if renting to a family who has an 18yr old son does he have to be on the lease as well? Florida Law?
C C asked:
I am new at being a landlord so I have a family, husband, wife & their son that wants to lease from me. The son is 18, I was under the impression that anyone age 18 or older must be on the lease and have a background check, which I charge per person for. Is this right?
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I am new at being a landlord so I have a family, husband, wife & their son that wants to lease from me. The son is 18, I was under the impression that anyone age 18 or older must be on the lease and have a background check, which I charge per person for. Is this right?
March 28th, 2009 at 9:31 am
It’s your property…you make the rules.
No law requires you to do a background check or a credit check on any tenant, however, you would be foolish not to.
There is no point in putting an 18 year old on the lease if he isn’t responsible for paying for the rent. This is a common practice, but I have had rental properties for years and it serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever other than to drive the tenant to rent from another landlord that doesn’t have such a silly requirement.
March 29th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
You can do so, as it is your property. Don’t believe it is actually required.
When you say putting him on lease, are you talking about making him a co-tenant? I wouldn’t do that as he’s living with parents. BUT I would list him as occupant with them, the lessees. And you can require background check on him.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:46 pm
No! There is no law requiring that they be on the lease. All the law states is that they CAN be on the lease at 18.
As others pointed out there is really nothing to gain by having the kid on the lease. He has no assets and is not going to be paying anything. There is also not really any point of doing a background check on him. He is not going to have any credit or any history yet. Just list him as an occupant.