Co signer for tenant

[Ryan Stockman]

Can you deny a tenant that does not meet the rental requirements but has A co-signer? How do you handle that? TIA. 

[Adam Martin]

I think it depends on the situation.  For someone just getting started in life I would accept a parent as a co-signer as long as their credit was just non existent versus bad.  Many of us here he to have their parents co-sign on our first apartment and I see that as reasonable.  Now if you are an adult with a history of bad credit the likelihood of that changing is slim and I would pass.  Sure the co-signer is liable but I feel it would be hard to collect from them. Things in my market are slowing down for rentals which is seasonally expected but surely there are better applicants out there.  In today’s COVID environment I’m really looking to minimize risk and I would much rather have an empty house not generating income than an occupied house costing me money to get it back.  Who would have thought that the new rules to protect vulnerable tenants would make it harder to find housing in the future.   In the past I may consider in the first instance starting out but hard pass now.