Probably not as glorious as it sounds but, I'm going to rent my place to a friend and use that money to rent a place closer to work(40 miles away). We've agreed on a 1 yr lease and a monthly rate. So:

1. What's a good place for a ready made lease template?

2. Should I report this on my taxes?

3. Should I change my home-owner's insurance policy? I figure I'll need to if I get renter's insurance...

4. Any more things to watch for?

TIA

 

1. Not too sure but have you looked online or have any friends in real estate?

2. There are pros and cons to each. Again if you have a friend that's an acct you can work out the $$$ benefits of each whether it be less taxable income (illegally) or negative gearing the property.

3. Yes. At least inform them that you will be having a "roomy" so if he burns the place down it'll be easier to explain why he was there and you weren't.

4. Which ever way you take it be consistent otherwise you'll leave a dirty trail for the taxation department to follow.

I'd set a standard in my own mind so if he fell behind on rent there was a "mates understanding" window that you shouldn't tell him about and once that is exceeded you take a non-personal approach and either evict him or take similar action. Maybe even draw up a set of laid back rules like no more than three strata complaints a week etc so that if the shit hits the fan you've set it up front and he can't say "I thought we were mates".

Good luck with it.

 

Dude!

This place makes the agreement for you. You just fill out the form and it builds the agreement for you to printout and sign.

http://www.agreementsetc.com/rental-agreem...CFS1yCwodBikDFA

 

Good info.

I'm renting out for less than my fixed costs until you figure I'm saving $500/month in taxes with the interest/property tax deductions(then I'm making a small profit)... So I guess even if I do report the income, I probably won't pay any more taxes. It looks like it would just be an extra form to file with my taxes...

 

That takes care of that.