How to Add a Cosigner to a Lease?

If you are a property owner, you always want a financially stable tenant to prevent yourself from the hassle of non-payment of rents. Therefore, you check the renter’s background, income stream, and previous employment record. But if the tenant doesn’t meet your requirements, you should consider adding a cosigner to the lease.

In this process, you allow one of the borrower’s friends or family members to sign a contract on his/her behalf and guarantee a smooth rent flow in any circumstance. Therefore, adding one can significantly reduce your worry about rent.

Keep reading the article, and we will tell you about the cosigner in detail. Later on, we will notify you of how to add one to a lease. This is a comprehensive guide about cosigners, and we are hopeful that you will be clear about the procedure by the end of this article.

Why do you need one for your lease?

A cosigner can be any person such as parents, family members, or a tenant friend who pledges to pay back the loan or rent if the tenant does not. They are obliged to pay the property rent if the occupant refuses to pay.

However, the property owners do not accept your spouse or friend as a cosigner unless he/she doesn’t have a stale income stream itself.

The cosigner gives you additional security that your loan/rent will be paid. So, you can even rent your property to a person who doesn’t have a significant credit history or doesn’t meet your income requirements. 

Nevertheless, no law binds you to involve a cosigner in the rental process, and you, as a property owner, can neglect the offer if you are not satisfied.

How to include them in the lease?

Let us see the detailed process of adding a cosigner to the lease:

STEP 1: Ask the owner

First of all, the renter should ask the owner for the cosigner if the owner rejects their rent application for any reason. Adding one depends on the owner’s wish, and not every owner accepts it. If your owner accepts, then it’s good. If it doesn’t, request him/her to add one as a guarantee. 

STEP 2: Provide data

If your landowner agrees to the cosigner, you should provide him all the necessary information. The report includes the criminal record, background, identity, income stream, etc.

STEP 3: Arrange a meeting and sign documents

Once the owner sifts through all the info of the cosigner, the next step is to arrange a meeting with the them and property owner. Here, the landowner will present an agreement to the cosigner for lease. If they agree to all the conditions in the contract and signs it, you have completed the process.

However, if it doesn’t satisfy specific requirements, you should negotiate with the owner and cosigner to design an agreeable solution.

➡LEARN MORE: Basic guide about the Residential Lease Agreement

What are cosigners really responsible for?

There is a misconception that cosigners are responsible for all the acts of the tenant. This is not the case. A cosigner is only helpful to you in the financial risk. It doesn’t help with the risk-based on personal behavior of the tenant.

Let me explain this with an example. If the property occupant makes noise or uses drugs, or disturbs neighbors in other ways, a cosigner is not responsible for this behavior. Therefore, we recommend you screen the person’s habits yourself before renting your property.

Final words

If you are not satisfied with the income stream of the tenant and want some guarantee for smooth rent flow, you can add a cosigner to the lease. Go above and check all the processes of adding cosigners for payment security.