Insurance Agent · Oaks, PA · Member since 2012 · 34 posts · 10 votes
Hello all,
I have been contacted by a non-profit organization who is interested in renting one of our single family properties for 3 of their employees. The organization will be listed on the lease and responsible for making the payments. They have provided financial information showing their ability to pay the rent.
Does anyone have experience with this type of setup?
We will be requesting information on each of the residents, so that we may perform background checks...etc. Any other issues that we should be aware of or special considerations?
I don't have personal experience but there are groups that do this. I would ask why they are providing housing. Is this a one year assignment or something along those lines? Do people come from far away? What values/mission does the non-profit have? Do those values/mission fit with your rental criteria? What kinds of checks do they do on their employees and what happens if they let someone go? Personally I would rather have the non-profit then the employees on the lease with a stipulation listing occupants. Employers won't tolerate certain activities that are also undesirable in tenants so you would have additional assistance in getting a problem person out. A stipulation on occupants will be easier to change then a tenant name on the lease I would think but there may be legal issues to consider. Just my thoughts.
Are they planning on having different people move in and out? If so looks like the local municipality might consider you a boarding house and I know here in NJ you need to have permission to operate one. I would have every tenant on the lease no matter what the non profit says and have the non profit guarantee their payment and not the non profit as the tenant. There's something that just doesn't seem right about this situation. Unfortunately I've never crossed it myself however some red flags would be going up in my book.
I don't have personal experience but there are groups that do this. I would ask why they are providing housing. Is this a one year assignment or something along those lines? Do people come from far away? What values/mission does the non-profit have? Do those values/mission fit with your rental criteria? What kinds of checks do they do on their employees and what happens if they let someone go? Personally I would rather have the non-profit then the employees on the lease with a stipulation listing occupants. Employers won't tolerate certain activities that are also undesirable in tenants so you would have additional assistance in getting a problem person out. A stipulation on occupants will be easier to change then a tenant name on the lease I would think but there may be legal issues to consider. Just my thoughts.
If they default or cause damages in excess of the security deposit, who do you collect from?
Sometimes this is a way of hiding group homes for otherwise undesirable tenants (sex offenders, recovering addicts, etc). You know the group so you should know what they are about.
If it's large well funded non-profit with a public image to protect then you are probably pretty well protected there.
Thanks for the feedback so far. The organization runs education and life skills programs for special needs children. They are expanding in the local area and provide housing for their employees. I have been assured that the occupants will be employees of the organization and not any of their students. The employees each have a contract for a minimum of 1 year.
I have requested additional details and references as they have rented a few other properties in the area. I have also stipulated that we will require information on each of the residents, so we may run our reports as we would on a regular applicant. I can list the occupants on the lease as suggested.
Any other thoughts or concerns?
Thanks again!
Jeff