Almost all replies are from people warning OP about all the bad & terrible things that "might" happen to them if they rent out a room in their house. People telling OP to watch episodes of Judge Judy & Netflix's "Worst Roommate Ever!" shows to learn what might happen to them if they rent out a room in their house. Really? Is this a statistically valid concern?
These are television shows designed to "entertain" viewers--the producers find the absolute worst people / situations & put them on television to entertain our voyeuristic tendencies...yet people are really warning OP that these are people & situations they are likely to experience if they rent out a room in their house?!? Really?? How about the tens of thousands of other people who rent out rooms in their house and have a good experience??
The OP has received some good advice. As a former landlord, I 100% agree that if you have someone fill out a rental agreement, label the first & last months rent as a "security deposit". Most importunately, "accidentally" leave one page missing from the application that you can then take to the applicants current residence to have them fill out--get a peak inside their current house & car--whatever condition they keep their current residence in is how you can expect they will keep yours. Some additional suggestions:
1) Forget about asking for personal references--anyone they put down is going to have nice things to say about the applicant. A better suggestion is to ask for their employment history & contact info. for their last 3 employers. If they are jumping from job-to-job every few months, that's a red flag. But if they keep a job for a year or two and their job references check out, that a huge green light.
2) One stipulation you could have is that anyone who wants to rent a room from you must be able to pass a criminal background check and have a credit score of 750 (or whatever # you are comfortable with). Make sure the social security # they give you truly is theirs. While a good (or even decent) credit score doesn't mean you'll necessarily get a long with the person, if they don't have a criminal record and DO have a decent credit score, it's extremely unlikely they'll turn into "THE ROOMMATE FROM HELL!!!"
Good luck OP.
One thing I've noticed is that as people age & get frailer (both physically & mentally) they get more much more cautious, sometimes even fearful. But more often than not, the things we worry about never even happen.
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