My parents bought a house for me, my girlfriend, and her sister to live in with 3 bed 2 bath. I put the 3rd room for rent for $850 and all utilities and services included. The house is $200k with 1619 sqft, built in 2019 and modern styled. This is my first time doing this, I used templates online for the paperwork and put the ad on Facebook and Craigslist. We accepted someone to rent the room. The tenant is moving in September 22 from paris and the father will be sending in checks from paris. They already sent a check for rent, security deposit (i mentioned they didnt have to do a security deposit), and money to pick up the car thats being sent over from paris. I have many questions. Am i allowed to do this because my mom is paying for the house and not me, she allowed me to Airbnb, but I decided renting is guaranteed because it's college town. Is my rent too low? Too high? What is the legal process of renting to a roommate?
@Brandon Ho number 1 your rent seems high for only one bedroom in Oklahoma, there are entire houses that rent for that much. I would be very careful with this tenant my little red flags are going up all over the place. It is a common tactic for scammers to say they paid more than you asked for then ask you to pay for moving services etc. with the extra funds then cancel the transfer and make off with the money you allegedly paid for other services. This might also track if my hunch is correct and your rent is high.
@Aaron K. They sent a check for rent and then extra money to go to a dealership and pay for shipping a car, but how would they cancel the transfer if i deposited the check into my bank account and if the check doesnt work i would know somethings wrong right?
@Brandon Ho I'm now >50% sure this is a scam. It does not make sense that they would ask a landlord to do this, why couldn't they pay the company directly etc. Hoping others will chime in here with their thoughts. Look this type of stuff up on Youtube and you'll see what I'm talking about. Also a lot of times a bank won't know that a check has bounced for a couple days.
As far as legal process in renting to a roommate, I think you should be fine - did your parents make you and your friends sign a lease? If so, there might be some clause in there that prohibits renting out rooms but since your mom even agreed to AirBnB it, there isn't a problem.
As for the roommate from Paris, I would be very cautious. First of all, why are they moving from Paris to OK (not that OK doesn't have its own charms :)) Second, have you spoken with them over the phone/video - do they have social media pages that you can see who they are? Third, why are they sending a car from Paris, I'm sure it would be better to lease a car here (not even sure how they're going to insure it but thats another issue). Fourth, if they have so much money, they could get a better place? (although maybe your house is in the center idk). Suspicious!
Also how did they send the checks? Was is postmarked from Paris? Did the name match? I would do more research on this roommate and her father.
I am also on board with this being scam. Most people don't accept anyone to rent a room without meeting them in person. However, since I live in FL, a lot of my potential tenants are moving to FL for a new job/life, so I make sure to do a background/credit check for everyone and double-down on checking income/references/past landlords. I did have a roommate from Canada one time, but he was only in the area for a kayaking training camp that was conveniently taking place at the riverside park down the road from my house (within walking distance for him).
I hope you haven't deposited those checks yet. Like a few other people mentioned, that is a really common scam on craigslist. They will send over "checks" and when you deposit them they will be able to get your bank account info. Also, the car part is super sketchy too. I would wait until said roommate shows up before you start doing anything with their checks. There is also no reason for them to be shipping a car over from Paris. But that's another story.
Now, for the other part of the question. As long as your "landlord" is okay with you renting the room and there are no city ordinances against it, you should be fine. If you want to protect yourself you can get a written agreement naming you as the property manager. The rent does seem a little high for a shared room in the house, but I don't know which area you are in. The people that I know who rent rooms in the OKC area are more like $500-$600 range with all utilities included. I would get a signed lease template that states the ground rules of the house as well as what all is included in their rent and what their responsibilities are (keeping common areas clean, not moving random people into their room, no sub-letting, etc). You should be able to find some standard roommate leases online.
Good luck! Like everyone else is saying, be careful! Also, if this roommate doesn't work out, I would recommend you have the next one apply and do a background check before you agree to them moving in. (You can set this up on cozy.co)
For me, the story was potentially plausible until it got to the part about the car. And something about including extra money to you, for the car pick up. No way. Let's pretend...major pretend...for a sec that the car story is true and the check/funds are legit. That would still be a hard no. Their car is their business and has nothing to do with me. I wouldn't take responsibility for it and/or the funds to pick it up.
We had something similar happen to my parents. Potential tenant sent a check and days later they cancel everything and request the funds back in money order while their check bounces. Be very careful.
To your point. Yes you can rent out a room in your own home. Even if your mom's home because it has been authorized. Check the local going rate for 1bed1bath or 1room rentals and price yours accordingly. Find someone local. A sign in your yard and on your town's buy/sell FB page is usually enough to generate interest. Best of luck! Congratulations for taking the leap into RE investing!
@Brandon Ho Why on earth would you go to a dealership to pick up a car for someone you have never met? If they have that much money, they'd either buy their own house or pick it up once they arrived. I am glad you didn't cash the cheque.
As for renting a room, as long as you have your mom's permission as she owns it, you are okay. If you are collecting the rent, then you need to claim it as income on your income taxes.
This Paris person is definitely a scam. Whoever you rent a room to is going to have access to your room and valuables when you're not home. Be very careful - absolutely meet them in person, do a background check, check references.
Brandon, I wanted to chip in and agree with what everyone said before me. I had several people reach out on Craigslist with similar stories when I was looking for tenants.
I would absolutely not rent to someone that you didn’t meet.
This is why I like Facebook marketplace as you can look at their profile to see if they’re a real person.
Craigslist can be great and I’ve gotten good tenants from the site but make sure you always do the background check, call their previous landlords, and verify their income.
Also, I’d never rent out a room in my home to someone who wasn’t paying for it themselves.