Renting a house to a company - Issues and pitfalls?

Hi ,

Thanks a lot to everyone for providing valuable comments around rental deposit deduction.

I am in the process of renting the house to new renters. I have got interest from two people, who work for a start-up which is part of a well known incubator program. The founder of this start-up is from Google They want to the lease agreement to be in the name of the company.

Are there any issues in this arrangement ?

Thanks
…mottai

What is the reason they want to rent in company name? Also, can you get pre-IPO equity as rent? :slight_smile:

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What’s the company’s business?

Probably they will use the house for AirBnb or other furnished rental?

IMO, the new tenants wants use rent as expense account by keeping rent in the company name. It is mainly for company write off for tax purposes.

Excellent ! I think it is better to negotiate and get some pre-IPO equity as a part of rent !!

Do not forget this story

http://gawker.com/5881513/david-choe-just-made-200-million-for-painting-facebook-office-with-erotic-art-in-2005

Not sure. It reduces their personal liability but exposes the company to liability. I would worry the company goes bust and they walk away with unpaid rent since it won’t hurt their credit and the company’s credit would be toast at that point anyhow.

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The liability is a good angle. Also can they now use the house for business purpose? I was once approached by a lady who wants to use my house as a daycare. For most tech companies the worst that can happen is just some people coding inside I guess?

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Thanks for the prompt respones… @manch @MM_HH @Jil @BAGB

The employees of the start-up are recent graduates from Stanford and do not have proper credit. They do not want to be wasting time in finding a place to rent. They want a house close to the workplace and just start working all time on the start-up. They do not want to be bothered by other menial stuff…

They offered to pay 5% over the asking rental place and want to sign tomorrow at their offices ASAP.

I am not sure if they are very desperate to get the house that they would offer pre-IPO stocks… The founder has made some contributions to Google Glass and worked in the Google X group. so pre-IPO stocks may turn into a fortune…

Would it be tough to evict, if the company closes down and they stop paying the rent and do not return the keys…?

I am planning to sign the rental agreement tomorrow and collect rent.

…mottai

Ask them to pay half of rent in stocks!

Can I ask where is the location? I need to buy a house close to yours to earn pre-IPO stocks without working long hours.

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With the description you have given, I really do not think eviction is an issue. If you worry about stop paying the rent, feel free to get 2 times deposit. You are allowed to max collect 2x rent as per California.

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The big problem renting to a company is you don’t have direct control over the tenants. .They are employees of your tenant, the company. .If they act badly you have to go through the company for compensation. .

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Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I was able to rent the house after 1.5 months of no rent.

@Jil Thanks a lot for your suggestion. I did ask them for 2x rent as deposit and they did not question it. Our rental advt. on craigslist had 1 month rent.

The house is by Rivermark in Santa Clara. I was just lucky… I do not think our housing situation is worse that this would happen, but I do remember that during the dot-com time some companies offered equity to realtors to get office space.

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