Renting out a room could help you make money amidst COVID-19. Many landlords and tenants co-exist very happily together, if the house rules are established from the beginning and the property is set up effectively. This is something a lot of homeowners should consider.
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While everybody is searching for different things when they look to rent a room, there are generally some essentials. Tenants want to rent your spare room to have somewhere comfortable to live and sleep. They require safety, so your home should be secure, and cleanliness should always be a consideration. When you invite a stranger to lodge or cohabit in your home, you are entering into a contract with them. The space is still your own, but you can’t treat it exactly as you would if the tenant wasn’t around. For example, if you’ve previously used the spare room for cleaning your football boots, that’s probably going to have to stop.
When you first look at renting out a room, you need to decide which parts of your life you are willing to change to accommodate your new lodger. If you might make more money by moving into the smaller bedroom and renting out the larger one, are you willing to do that? What’s going to be included in the rent – bills, internet usage, car parking? You need to have a clear idea of these areas before your rent spare room ad goes live. Many landlords and tenants create a written agreement, to ascertain what the house rules are. While it is still technically your home, you need to be careful that you’re not subjecting your tenant to anything they may find uncomfortable, such as drug use. Ultimately, renting a room involves trust on both sides and this requires openness from the beginning of the process.
So, after you’ve grabbed your new tenant with your brilliant “rent my spare room” ad, you need to ensure that your home is going to live up to expectations. If you took pictures when the place was tidy and then allowed it to fall into disarray again, make sure it’s presentable once more. Also, for the reassurance of both you and your tenant, ensure that the inner security is as good as the outer security. A keyed deadbolt on bedroom doors ensures privacy, for instance.
Before a tenant moves in, take care of anything that needs a little maintenance. You may be fine with putting the kettle at a certain angle before it’ll boil, but that’s a little too much trouble for someone paying to be in your home. In addition, consider drawing up an inventory of your property and running through it with your tenant on arrival. This can ensure that any losses down the line are properly attributed and not a result of you not remembering you lost an MP3 player three months before a tenant moved in.
