Renting to 3 young guys?

[phil]

With 3 guys, any one of them could want to move in with a girlfriend, have a dispute with each other, grow tired of each other, move into a 'trendier' place etc. From the stories I'm told, a lot of younger people tend to get sick of each other in these situations.

I tend to agree. From my previous experience renting with 2 other people, there tends to be too many variables and conflicts of interest. I rented with 2other guys at my first year at Uni. They already knew each other because they were studying the same degree. They were ok blokes, but while I wanted to study, they were at the uni bar coming home at 3 or 4 am on a regular basis. Then there was the issue of who's turn to clean, cook etc. I finally got sick of it and moved out. My theory is always go for an even number of tenants, ie, two people will generally get on better than three. If there are four people and it turns to custard, there will usually be two that will remain to continue the lease. Just my thoughts and experience.

Phil.

 

[JamesGG]

Hiya,

I was in that boat just recently, hunting for a rental with two mates. All of us 22, and I'm the only one with a full time job (admittedly, one of them earns nearly as much as me as a part-time waiter, after tips and overtime. The other is studying to become a rocket scientist or whatever it is that aerospace engineering lets you do).

Took us *ages* to find something, and now renting a place direct from the landlord (no PM). Even had some PM's tell us not to bother applying.

Puts a whole new perspective on being a landlord, playing this game from the other side of the fence.

Cheers

James.

 

[ozi]

Thanks everyone for the comments! Some great discussions.

Stability of tenants was one of the factors I had considered and I realise that a family would be more stable than 3 youths. In the current rental market, this doesn't really bother me because:

a) Rents are increasing

b) There is a housing shortage and I can't see this improving much in the next year or two. Especially with interest rates on the rise. I could be wrong here, just my opinion.

So if they decide to leave at the end of the lease, it probably won't be too difficult finding new tenants and bumping the rents up to market rates.

Cheers,
Ozi

 

[jingo]

Hi Ozi,

If it isn't already too late - and it may be - you could put them on a 6 mth lease and renew it. That way, if they aren't working out, then you can ask them to move on!

Regards Jason.

 

[ozi]

Hi Ozi,

If it isn't already too late - and it may be - you could put them on a 6 mth lease and renew it. That way, if they aren't working out, then you can ask them to move on!

Regards Jason.

Hi Jason,

Its a bit late as they move in today. I'm not too concerned anymore. I'll just see how it goes. If it turns sour, then I'll take action. There is nothing to indicate that they will be bad tenants. All their references were good, including their previous PM and they always paid the rent on time. They have already paid the first months rent in advance so they are off to a good start

Cheers,
Ozi

Cheers,
Ozi

 

[MishMash]

I rented to 2 young guys and 1 of their girlfriends (ages 20-22). They lived in my house for approx 10 months, they ended up breaking the lease 2 months early.

In the first 2 months - they SMASHED the beautiful leadlights in the front door. The story given? An uninvited guest showed up to their party and got angry about being asked to leave. They didn't want to pay for it because they said it was an unvited friend of a friend. I told them i didn't care-they rent my house, they are responsible for any damage that occurs! Unfortunately for them it was a very expensive item to fix.

Girlfriend and boyfriend broke up couple of months later, she moved out but left her name on the lease and we didn't find out she moved out until the lease was broken.

1 of the remaining guys decided to go and work in Victoria 3 months before lease was up. Who decides to go and work in another states when they have signed a lease?! The last man standing realised he couldn't afford the rent and gave notice to break the lease. Nasty shock for the 2 that had left that they had to chip in and pay the lease break fees as their names were still on the lease.

Overall - i found them to be irresponsible and immature. They stuffed me around many times and i would think twice before renting to younger people again. I will not dismiss an application purely on someones age - but faced with an application from a young couple and an application from an older couple or family, i would prob give it to the family/older couple if their application checked out.

But you never really know what your tenants will be like until they move in! They could be older and respectable but turn out to be the tenants from hell.

 

[DavidMc]

Were they students?