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Age & Your
Renters
by Robin
Fowler
Do you have a
minimum age that you consider for renters? Should you?
Age what age do you think a person officially becomes a
responsible renter?
As a vacation rental property owner, it is in your best
interest to make sure that you rent to the most
trustworthy and mature customers that you can find. You,
of course, want tenants that won’t make a mess of or
destroy your property, ignore laws and homeowner’s
association covenants, and that will pay promptly,
especially if there is a problem with damage. How much
does age factor into the equation when you are
considering renting to someone?
At the age of 21, a person can vote, get married, drive
a car, and hold down a job. But, at the age of 21, many
are still in college, and in that carefree frame of
mind, an up all night, sleep all day type of thinking.
You have every right to be concerned about a group of
young renters coming to your rental property and causing
trouble, right? But, isn’t it true that older renters
can cause just as much trouble, and sometimes more? The
truth is, age has very little to do with the maturity of
a renter. While you certainly wouldn’t want to rent your
property to someone under the age of 18 (or even 21), by
setting too strict of an age limit (say, under 25) on
your renters, you could be pushing away a very
profitable pool of customers!
While you have every right to set whatever age limits
you want for your rental policies (it is, after all,
your property), before you risk estranging too many
potential customers, considering setting stricter
requirements for your renters (of every age, if you
choose!). For example:
• Charge a larger damage deposit. You could do this for
your renters under 25, or across the board.
• Require references from your younger renters, and give
them a call. This can be an employer, landlords,
previous people they have rented from. Ask about their
maturity level, how they took care of their
apartments/houses and rentals, and if they were
responsible with money and rules. Again, this could be a
blanket policy that you apply to all renters.
• Talk to your younger potential renters over the phone,
rather than doing business with them through email. Ask
them lots of questions (what are your plans while at my
place?). Make sure that they understand that you have a
“Zero Tolerance” policy when it comes to all applicable
local laws, homeowner’s association covenants, and
personal rules for your property. This might include
smoking, underage drinking, illegal drugs, loud music,
more people sleeping at the property than originally
arranged, etc. Inform them that failure to abide by
these requests will result in loss of all deposits, and
could even lead to legal trouble for them.
• Have all members of the rental group (traveling party)
sign and return the rental agreement and your policies
and procedures. Do not agree to the rental until all
papers have been returned to you. You could also require
a copy of each member’s driver’s license and Social
Security card.
You will find that younger renters that are willing to
provide the things that you require in order to rent
your property will more than likely be very responsible
tenants, who treat your property with respect. Even if
you have qualms about renting to younger people, by
making them do a little extra to show that they are
conscientious and responsible adults, you might find
that you have tapped into a profitable group of
customers (that won’t give you as much trouble as you
feared)!
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Need
help? Call toll-free 1-800-929-VLBO
