How to Rent a House to Others

Keys to a rental

You might want to consider renting out your house if you are in the market for a new home but don't want to sell your current home. This is a great way to build investment income. When you are ready to rent a house, you must take the proper steps to find a good tenant. If you don't, you may end up with a tenant who doesn't pay her rent or a tenant who destroys your property while living there.

Things You'll Need

• Rental applications
• Lease form

Instructions

1. Make sure your house is in proper order to rent out. Anything that was broken needs to be fixed and all the smoke detectors need to be working. You don't want your new tenants to have anything to hold against you in court if you need to evict them for non-payment.

2. Take pictures of the house so that you can prove what it looked like before the tenants moved in. This is in case the tenants destroy your property and you need to keep their security deposit.

3. Print out rental applications (see Resources). You want to have these forms ready for when someone calls to take a look at your house.

4. Place ads in your local newspaper. Make sure you list how many bedrooms, how much the rent it, whether the rent includes the utilities and how much the security deposit is. Leave your phone number so that interested persons can contact you for the address and any other details.

5. Show the rental and offer the prospects a rental application.

6. Review the applications you receive and check all references. Look up the applicants on Facebook and MySpace to see what type of characters they are.

7. Get a credit check or background check done. You can do this online, but it will cost a fee. Abika is a good company to use (see Resources). This will show you whether the prospective tenant is in trouble with the law or in severe debt.

8. Draw up a lease for a qualified candidate. You can make one yourself of use one from EZ Landlord Forms (see Resources). When both parties sign the lease, it goes into affect and you have just rented out your house.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't rush to find a decent tenant. You may end up with someone you can't evict for months. Make your lease as specific as possible. If you will allow fish but not dogs or cats, then you must spell this out. If the tenant is responsible for the lawn care, then you must state this.

• Check the laws for your state to make sure you have all the necessary information in your lease.

Resources

• Rental Application
• Lease Agreements
• Background and Credit Checks