If your name is on the property and they are writing rent checks to you, then you would be names in a lawsuit and your personal home etc on the line.

He has paid off the entire mortgage but has an existing home equity line of credit (HELOC) on it worth $140k which he is to pay $700/month in interest.

I cant imagine they dont have clients that use a rotating line, whether personal or secured by real estate, for a reserve.

If the meter is incrementing, there is a definite leak in your main line to the house.

I'm looking to use a personal line of credit towards a down payment on a rental.If I get a personal line of credit, say $50k, and the repayment on it is 1% principle + interest, what is used to factor into my DTI for the mortgage?  

If you have a slab you'll need to sawcut it to get a 4" waste line for the toilet installed and tie into existing waste line system. 

The inspections also help keep the tenants in line and lets them know if they need to make improvements as far as cleaning etc.

There's precedent (in Oakland for example) for drawing a line in the sand other than the standard "5+ unit or mixed use" line.

I put all the "bad debt" like our lines of credit and credit cards we use for rehab and down payments in my name and mortgages in his.  

I think the rent is already pretty in line with the market, but of course my property taxes go up a little every year, contractors charge more, and my HOA fee did increase this year as well.