Renting out a room. Your experiences?

[Declaration Day]

As some of you know, I am in the process of a divorce.  To make a long story short, I've spent every penny I've earned, and then some, taking care of a leech all these years.

I'll be able to save money for the first time in nearly a decade now that she's leaving, but I don't have much of a nest egg.  Furthermore, legal fees are leaving me in some credit card debt that I would like to climb out of ASAP.

While I don't really want to, nor do I have to, I think it would be wise to rent out a room, maybe two, in my house for about a year so I can put away as much money as possible.

The question is, how often does such an arrangement work out?  I know of some horror stories from my friends, but that was when we were 19-20 and threw loud parties every night.  I am 32 now, quiet, and hardly ever here except in the evenings.  Still, I worry about a room mate paying bills on time, doing his share of housecleaning, etc.

Tell me your stories, both positive and negative, please.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

my best roomates were not friends  we had written understandings of both our expectations and responsibilities. i've had good luck with military folks and also with folks who didn't drink too much

[Declaration Day]

Good to know, thanks!

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

any military bases near by? go see some of the top noncoms and see if they send you anyone

[Phantom Warrior]

Where are you located geographically?  I have no experience renting but I agree with a written understanding up front.  That keeps everyone on the same page and helps keep expectations realistic for you and the renter.

[Declaration Day]

Where are you located geographically? 

SE Michigan

[Brad Johnson]

Written agreements, up to and including expectations on personal hygiene, general cleanliness, and how kitchen and bathroom privileges will work.  VERY specific agreements on how bills will be handled, and how liability will work in the event of an injury to them or damage to your property.

Brad

[gunsmith]

I think nolo press may have some general books on rental law-maybe the local library does too.
I know as a renter that people don't know a lot don't think about what they're doing.
One of my pet peeves is not getting enough cabinet space/fridge space.
As far as cleaning, it may be easier to hire a cleaner to come over twice a week and add a charge to the rental fee.

[Hawkmoon]

Check your state's laws regarding eviction. In a straight rental situation, it can be both expensive and lengthy to evict an unwanted or non-performing tenant. The laws may (or may not) be different for a roommate situation, and you need to find out. You should also find out if a clause in a written roommate agreement waiving normal eviction protections would be legal and enforceable.

I can think of few things worse in life than being stuck with a disaster of a roommate and not being able to get him/her out of the house for three to six months because of the eviction requirements.

[Declaration Day]

In Michigan an eviction notice normally gives a tenant 30 days to leave.  If the tenant wants to be an ass, he can stretch it to 90 days under certain circumstances.

[Ned Hamford]

In Michigan an eviction notice normally gives a tenant 30 days to leave.  If the tenant is an ass, he will stretch it to 90 days.

Fixed it for you 

[Hawkmoon]

In Michigan an eviction notice normally gives a tenant 30 days to leave.  If the tenant wants to be an ass, he can stretch it to 90 days under certain circumstances.

Count on anyone you wish to evict being an a__ and stretching it to the limit. So ... do you want to spent 90 days (or more) under the same roof with someone whose mission in life has become making you miserable? Assuming a negative answer to the above ... investigate the legality of a clause waiving normal eviction protections (for the renter).

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

what hawkmoon said.
 i lived in an oxford house  we had a lease that stated if you used you were out.  then not tomorrow not in an hour now.  it provided for the only determining factor to be a majority vote of the other house members.  i had a couple of interesting discussions with some sheriffs when i put some guys out  ended up with a copy of the written legal ruling as well as a note from the police dept lawyer and some other police brass to show the new cops. but we put out folks in the middle of the night in the snow with their clothes in a trash bag and made it stick. and our lease stipulated you forfeited your security deposit as well.  the best one was the spoiled brat of a local politician. he was a law student at georgetown and thought he was gonna school us.  that snow looked cold  deep too but it helped to muffle all that shouting  and then the crying and pleading

[Jim147]

Don't rent to friends or family unless you trust them 999%.

I rented to a friend and finally got him to leave when i shut off the phone and satellite turned off.

I lost another good friend over a mutual friend renting form him. I guess he got upset that I was right to tell him not to rent to her.

My dad rented from friends for years. Retired with a ton of money he didn't have to spend on having his own house.

I would talk to a lawyer about some kind of evict clause.

jim

[gunsmith]

weekly rental law may be much different, you can sometimes evict really quickly, it really is worth knowing the law. I once came home to my stuff out on the lawn, the owner thought she could just say eviction as if that was a legal proceeding. I moved, but made her cough up the $$ for damaging my stuff.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Don't rent to friends or family unless you trust them 999%.

ftfy
I rented to a friend and finally got him to leave when i shut off the phone and satellite turned off.

i knew a guy who moved out himself to escape a bad female roomate



I would talk to a lawyer about some kind of evict clause.

very wise man he is!

jim

[230RN]

I think the weekly rental might be a good idea because the eviction "delay" might depend on the rental period. Not sure, but I think the "90 days" might be a function of the usual rental period (i.e., monthly, 30 days.)  On the other hand, weekly rental gives you 3 weeks instead of 90 days.  Someone check me on this, it's been a very oong time since I dealt with rentals and probably depends on local law.

Say, what are you going to do about your firearms, if any?

Terry, 230RN