Renting To College Students Can Be a Great Experience, But It Also Has The Capability Of Turning From Bad To Worse…Read Here To Find Out If You Should Rent To Them Or Not

Should you rent to college students? This is the million dollar questions that apartment owners ask themselves. If you live near a college campus, you may want to strongly consider doing so. Many landlords have heard horrible stories from friends who also have property, and rented out to young students. Don’t let these stories scare you. Anybody would be a bad renter no matter how old they are. It actually may be wiser in some cases to have a student occupying your rental. Usually their parents are paying for the rent, so you’ll never have to worry about that, especially since they are likely co-signers on the lease. One major advantage is that if the students like the apartment after the first year, they may stay for the next three. college-student-files

You should also find out how many more will be living in the house. Usually only one friend comes to see the house, and if they like it, then they’ll call their roommates to come see it too. When the prospective tenant is there, ask for information about them such as their age, their major, and lifestyle habits. You cannot pry too much or you will scare them away. This would scare any tenant away no matter what age. Its creepy, and it also makes them feel less-than. Everyone wants to be respected.

If you have a four bedroom house, but you’re only comfortable with three people, you need to include that in your listing. This is normal for owners who have a large property. While more roommates mean more rent, there is a higher chance for damage when there are four people involved as opposed to two or three. Decide if you’ll allow pets. A lot of people buy their first pet when they are in college. Let them know beforehand whether you’ll allow them during the lease, and let them know whether or not you’ll require a pet deposit.

A very important thing you should do is let the tenant know that you are open to any communication. Because they are young and haven’t been on their own yet, chances are if they accidentally clog up the toilet and it overflows, that they’ll be scared to call you because they’re afraid they’ll get in trouble. Let them know that if something goes wrong or needs to be repaired in the house, that its OK and to let you know right away so that you can fix it for them. Be sure to include rules in the lease that you might not necessarily put in there when renting to adults. Generally, adults remember to blow out candles before bedtime, but college students might forget. Even if some of these little rules seem silly, they’re to protect your tenants. They’re young, and still learning!

Comments 2

  • I would say the best thing about renting to younger tenants is that their parents usually do pay their rent. I always had it ON time on the first, as it was usually mailed by their mother each month.

    • Hi Shea. That is definitely one perk. Of course, every now and then, you’ll get the occasional student that is putting themselves through school and works a job or two, and may be late sometimes. Either way, you’ll generally find that students do pay in full and on time. They usually have less responsibilities than adults.

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