How to Rent an Apartment to College Students

Many apartment owners are hesitant to rent to college students. They fear unstable tenancy, broken leases, fights and wild parties. While these things happen, college students can make very good tenants. Here are some tips for renting to college students.

Instructions

1. Make sure that the college students renting the apartment make enough money to cover the rent, or have their parents cosign the lease. You may want to dictate that only parents can negotiate leases for their kids. (This gives you a way to make sure the kids stay in line as you have the ability to contact their parents.)

2. Each person on the lease for an apartment needs to be responsible for the entire rent amount. This means that if two people are renting an apartment for $600 and one person moves out, the tenants are responsible to make sure you get your entire $600 a month until a new tenant is found and the lease is transfered.

3. College students will have parties, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, you don't want your property to become party central. Have a provision in the lease that will limit the number of large parties per month, and that will let them know that if the police get involved, they will be evicted.

4. To avoid empty units during the summer, make the students responsible for the entire year and allow them to sublet to summer students.

5. Check your local laws governing how many unrelated people can live in one unit. The max is generally 2 or 3. Do not allow more students than this (unless there are sibling sets) to rent your apartment.