Renting out individual rooms within a shared home—commonly known as Room for Rent or Rent by Room—is a popular way to maximize rental income, especially in high-demand markets. This co-living setup, where tenants share one or more common spaces (like the kitchen or living room), has become increasingly attractive to younger renters, including millennials.
To support landlords and property managers using this model, Hemlane offers a variety of tools—along with important limitations you should be aware of.
🔧 How to Set Up Room Rentals in Hemlane
Each room should be created as its own Unit within your property on Hemlane.
Why this matters:
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It keeps your leases, rent requests, and tenant communications organized by individual room.
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It prevents confusion when tracking who lives where and how much each tenant owes.
When marketing your property:
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Be sure to select "Room for Rent" from the property type dropdown. This ensures prospective tenants understand they’re renting a private room with shared common areas.
✅ What Hemlane Supports for Room Rentals
While Room for Rent has a unique structure, Hemlane still offers powerful tools and services to manage the property:
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Accept rental applications and run background + credit checks
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Upload and store lease agreements or house rules
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Message individual tenants or the entire property
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Request and track rent payments per room
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Manage lease renewals per tenant
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Submit and view repair requests (per room or for common areas)
- Handle the repair coordination
Important Limitations
1. Listing Syndication
Some listing platforms do not support "room for rent" listings. These sites typically require each listing to represent a full unit or property. But rest assured, we will be able to still list it on the most popular websites, like Zillow.
Additional exposure:
We recommend posting your room rentals on platforms specifically built for shared housing:
You can still manage the lead intake and leasing through Hemlane—just direct interested parties to apply via your Hemlane listing link.
2. Repair Coordination for Common Areas
While tenants can submit maintenance requests through Hemlane, managing recurring services for common areas (e.g., kitchen cleanings, shared space maintenance) will fall on the landlord or property manager. Hemlane does not support task coordination for shared spaces.
3. Leasing Support
Hemlane’s Complete package includes a Local Agent—but agents do not typically assist with room rentals due to the niche nature of this model. Here's why:
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Most agents use MLS tools that don’t support room-only listings.
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Realtor forms are typically designed for full-unit leases, not individual room agreements.
We also do not recommend our self guided tours, as they are not a good option with others are living in the property. The best solution is to offer video tours or show the rental property yourself.
Final Tips for Room Rental Success
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Keep financials and lease info clean by creating one Unit per room
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Always select “Room for Rent” when creating your listing
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Use other niche listing websites for more visibility
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Clearly define shared space responsibilities in your lease or house rules
Have questions about setting up your room rental? Contact our support team—we’re happy to help.
terms: rent by room, room for rent, room share, co-living