Advice on renting a basement apartment.

[mmwannabe]

I'm considering renting out my basement apartment.  It will be legal as long as I offer a "shared" kitchen, although I don't think the renter will need to use it. Any words of wisdom before we move forward? It will be a bit of a sacrifice for my family but will allow us to pay off our home a bit sooner and do some traveling that we couldn't afford otherwise.  I plan to carefully screen the renter (i.e. credit, criminal, and references).

Pros: Earn extra income to pay off house/travel.
Cons: Give up some privacy, give up space, and possibly deal with headaches.

[waltworks]

If it's actually a separate space, you can probably put in some kind of minimal kitchenette setup and keep things separate. Otherwise, what you're really proposing is having a roommate - which is fine, but could be really hard to make work with a family in the house.

I would *not* advertise the place as having a kitchen (shared or not) and then expect the tenant not to use it.

-W

[mmwannabe]

Thanks W.  It does have a kitchenette but would only be technically legal by offering the shared kitchen. I don't suspect they'd want to use the shared kitchen but I guess we'd have to be prepared for it.  Maybe this is reason enough to abandon the idea???  I guess we figure if we wait for the right person, we figure we will be okay with this arrangement.

[waltworks]

What exact amenities are required for legality? Where I live, there is no requirement for cooking equipment *at all*, but the fire code/structural/HVAC side of things is very strict.

In any case, I would say get someone you like on a month to month and see how it goes.

-W

[mmwannabe]

Thanks W.  The usual county code, plus a shared kitchen.  That's how they keep people from converting their homes into duplexes, I guess...

[waltworks]

And this is actually enforced? If you're not at risk of getting in trouble for it, and you're up front with the tenant about what you are providing, I'd just ignore that rule.

-W

[mmwannabe]

Not unless the tenant complains to the county, which I suppose they could if they wanted to get out of the lease, etc.  I guess that's where carefully selecting the person is critical.  We'd let them know, so they couldn't hold that over us, but I think they'd prefer the privacy of their own kitchenette. Our home owner's insurance allows us to rent the basement, so we are covered there.