Should I rent house to a family with 4 boys

[shawnusa]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA

There is a family with 4 boys age 4, 5, 8, and 9. Total of 6 people going to live there. Someone told me that the boys could make damage of the house by Jumping around and etc. I do not know how to handle that. Anyone can give some advice? Thanks!

 

[cbg]

MA law prohibits discrimination against people with children in housing issues, and I know for a fact that MCAD WILL prosecute. If the children cause any damage, you have options, but you do NOT have the option to refuse to rent to them because of their children.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Check this page:

http://www.masslegalhelp.org/common-forms-of-housing-discrimination

Is this a house or an apartment in a multi-family? If a multi-family, do you live there too?

Lastly, how many bedrooms? Stuffing six people in a two bedroom is a little tight, and may violate building codes.

 

[shawnusa]

It is a 3 bedrooms single family house. The issues is I have other people fill up the application at the same time. I need to choose one or the other. The other family has 2 children vs this one has 4 boys. The one with 4 boys family has little more income. In Mass it is hard to let tenant leave when they do not pay rent or cause damage to the house. I would like some kind of protection.

 

[I'mTheFather]

How about you check their references?

 

[Just Blue]

It is a 3 bedrooms single family house. The issues is I have other people fill up the application at the same time. I need to choose one or the other. The other family has 2 children vs this one has 4 boys. The one with 4 boys family has little more income. In Mass it is hard to let tenant leave when they do not pay rent or cause damage to the house. I would like some kind of protection.

You should consult with a LL/T Attorney. You really should have on as you seem...stressed...regarding this simple matter regarding YOUR property. Good Luck!!

 

[Just Blue]

You should consult with a LL/T Attorney. You really should have on as you seem...stressed...regarding this simple matter regarding YOUR property. Good Luck!!

ETA:
Px Hx Folks!!

 

[cbg]

Once upon a time there was a church, somewhere on the South Shore of Massachusetts. The church had a manse, but their new pastor lived locally and did not need the church to provide accommodations. So the church decided to rent out the manse as a source of income.

A family with children was interested in renting, and toured the house.

In the meantime, the board of Trustees realized that there were a number of repairs that needed to be made to the manse before they should (or possibly even could - I was not on the board of Trustees that year so I don't remember which) rent the property. After getting quotes for repairs, the board held up their hands in horror and decided they would have to put renting the manse on hold for six months or so.

The family with children sued the church through MCAD. Despite the fact that they had dated documentation showing that the quotes for repairs were not received until after the family with children toured the manse and that they had, in fact, removed the house from the rental listings and did not rent it to anyone (not to mention the limits of their budget) the church lost and was fined by the state for "discrimination".

So be very careful how you handle this.

 

[Searchertwin]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA

There is a family with 4 boys age 4, 5, 8, and 9. Total of 6 people going to live there. Someone told me that the boys could make damage of the house by Jumping around and etc. I do not know how to handle that. Anyone can give some advice? Thanks!

In my opinion, 4 boys won't do any more damage than 4 girls or one child. It depends on how the parents make them mind.

You do have a choice in who you want to rent to. But as stated, you have to be careful on what and how you do this.

If you do rent to them, let them see you take plenty of pictures. This is the BEST protection for you. Every wall, woodwork, window frames, behind doors, etc. If less than 100, you did not take enough.
Do a move-in list, list everything. Even down to the stopper behind the doors.


Another thing suggested was a reference. Which is good, but make sure it is not a friend nor a relative giving information. Check court house to see if he put down the correct LL name and the address of previous rental is the same. Than call him personally. Let him do the talking when you ask for a reference.

 

[TigerD]

Someone has to present the counterpoint. So here goes:

If you can't come up with one good legal reason to decline a potential tenant, you probably should rethink being a landlord. It doesn't really matter what your actual reason for rejecting them is: black, white, married, single, gay, Catholic, Jewish, too tall, too short, kids or pets; as long as the reason you give is sound, verifiable, and you do not have a pattern of discrimination.

Do you have tenant approval guidelines? X dollars of income per intended resident
Did you pull a credit report?
What does the floor of their car look like? That's is how your house is going to look in two months.
Did you drive by their old property to see how they maintained it - if applicable?
What do they do for a living? What shift do they work? Do they ride a motorcycle?

Seriously, there is always a legal reason for rejecting a potential tenant.



DC

 

[Just Blue]

Someone has to present the counterpoint. So here goes:

If you can't come up with one good legal reason to decline a potential tenant, you probably should rethink being a landlord. It doesn't really matter what your actual reason for rejecting them is: black, white, married, single, gay, Catholic, Jewish, too tall, too short, kids or pets; as long as the reason you give is sound, verifiable, and you do not have a pattern of discrimination.

Do you have tenant approval guidelines? X dollars of income per intended resident
Did you pull a credit report?
What does the floor of their car look like? That's is how your house is going to look in two months.
Did you drive by their old property to see how they maintained it - if applicable?
What do they do for a living? What shift do they work? Do they ride a motorcycle?

Seriously, there is always a legal reason for rejecting a potential tenant.



DC

B/U I will call BS. My car is "messy". My home is neat. I have actually been told by my LL and his repair personal that our home is one of the best kept in the the complex. Perhaps how a person chooses to "keep" their personal property is different than they choose to keep a rented property.

 

[TigerD]

I don't know what B/U means.

You are welcome to call BS. Every time I have posted that particular test I use - someone does. I find it generally holds. Additionally, it depends on how you define messy. A couple of things on the floor: a scraper, umbrella and roll of paper towels; or ankle deep in last weeks pop cups tucked among used tissues and few scattered chicken nuggets.

I'm talking about the later.

DC

 

[You Are Guilty]

One rarely (ever?) finds a perfect correlation in such matters. In fact, the "science" of sociology tells us that a .3 correlation coefficient is often consider rather strong (http://www.shortell.org/book/chap18.html). In the "real world", most people would tend to overlook a .3, but I would imagine DC's example probably comes pretty close.


(I have no idea why I felt a need to post this. I hate statistics 84.8% more than the next guy).

 

[Searchertwin]

I don't know what B/U means.

You are welcome to call BS. Every time I have posted that particular test I use - someone does. I find it generally holds. Additionally, it depends on how you define messy. A couple of things on the floor: a scraper, umbrella and roll of paper towels; or ankle deep in last weeks pop cups tucked among used tissues and few scattered chicken nuggets.

I'm talking about the later.

DC

One thing I do inspect is the car. Horrible to judge by, but that's what I do. And it hold true.

If a few things, it means nothing to me, but when packed with soda pop cans, ff, and items mention above, it tells me to throw application in file 13.
Sometimes, I don't have to go over and look. The dash is packed with papers halfway up the window.

 

[shawnusa]

Thank you all for the information!!!