Renting? 5 zoning rules for renting out a house

Considering renting out a house? There are a few things you need to consider before you do. Here are some things to check before you list your home or apartment for rent. 

Before renting out a house to tenants, there are a few things to consider. In addition to rental rates, deciding who covers utilities, insurance implications, and lease terms, there are other things you need to be aware of that aren’t as obvious. 

In this post, we’ll make sure you have your bases covered with these five important things to research before you rent out your home. But before we jump into them, let’s cover some essentials about renting out your house you’ll want to understand first.

The basics of renting out a house

To become a profitable landlord, It’s vital to grasp the fundamentals of renting out a house. This basic understanding equips you as a landlord with the necessary knowledge about your roles, responsibilities, and legal framework that governs your rental. Key points include knowing your limits on tenant occupancy, which can be dictated by local laws, and understanding any legal rules for renting a room in your house.

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As a landlord, you must be clear on the legal aspects of lease agreements, tenant rights, and privacy. This involves setting clear boundaries about the use of shared spaces and ensuring that lease terms are transparent and fair to both parties.

Additionally, you should be aware of the financial implications of renting out a house, including setting competitive rates, managing maintenance costs, and navigating financial risks and rewards. Proper tenant screening and establishing a solid rental agreement are critical, too.

What’s the difference between a tenant and a lodger?

The key difference between the two lies in their living arrangements and legal rights. When renting out a house, a tenant occupies your entire property and has exclusive rights to that space. 

In contrast, a lodger rents a room within your home, sharing common areas like the kitchen and living room. While tenants have more legal protections and privacy, lodgers typically have fewer rights and their occupancy can be more directly managed by the landlord.

How many tenants are allowed in one house?

This largely depends on local zoning laws and housing codes, which vary depending on where you’re renting out a house. Generally, these regulations might dictate occupancy limits and how to rent a room in your house legally. They’re often based on the size of the property, the number of bedrooms, and safety standards, such as one bedroom per two people. 

5 zoning rules for renting out a house to consider

Whether you’re renting a home or the entire property, it’s important to consult your local housing authority to understand specific requirements. Always check rules for how to put a house on rent before leasing to ensure you adhere to the legal or community limits.

Below are 5 rules to take into consideration if you’re thinking about becoming a landlord:

1. Clear your plans with your HOA (if you have one).

If you live in a community that has a homeowners association (HOA), there may be provisions against renting out a house. Arguably, you should be able to do what you want with your own property, but if you own a home with an HOA, you’ve agreed to follow their guidelines, which can be very strict. 

If you are allowed to have renters, they will still have to follow HOA guidelines for maintenance, noise, and other rules. That’s important to note, because you want to make sure your tenants follow the requirements or you’ll be stuck facing fines. 

Read your bylaws carefully and ask the HOA any questions that you’re not clear on. Once you have an agreement with your tenant, you need to honor that and you don’t want the HOA making it difficult for you to do that properly. Clarification is the best choice when working with an HOA and its regulations and rules for renting out a house.

2. Check any city regulations on landlords. 

When you’re renting out a house, you’ve technically gone into business for yourself. As a landlord, you may be considered a business and regulated by the city. Not every city or municipal area has regulations for landlords, but it’s always a good idea to find that out before renting out a home. 

There may be city zoning requirements or ordinances that you have to follow for a rental that weren’t issues for a homeowner. That’s very important to note, and something you want to think about carefully so you aren’t putting your financial future at risk. 

You could face fines and other problems if you’re supposed to be following city zoning laws and fail to do so. Be sure to check your city and county website for any landlord ordinances.

3. Determine zoning regulations on occupancy limits.

One of the zoning regulations your rental may have is the number of people who can legally live there. For example, many locations require that you have one bedroom for every two people living in the rental, with the exception of children under two. So a married couple with a new baby could rent a one-bedroom home, but a married couple with a five-year-old child would legally have to rent something with two bedrooms or more. 

Keep these occupancy limits in mind before renting out a house, and make sure you’re following the laws and requirements carefully. If you aren’t sure or don’t understand something, check your city and county website out before you find a tenant, so you don’t have to worry about it later.

4. Know if your tenants will run a home business, and if that affects zoning.

Having a home-based business can easily run you afoul of zoning requirements. A property that’s zoned residential isn’t going to work for a business in most cases, but it also depends on the business. Someone who uses their computer to make money and handles all of their business activity online or over the phone is far different from a person who is selling products and has a sign out front. 

Be sure you know what your tenants do for a living, and that they understand what types of business activities they can and can’t perform from their rental home. Even though they would be the ones at fault, as the owner of the property it would be up to you to correct the zoning violation. That’s easily avoided by putting home business information into the contract, so you reduce your risk of having a zoning problem caused by renting out a house.

5. Determine a pet policy and your due diligence.

In using your house as a rental, you open yourself up to both risk and reward. You can make money, but you can also lose money. If you can’t keep the place rented, or you have to pay fines or even fight a lawsuit for something your tenants have done, it can quickly make renting out a house an unprofitable venture. 

Therefore, it’s critical to know relevant information about your tenants before they move in. If they have pets, especially dogs, you want to know that up front. Many landlords have a no pet policy, because it reduces their liability a great deal. 

If you do agree to let your tenant have dogs, make sure you know how many and what breeds. Get the information in writing and consider taking a pet deposit and charging additional rent as a part of the contract. If the tenant lies about the number or breeds of dogs, you have some recourse in case they attack someone or cause damage to communal property by having everything documented.

Since zoning regulations can be different if you’re renting out a house as opposed to living on the property, you want to check into them carefully before you make any decisions. That way you’ll know exactly what to require of your tenants and what to put into your contract to make sure you stay on the right side of all zoning rules for renting out a house.