Renting Out Rooms

Adam Garrett
Dec 19, 2022
4 min read

Updated: Jan 17

Sometimes I'll get asked by a prospective buyer if they are able to rent out rooms of their home, and sometimes someone will contact me who is looking to rent a room from others. Someone reached out to me today who was looking to help someone find resources to rent out a room. Below I'll be answering the question for both parties, specifically geared toward SE VA, but with broad application Nationwide as well.

Keep in mind as well that even if you don't have section 8, there are still options for reduced-cost rent in more traditional settings, i.e. if you are low-income, disabled, 50+, a veteran, etc. where you can have more than just a room if you qualify, despite being lower than the cost of a room rental in some cases.

Above, one of the rooms I rented out when I was a bachelor. Image courtesy AirBNB

I. Am I able to rent out a room to others?

Buyers/Owners

While buyers & owners have less restrictions than tenants for renting out rooms, they still need to abide by the law and any home owner's association or condo association rules. In some cases, assistance that a buyer or owner acquires to purchase the home i.e. certain (but not all) down payment assistance, a detached garage apartment with a USDA loan (pg 13), or some other form of reducing their home cost, could be problematic with renting out rooms.

Tenants

Tenants looking to rent out rooms, whether by a sublease or otherwise, still need to abide by the rules of the landlord/property manager as well as abide by the law and any homeowner's association or condo association rules. If you're looking to sublease a room or co-lease a space, be sure to ask the question in advance of a showing so that you don't waste your time.

Home Owner's Association/Condo Association/Apartment Restrictions

The most restrictive on subleasing is generally going to be apartments, then condos, then HOA's. It's important to find out about any restrictions prior to renting out a property (or prior to purchasing if considering sub-leasing to subsidize your rent).

Legal Restrictions

Keep in mind that I am not an attorney & the best person to consult about the law is the city & a real estate attorney.

This spreadsheet can be used as a reference, but ultimately you should confirm directly with the city/county/state websites (& even better, both there and by calling them, since laws don't typically get changed the moment they pass if a law has immediate effect after passing) that any laws or other terminology I quote is up to date. In it I go over some of the restrictions related to renting out rooms in various SE VA cities/counties. Often the definition of family is a significant issue when dealing with single-family homes, with some cities in SE VA defining a family very differently than others. Conversely, some homes that may be single-family now are permitted by right for multi-family.

II. Where do I find places to advertise a room for rent or find a room for rent?

This question depends in part on location, since options that are best in some areas may be minimal or completely unavailable in other areas.

Where to Look	Inventory	Reviews Present
Facebook groups (example) (example 2)	High	N
Roomster	High	N
My Housing Search	High	N
Facebook Marketplace	High	N
Craigslist Norfolk based	High	N
Airbnb.com	High	Y
Zillow	High	N
Hotpads	Medium	N
Spare Room	Medium	N
Pad Mapper	Low	N
iROOMit	low	N

How to locate room rentals on each of the high-volume websites above from desktop/laptop view (all images courtesy the respective websites). Also if you're using your phone for this task, I don't recommend it due to worse options for recording and smaller imagery that doesn't show as much detail.

The options I recommend considering:

Airbnb.com (including options for those with bad credit, reviews, etc.)

Click "Anywhere"

2. Enter destination:

3. Select "I'm Flexible" or "Choose dates" for specific dates:

Select "Private rooms" at the top:

Select "Filters" to narrow by price:

Craigslist Norfolk based

Click "Rooms/Shared"

Be sure to search by radius from your work's zipcode if you want to be close to work. The availability feature was not working for me here, so if an error pops up when you search in part by availability, take that off the search by having it say "all dates". If you're looking to bring a pet or want a furnished room, Craigslist also has options where you can narrow down by those and other criteria. Watch out for scams on Craigslist and similar sites through these instructions.

Facebook Marketplace

1. Select "All Categories"