. I’m torn between the two modes.
- What sort of keywords should I put in the advertisement that would help find the right fit?
- How would food work? I don’t mind cooking for everyone; in fact, I love it, but I don’t want to pay for all of their board.
- Any other suggestions? Am I being too specific?
Our situation is a bit unusual, because we’re sort of urban homesteaders. We have gardens all over our small yard. We don’t use the dryer or the air conditioner. We use wood heat in the winter. Our family hunts and fishes. Will these things matter?
I’m curious about this, too. I don’t know anyone who has ever rented out a room, so I don’t know the process — and I don’t know if the income is worth the hassle. I do have friends, though, who have been on the other side, who have rented rooms from people in Penny’s position. During college, for example, my friend Andrew rented a room in a converted garage. But although the garage was attached to the house, but he didn’t interact much with the family he rented from.
If I were doing this, I’d check with my lawyer and accountant to be sure I was fulfilling my legal obligations, as well as protecting myself from possible problems.
I’d love to hear anecdotes from other readers. Have you ever rented out a spare room? Or have you ever been on the other side? Have you ever rented somebody else’s spare room? What did you learn from the experience? What advice would you give to somebody who was hoping to generate a little income by renting out space in their home, garage, or attic? And, finally, do you have any specific advice for Penny?
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Renting a room in someone’s house was a good experiment, but probably not something I’d try again. It actually worked pretty well for a while, but the renter/roommate line became sort of an awkward blur when it came to anything personal. In the end everyone’s different; in my opinion though, it’s easiest in the long term to room with someone you can share more ground with.
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I have been renting out rooms in my home for over a year now and I mostly love it! Many of my roommates have rarely been around. One of my current roommates sleeps there maybe once a week!
I ask a high price for my rooms because that seems to bring in a “high quality” tenant. It seems the lower the price, the sketchier the responses you get. I’ve been a landlord for 9 years, so when go through choosing a roommate, I have years of experience to fall back on. I like to be very clear on everything up front. I charge $500/ furnished bedroom (this is in a low cost-of-living area in the deep south – I think it’s an outrageous amount, but people keep renting!) and that includes utilities.
Recently one of my closest friends has moved in and that has been the biggest strain so far…she brought her 2 bedroom apartment worth of furniture and a ton of food and kitchen crap. All of my other tenants were single men who didn’t cook and had no furniture. They are definitely the way to go!
One last note – examine why you are renting out a room. Do you have a specific financial goal in mind? What are you going to do with that extra income? It can be very easy to get in the mode of living off your new expanded income. I set a goal of paying off my new car (a surprise purchase after hitting a deer with my old car). I am happy to say that I will be paying it off this Friday! Having a concrete goal like that is great when having a roommate gets cumbersome – I just remind myself that this person is paying for my car and to be patient with them. My roommates will be paying for a new roof on my house in the next four months! Hooray for roommates!
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I have to agree with what some people said here, having so many rules is a quick and sure fire way to create an unhappy household.
A rental agreement is a good instrument to have to document what’s going on, but dictating a person’s life while they live in your spare room is not very pleasant for the renter.
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Who cares about what the renter feels? It’s not their home so they will abide by the owner’s rules.
Screw the renter if they don’t want to abide by rules. Let them go rent somewhere else.
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I don’t agree with the statement “Don’t expect them to pick up.” If someone messes up my kitchen I’m going to raise hell about it if the mess is not cleaned up the same day.
I’ll be damned if someone is going to come into my home, make a mess and not clean up. I’m not the renter’s maid. I knock on their doors or start cussing loudly if I see a mess my mate or I did not make and it’s just sitting around.
Hell to the “no” you are not going to mess up my property.
Also I learned this the hard way. Don’t allow renters to “decorate” your home with their things. It’s like saying “This is your home too” and it’s NOT THEIR HOME, it’s a temporary living situation.
And I totally agree with fat men must wear shirts. I’m so f*cking tired of seeing MOOBS.
Tell them they are NOT allowed to wash pet items (dog blankets) in your washing machines. If you let them you’ll be pulling dog hair from your clothing forever.
If they destroy anything in your home, ANYTHING (even a piece of paper you posted with instructions on it) you tell them “NO!!!” If they will destroy something, they are showing they do not respect you at all. Get rid of the renter swiftly.
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I have rented for thirty years. Over time I have learned
1) Grad students are best. They are quiet and busy studying. They aren’t big partiers.
2) Males are far better than females as renters. Females whine and complain…about everything (except the female students from Beijing, China…they were always great). Males are simple and just want a place to live. Females can’t seem to get it through their head that they are renting a room and they cannot change the home to what they want. They are particularly obnoxious about bathrooms. They want their own and, if they have to share, constantly have issues about it (I am a female, by the way and don’t need a private bathroom).
3) No overnight guests without permission (and then only visitors like out-of-town family and friends). This gets rid of the strangers-from-bar problem and the boyfriend/girlfriend who becomes an extra renter but doesn’t pay. It also weeds out problem people from the start.
4) Make sure they understand they rent a room in YOUR house; they are not roommates with equal rights.
5) Don’t be a whiny landlord/landlady. Don’t make them feel they have to tiptoe around the house. If you aren’t into communal living, don’t do it. Mostly I tell them to wash their dishes and don’t mess with the thermostat without consulting with me). They are to feel free to cook or wash clothes, come and go, or hang out in the living room at any time of day or night, but just keep the noise down because someone might be sleeping (my son sleeps until three in the afternoon because his work). However, just because one does sleep when others are moving around doesn’t give us the right to whine about normal noise; we shouldn’t have renters then. I have to put toilet seats down and wash someone’s dish now and then, but that isn’t a big deal. I don’t nag them about it; it isn’t worth being mom to them. I don’t b**** at them and they don’t b**** at me. Good way to live (hence, why I prefer guys to gals).
6) I have a month-to-month lease with one month’s deposit, paid on the 1st, thirty day notice on the first.
7) Kick out bad attitudes; it isn’t nice to live in a house with a surly or moody person. When someone chooses to rent a room in a house, they should not be unfriendly or rude to others living there. Also, remind people moving in, that when they need to give notice, it is not necessary to become pissed off about everything in order to feel okay about leaving! Honestly, I have seen this happen quite often. Suddenly, the renter gets all bugged about everything, like they need an excuse to leave (again more female thing than male). It has helped for me to say, don’t do that! Just say with a smile you are moving out and we will be perfectly nice about it. Giving them permission to move, seems to alleviate some weird guilt thing they have that makes them need to hate the place in order to go.
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Hi…i was just thinking…my flatmate pays weekly and the thing is…she is travelling for 3 weeks…im a little concerned to have this conversation with her but i think she should be paying me these weeks even being away cause her stuff will still be here and the room will still be hers when she comes back. I travelled as well in july…i spent 2 months awa and i was still paying…plus, her boyfriend was here and i allowed him to stay with no extra charges…i think i was being too nice though. Please…heeeelp!!!
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Obviously deciding whether to rent out a spare room or not partly comes down to whether or not you want somebody else living in your house (especially where it is a stranger). It makes financial sense though, especially if you have a couple of rooms you can rent out. I know someone who has a four bedroom house, rents out three of them, and it practically pays for his mortgage.
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