Church to pay tenants rent?

Question

I have a possible tenant that just moved to TX with 4 kids from Utah because her future ex-husband abused her.  Her church in Utah has agreed to pay her monthly rent payment for a year but will not co-sign.  She is British and has a green card but no job yet and no credit, her husband handed everything and she has never worked.  She does have a co-signer and I want to help but wanted to get some advice from the group on if this is a good idea, should I charge extra deposit or what?  Thank you in advance for any input.

Rob Hakes · Answer

@Marty Calhoun

If it is the LDS church then no they will not cosign.  They certainly have the means to pay rent for a year, but it sounds odd they they would make a one year commitment.  Im sure that they see this as an extreme circumstance where they feel they need to make sure they can get this tenant into a safe area   Typically the church would take it on a month to month basis to make sure the individual was doing her part in trying to stand on her own two feet and better her situation.  If she bolted after a month or two then don't expect to see anything from the church.

Adam Martin · Answer

Nope.  Your gut is telling you this is a bad idea so you posted here looking for confirmation and got it.  Your instincts seem good so I would follow them as this is a high risk situation.  You have an international renter with no income being sponsored by a church that is unwilling to cosign but someone else is.  It is a tight market for rentals despite being winter, be patient and a better candidate will come along.  Very few of us here regret being too cautious, while many tried to rationalize risky situations and regretted it.

Dale Desmond · Answer

If it's the LDS church, they will absolutely pay it. The Bishop will write the check & it will clear. I had a tenant in the same spot, basically & it was reliable. Unless she does something weird or illegal, you should be fine. She will likely be invited to attend a financial reliance course to train her to handle finances & become financially non-dependant on the church so hopefully she won't be completely dependent the entire lease.

Church to pay tenants rent?

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