I allow my son to live in my second house for free. Can I claim this as a rental property with zero income?
Not Rented for Profit If you do not rent your property to make a profit, you can deduct your rental expenses only up to the amount of your rental income. You cannot deduct a loss or carry forward to the next year any rental expenses that are more than your rental income for the year. Where to report. Report your not-for-profit rental income on Form 1040 or 1040NR, line 21. For example, if you are filing Form 1040, you can include your mortgage interest and any qualified mortgage insurance premiums (if you use the property as your main home or second home), real estate taxes, and casualty losses on the appropriate lines of Schedule A if you itemize your deductions (or report your state or local real estate taxes on Schedule L if you do not itemize your deductions). Claim your other rental expenses, subject to the rules explained in chapter 1 of Publication 535, as miscellaneous itemized deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040), line 23, or Schedule A (Form 1040NR), line 11. You can deduct these expenses only if they, together with certain other miscellaneous itemized deductions, total more than 2% of your adjusted gross income. Presumption of profit. If your rental income is more than your rental expenses for at least 3 years out of a period of 5 consecutive years, you are presumed to be renting your property to make a profit.
Should my girlfriend pay rent for living in my house or not?
Very personal question--meaning, that is a personal decision. I think the answer includes 'all of the above.' If she expects to contribute in no way, shape, or form, then you might need a new girlfriend---unless she is really just a kept woman, and you an afford that. However, her 'rent' may be cash, may be all other costs (all utilities and groceries), it may be services (landscaping, housework, or something else)---but you should have a discussion about what she thinks the arrangement should be. You never know, she may be already expecting to pay half of everything, then this is a moot question. :) As you've now modified, I would add up all of those things (all expenses, including rent) and divide in half. My boyfriend and I are looking to move in together in the next few months---there are no questions---he knows he's paying half on all expenses----the mortgage, utilities, etc. Actually, I make more than he does, so I am going to proportion his part. So if he earns 60% of the household income, then I want him to only half to pay 60% of the expenses. That seems most fair to me. One way to help people understand---if she was letting you move in, would she be happy if you only paid the utility expenses? Just ideas to help you in your discussion. It will probably be more than one or two, and be patient---you're both digesting a lot during these kinds of HUGE discussions. One day at a time. :)
If someone is living in your house, not paying rent, not contributing, is receiving mail, can you kick that person out?
If someone is living in your house, not paying rent, not contributing, is receiving mail, can you kick that person out?Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, so this isn’t legal advice.Yes.You can kick that person out. (Unless you’ve been directed by a court to provide housing for the person.)Let’s consider those factors one by one:“Living in your house.” We’re defining “your” as meaning you own it. If it were a rental owned by someone else, it would be the landlord’s house.“Living” suggests a permanent arrangement (as does your statement that he/she is not paying rent).“Not paying rent.” We’ve established that you own the house. The rent would be paid to you. These factors (not paying rent, living there) suggests that the person is a long-term guest, not a tenant who probably would be protected by certain landlord-tenant issues.“Not contributing.” Not relevant to the issue here, except it would weaken the other person’s argument that he/she is contributing in-kind services in order to justify living there.“Is receiving mail.” Not relevant to the issue here. A guest or a tenant might receive mail. It doesn’t change the person’s status.Side note: This wouldn’t be a 20-something son or daughter living in your basement, would it?I could envision certain situations in which the person might have some legal defense. For example, a court may have directed that person to live there, or may have directed you to provide housing. In those cases, your recourse is to go back to court and have those conditions changed.Or in some cases a person will sell a property, but retain a life estate to its occupancy. Or that person may retain the right of occupancy. See this or this.If that’s the situation, then you can’t kick the person out.However, if the person isn’t protected as described above, you have the ability to kick the person out.
A man buys a condo and rents it out for 1 year, then he lives in it with his girlfriend for the next year as his primary residence. He sells after 2 years of ownership, 1 of which is deemed "non-qualifying use". Assuming a $200K profit on sale, how would any tax exclusion be calculated?
It depends. The simple answer is none, the IRS has 2 tests to qualify for the exclusion: the ownership test - you must own the home for 2 years; and the use test - you must live in the home as your primary residence for 2 years (not 3 as Mark stated).However, there are some exceptions that allow for a reduced exemption. The acceptable reasons for exceptions include a change in place of employment, health issues, and unforseen circumstances.See the following IRS publications for details: Publication 523 (2013), Selling Your Home
Section 8 Housing Rules? Can I rent from a relative?
1. You cannot rent from any relative. It must be an arm's length transaction - non-related parties. And the landlord must get his property approved for Sec 8 first, then rent it out. It can take months, even a year, to get all the paperwork, inspections, whatnot & get approved. 2. Do you already have a voucher? Then you cannot wait for a property to go through approval process. Don't have a voucher? If you are on the waiting list, average wait is currently 5 years, and some places the waiting list is 7-10 years long. Haven't applied? Some places it is 2-3 years between application periods. Then consider how long those waiting lists are. Priority is the elderly & disabled, then those who are either elderly or disabled. Are you even eligible to apply?
If someone is living in my house but not paying rent do I have to give notice for them to leave?
I own the property. I let her live the while I was out of town working. There was no written agreement. only a verbal agreement that she was to pay the light bill, water bill, and cable bill-( which she has never paid and it got turned off. plus she is always late paying the other bills that are in my name, and at times leaving them off for several days at a time before paying to have them turned back on. I was trying to help her out until she got on her feet after her divorce. The property is in the state of ALABAMA.
How does Airbnb work? Does host live in the same house or can we rent out the whole place?
Hello Shaurya,Airbnb started sharing spare your space with Airbnb users, rather than structure or arrangements of a house. But now Airbnb is a marketplace where you can list, find & book these three options:Homes, Experience and Restaurants.Experience is sharing your talent, skill or time with Airbnb users while making some money along. Restaurants reservations are only available in the USA at the moment.Now lets get to the your question again. Under Homes, One can list:Airbnb Entire placeGuests will rent the entire place.| This can be a apartment, house, condo where the entire property is booked by users.Airbnb Private roomGuests share some spaces but they’ll have their own private room for sleeping.| This is for all people who are considering doing Airbnb in the same house with one spare room. So host might be living on the premises. But that’s not necessary .It can be a complete establishment specially for guests. and for that you can select option while listing.Airbnb Shared roomGuests don’t have a room to themselves.| This can be an apartment, house, condo where the room is shared with host or with other guests.In short, anyone can start hosting on Airbnb to utilize and monetize their spare space, without staying or while staying on the property.Minakshi invited you to earn money by hosting on Airbnbwww.minakshidahiya.com
Can I use my son's SSI for rent?
Not enough details to give an accurate answer. If your son is an adult, then yes the SSI can be counted towards rent if he consents and co signs the application. If your son is a minor child, then contact SSI and I am sure they will tell you providing shelter for your son is part of the purpose of the SSI payments. If so, you can put it down on an application as part of your income.
If my mother was renting her house and she died does that make the contract with the renter void?
Your mother’s contract (lease agreement) with the renter survives your mother’s death.However, after your mother’s death your mother’s estate assumes the role of the renter’s landlord.But flip the situation around, where the renter dies, the contract with the landlord becomes voidable.If the renter is dead, he or she no longer needs a place to live, in the conventional sense.In contracts law this situation is referred to as “Frustration of purpose”.
If I rent a house, and receive a letter addressed to the "homeowner" - does that mean myself, or my landlords?
If I rent a house and receive a letter addressed to the “homeowner”—does that mean myself, or my landlords?Landlords. They’re the homeowner.Sometimes mail will be addressed to “Homeowner or current resident.” Or “…current occupant.” In that case, it’s including you; you can open it. However, as others here note, even your initial letter likely was an advertisement. If you get something like “Homeowner or current resident,” it’s nearly certain to be an ad.Just an additional note: You still should forward mail addressed to the homeowner to the landlord. And if it specifically has his/her name on it, you absolutely should do so.Two stories. Number One: A number of years ago, I had a rental property. I was over at that property for some reason (which was unusual; I probably got by there about twice a year), and while I was there the tenant remembered that there was a piece of mail for me. He got it and gave it to me. It turned out to be a notice from the city that my tax bill was overdue. It was some slip-up by my mortgage company. But if I hadn’t gotten that mail, my condo might have been sold at a tax auction.Number Two: In fact, something similar had happened to me two years earlier. In this case, I’d bought a condo and a parking space. They were deeded separately, and when I bought them, the condo itself was properly re-deeded to me. The parking space wasn’t; it remained in the name of the developer with the developer’s address. The developer didn’t pay the tax bill; it wasn’t his responsibility. But he didn’t forward the bills or notices to me, either. And so the city did sell my (at the time) $6,000 parking space for a few hundred dollars to an investor who later sold my space back to me for $2,000.Bottom line: Mail addressed to the property owner can be very, very important and should be forwarded to him.