Hemlane defines co-living as a form of housing where all residents share one or more common living space(s). Renting out individuals rooms is a popular way to earn extra rental income. This method of co-living (sometimes referred to as cohabitation) has become increasingly popular with millennials.
Capabilities for co-living
Our system can be and is used the following way:
- Accept applications and process background and credit checks
- Store documents and communicate with tenants
- Collect rent and other payments
- Track leases for renewals
- Submit and view repair requests
Limitation: Listing syndication
Most listing sites will not post rooms for rent, as they will only post individual units. We recommend listing your rentals on a website like coliving.com, which is built specifically for this concept. Other room rental sites include:
https://www.spareroom.com/roommates/orange_county/
Limitation: Repair coordination
Co-living requires management to be responsible for recurring services in the communal areas (cleaning of the kitchen, living room, etc.). Hemlane is unable to help with the administration of these tasks.
Limitation: Leasing support
If you're interested in our more hands off package, Complete, we will not have leasing agents to help find and place a tenant. The reason is that most agents do not support co-living spaces or placing tenants for room rentals either. Given the unique nature of these arrangements, using a Realtor may not result in the best outcome. Realtors do not use tools for marketing to roommates, and Realtor association forms may not accommodate individual room leases.
An agent can however help with drafting a lease that makes all roommates jointly liable on the lease. If you opt to have severally liable (i.e., separate leases) for your tenants, our legal partner, Rocket Lawyer, does have templates you can use (available to Complete package users).