Renters are under a church organization

[Winn Vu]

Please share your opinion. I got an application. They are 6 single guys would like to rent my 4/3 SFR. 3 of them are college students and serving at a local church part time. 3 other guys also work for the church but full time. The church will be responsible for the rent and communication to be directed to a church elder, who will sign the lease but will not live in. My agent said they need the church elder to co-sign because some of them are lack of credit history. I immediately felt not so good about their application but would like to ask you: Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Would you take them or reject? Thank you so much.

[Account Closed]

Originally posted by @Winn Vu:

Please share your opinion. I got an application. They are 6 single guys would like to rent my 4/3 SFR. 3 of them are college students and serving at a local church part time. 3 other guys also work for the church but full time. The church will be responsible for the rent and communication to be directed to a church elder, who will sign the lease but will not live in. My agent said they need the church elder to co-sign because some of them are lack of credit history. I immediately felt not so good about their application but would like to ask you: Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Would you take them or reject? Thank you so much.

 I recently read about a landlord who rented to a church organization in Redding, CA, and it was a disaster.  Not sure if it was here on BP or another forum.  What happened to her was that they moved a ton of church folk into the rental.  They were coming and going, different people moving in and out and it was always way over legal occupancy.  They were using the place as an open dorm, basically, with people sleeping in every room, like a hostel from hell (woops lol).  

 She was having trouble with the city and the fire marshall, if I remember correctly, and she had absolutely no control over what was happening, and the church was not cooperative.  

So, I'd deny them if at all possible if it was me, and since you can deny them based on credit, I say "Hallelujah!"  LOL.

And oddly, some church folk think normal mankind rules don't apply to them, because they're doing God's work, so how can you thwart them!  They sometimes only see the "needs" that they consider to be of a higher significance than your measly earthly rules.  Ironically, at a job I had a long time ago, it was the religious folk who were the least reasonable.

For what it's worth, my opinion is to deny them, which you can legally do.  Remember, that a co-signer does not guarantee you will not have problems with tenants who don't meet your criteria.  All they are, is someone else to sue after the eviction, damages, etc., etc.