Renting Your Home To Others

If you are considering renting out your home, take the following considerations to heart before doing so.

Renting Best Practices

• Draw up a rental agreement that defines the terms of the rental, including restrictions, liabilities and occupancy guidelines.
• Ask for references from potential renters, especially those that will stay for a while. Checking the references of potential renters is vital when determining if you will open your home to strangers.
• Request a security deposit to be refunded if there is no damage to your home.
• Contact Wells Insurance about your plan to rent out your home and ask about how this may affect your current coverage.
• If you are renting for a long period of time, consider hiring a “property manager” to look out for your house while you are away.

Protecting Your Personal Property

• Set aside a locked place in your home to store personal items such as clothing and valuables.
• Take valuable items to a locked storage facility, a family member’s home or a bank vault.
• Change alarm codes after you are done renting.
• Provide keys to only one door of your residence so that you have to change only one lock after the renters leave.
• Photograph and videotape all areas of your home before the rental takes place in case damage occurs while you are away.
• Tell your neighbors that you are renting and ask that they watch over your home.
• Have your mail forwarded or held until you return.
• Provide your contact information for both the renters and your neighbors in case of an emergency.
• Provide the renters with a list of service providers, such as plumbers and electricians, in case of a water leak or furnace failure.