Help me sublet a room in my home

June 21, 2010 5:12 PM

Looking for help on becoming a good, legal, and happy subletter in Seattle. I recently bought my own home and am considering renting out the front-side bedroom. I'd like help knowing the right legal/tax steps to take, a good idea of price range, as well as precautions and things to avoid (extreme verbosity inside).

I recently bought a lovely new townhome in Seattle's Capitol Hill area, and couldn't be happier with it. However, it's a 3br townhome and I'm currently living alone, so while I certainly don't mind and can afford to keep living by myself, it seems a waste to have a bedroom that still has that new house smell going completely unused. However I do find a roommate- and since I'm not financially pressured to rent, I'll likely lean towards finding the right friend-of-friend referrals more than taking my chances on CL- I want to make sure I'm doing all the right things for myself and my potential roommate.


### Financial issues:
I assume I declare rental income as *some* form of income. Can I just do this while filing my 2010 taxes next spring, or will I have to file quarterly taxes? Also, are there any tax benefits to subletting (I've heard for example that if you are subletting, you can deduct some home improvements)? Will I need to contact my insurance company if I have a room rented, or is that irrelevant?


### Legal issues:
Are sublet/room rental agreements in Seattle inherently "caveat renter", or will all the rights and responsibilities of a landlord fall to me (and what should I know)? Where would one get good boilerplate sublet agreements?

I looked at tenantsunion.com but the information there seems geared towards people renting the traditional private unit with a landlord more than renting a room. I want to be a good roommate/landlord and if either of us think things aren't working out- short of dangerous or criminal activity- I'd give the person plenty of time to gracefully find another place. But I think it's obviously important to make sure I know what I am obliged to do legally and what risks I undertake in renting.


### Price range
Curious what sublets would go for; I assume considerably less than a private unit since it is shared. The location is just north of 12th and E John right by the 43 & 8 lines, and is a little off from the street. The house is a brand new townhome, all modern amenities like radiant floor heating, front-loading steam washer/dryer, etc, as well as two-car garage. The room itself is about 10'x15' with a large closet and a 3rd-floor sunny western view of the mountains, and has its own full bath. The third bedroom is on the first/garage floor, and is almost too small to call a bedroom, so it could be a bonus room/storage as needed that we could share.

I was thinking around $650-700 is a reasonable price including all utilities + cable. But I don't know if that's pricing out the kind of people looking to rent just a room, or if I'm actually underselling it. Since I have no financial need to rent I'd much rather get a great roommate than squeeze every penny out of the room, but no reason I should be too out of whack on price range either way.


### Caveats
If you have any horror stories or cautions about things not to do- how to avoid re-enacting "Pacific Heights" for example- or just good roommate tips that help smooth over rough spots, that'd be useful too.

posted by hincandenza to Home & Garden (2 answers total)

Well, you own the property, so it's not a sublet and a subtenant you want but a lease and a tenant (thus making you the landlord). Probably a month-to-month or "at will" lease so you have the option of terminating early if it's not working out. You can make this very simple - a one-page agreement stipulating what's included in the rent and what's not, and that it's a month to month lease, and if there's a deposit. Other than that, standard tenancy laws apply. For example, you need 30 days written notice to end a month-to-month tenancy in most places.

Something to think about is the type of tenant you want. There are two basic kinds; the first are looking for a home for an indefinite period of time and will expect to operate a shared household with their roommates. The second need a place for a shorter period of time (e.g. to study or teach, on exchange or otherwise traveling) and will expect to defer to the landlord when it comes to how the household is run. You will run into problems if you invite the first kind of tenant but would rather be the second kind of landlord.

Price-wise just browse craiglist and you'll see what comparable places are going for.
posted by PercussivePaul at 6:58 PM on June 21, 2010

Best answer: As I understand it you're a landlord: they're paying you for the right to live there.

It's probably worth skimming through the Seattle and Washington codes regarding tenants, just so you know what's in there. They're available online, naturally, and I don't remember them being too hard to wade through.

I think the Seattle Public Library has a variety of sample forms, or at least has librarians who will direct you to places that do. (As a renter I've seen the RHA-PS forms a few times, but they're definitely geared towards the "traditional private unit", and they're kind of heavyweight too.)
posted by hattifattener at 1:12 AM on June 22, 2010