So you want to rent out your home and what you really want is for a family to move in. That’s great, families make good tenants. But, you cannot discriminate against other types of tenants. Doing so is a clear violation of federal fair housing laws. If you put your home up for rent and you get applications from a group of roommates and they qualify, you cannot turn them down and wait for a family to come along.
There are lots of really great roommate situations and you’ll find they can make excellent tenants. With proper screening, there are plenty of qualified and desirable tenants who don’t necessarily fit the family description. This is especially true in San Francisco, where we there has been an influx of well-educated, highly paid young professionals who can’t really afford, in our crazy rental market, to live in their own one bedroom or studio apartment. So they combine households and live together.
You also have to remember that if you’re hoping to get a family in your rental, there aren’t a lot of those around. Families are not moving into San Francisco in great numbers. If they do happen to relocate to this city from somewhere else, they’ll check out the San Francisco school board, and when they learn all the rules and regulations involved and they hear about the lottery system that dictates where their child will go to school, those families are not going to rent in San Francisco. They will look outside the city where a great school is available and open for enrollment.
If you’re renting out your home, consider roommates and be careful about violating any fair housing laws in establishing what you’re looking for. Roommates make excellent tenants when they’re properly screened.
Please contact us at Gordon Property Management if you have any questions about what you can and cannot do when you’re renting out your property in San Francisco.
