In today's time, owning a home especially in a metro or in developing cities has become too expensive and unaffordable. This makes people look out for homes or apartments on rent. On the other hand, if you have the luxury of owning two homes or an extra space, renting it can be a good decision. Also, it helps you in getting an extra monthly income without putting in much effort.

When planning to rent your place, you should be very careful with the terms of lease as it was not meant to be a rental property originally. You may take the following few steps to draft a secured way of renting property.

Hire an Agent:

You must look into hiring an agent in order to rent your property as it would make things lot easier. The agent would be help in advertising your space and in scouting for potential tenants. A rental agent charges fee according to services availed and so it is suggested that before signing any contract with him/ her, you should be very clear with the fee structure.
An agent may offer services at a charge of either half month or full month fee which simply implies half and full respectively of a month's rent that you charge from the tenant. It could be charged in any of the three ways:
 Charging the whole fee only from the landlord
 Charging only the tenant with the whole fee
 Charging the fee by splitting it between the landlord and tenant

Services of an Agent:

The services provided by rental agents could be very useful and can save a lot of time and energy for you. The agent would be responsible for:
 Advertising your listing or space
 Reviewing potential applications
 Credit check of the potential tenant
 Calling past references
 Verifying employment details
The agent, after performing all the checks, would recommend you the tenant's application and you may either give a go ahead or refuse the application if not convinced. He/ she would be instrumental in deriving all such important information and in helping you to lease your property in a secured manner.

If you believe that you don't need the services from an outside source and can do the job yourself, take extra caution. Though, leasing out the home would still require hiring of an external agency to conduct the credit checks.

When not hiring the agent:

You must follow all the steps to ensure that you land up offering your place to a credible tenant. The extra space should become a source of only an extra income not troubles. Advertise the space well.

 Make sure you perform a credit and employment check
Pay thorough attention to the applicant's employment history and his/ her ability to pay the monthly rent on time. In case, you find the record unfavorable, do not lease you house to him/her.

 Feedback from past landlord
You must make efforts to get feedback from last landlord of the applicant. If the review is not good, look for another applicant.

After Selecting the Tenant

Duration of the Rent:

Since it is not easy to terminate the contract by both the parties, be careful while preparing it. So, as soon as you find your tenant, next step should be to decide the duration of the lease.

Furnished or Unfurnished Home:

Also, you have to decide if you want to lease your property well furnished or without the furniture and this should be discussed between both the parties in earlier stages of finalizing the contract.

Inform your Neighbors:

To avoid problems, keep your neighbors informed of the tenants coming in. They may get confused seeing strangers around, so, it's important to let them know of the new people joining the apartment.

Additional Important Tips

Check mortgage documents to review restrictions of renting.
Check rental rates of similar properties.
Prepare a rental contract as legal concerns are important.
Accept security deposits and advance from the tenants.
Walk through of the property with tenants is important.