Boarding House - Lease Example? ---- College Student Sreening Process

[Jonathan H.]

My partner and I recently acquired a property very close to a local college and were wondering if anyone had an example lease agreement for a boarding room style house (on a room by room basis)?

Also, any tips for screening college students would be greatly appreciated. Many of the "rules of thumb" such as rent must equal 3x times monthly income is hard to come by with college students. We're currently considering the idea of requiring cosigners (such as parents or other relatives) to cover the rent if unpaid. We have also considered the idea of implementing money order/online banking "erentpayment.com" only stipulations to guarantee prompt payment - if not received within 3 days (plus late fees) we will evict immediately to inform other renters of our strict "No-BS Policy".

[Ross Leavitt]

@Jonathan H. , that's great to hear you're getting into the student rental business. I manage the leasing and construction of my family's campus rentals here in Oregon and always enjoy meeting others in this business! By the way, are you expecting to have tenants during the summer, since you're not doing 12-month leases?

I have houses that are rented to a group and other houses where I rent individual bedrooms. My lease for the individual bedrooms has a couple extra clauses in it. I also have a cosigner form, and I could share those with you if that would be helpful. Most students have a cosigner. A few have jobs and earn 3x the rent so they don't need a cosigner. Some internationals don't have anyone in the US who will cosign for them, so I just double the deposit.

Good luck!