Quote from @Steven Hervey: Hey everyone,We are renting our first property and were approached today about renting it out as a palliative adult care home. 

Even though the nurse is already vetted through their agency, I still run standard checks on any adult who will be living in the home—mainly a background check for safety and basic income verification if they’ll be contributing.If the nurse’s contract alone easily meets the income requirement, I don’t stress too much about the spouse’s finances, but I still verify who they are since they’ll be occupying the property.

But the spouse/partner isn’t screened by anyone, and that is where most landlords get burned.Here’s how most experienced MTR owners handle it, and what I’ve seen work best:Screen them as a household, not just the nurse.If two adults are living in your property, they’re both legally responsible for rent and for whatever happens inside the unit.

If your zoning or building code limits unrelated adults, that limit still applies.

If the guy's solid and has been in for several years, I'm a lot more comfortable than I am with someone who started this year -- then it starts looking like a shell game.Every adult must be on the lease, and each must pass your screening tests, and each must be responsible for the entire rent.

My adult children have 9 properties now ~ they advise me to buy a few rentals to provide eventual income supplementation after I retire. ( Who wants to be the retiree wiping tables at McDonald's ?

Do you rely mostly on referrals, or something else?

We have a 10 year time horizon so we're OK with relying on appreciation, rent increases, mortgage reduction to improve our net return.    10 year projections look very persuasive.    

Instead of relying on someone's word, have something written that you can refer back to. 5.

The information contained in this post is not to be relied upon.