People serving the military are the real deal. Their job requires extensive training and facing dangerous situations. Not a lot of people are brave enough to do their job and that is why people look a them with high respect and reverence.

Sooner or later, you will encounter a military family applying to become your tenants. They are a special type of tenant since they have the privilege of being protected by housing laws that will help them avoid financial burdens brought about by discontinued lease due to changes in deployment or anything related to their line of duty. It’s better to know early as now what to expect when you rent out to military families.

Pros:

Military personnel are disciplined and they are strict in following rules. It may be possible that military families are the best at being tenants for the following reasons:

• They may be very particular with cleanliness
• They have a steady income
• They are hard-working
• They have their own network of military personnel where they can recommend you to

I’m not saying that all military personnel have these qualities, but given their line of work, there is a high probability that they do. However, you should still thoroughly screen them as you do with other tenants to make sure that they are indeed good tenants.

Cons:

A lease will normally include a specific time duration that a tenant will rent out a property. And during this time, all the rules stated in the contract should be followed until such time that the lease will end.

However, with military personnel, there are instances wherein they will be transferred to another area, sometimes with short notice, leaving you with an unexpected vacancy. There will also be cases where they might be late on rental payments if they are on the field.

Normally, you can charge a late payment for cases like these. But not for military personnel. They are protected by the SCRA.

What is the SCRA (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act)?

The SCRA is a federal law that protects sailors, soldiers, marines, coastguards, and other military personnel from being legally responsible for certain issues. One of which is not being able to finish the term of their lease.

They are also protected that there should be no foreclosures if no court order is issued and they could not be evicted except for when their rent is more than $3991.90 (this is for the year 2020). It may change again next year. In that note, you cannot evict the tenant if your rent is less than the amount stated above and they are on active duty.

This is kind of a disadvantage for landlords since they will be left with a vacancy and there will be no reimbursement for the trouble it caused. You also have to go through the entire process of looking for tenants and getting the property ready.

Although the protection is only beneficial to military families, you still have other good things to take into account. If you do decide to rent out to them, just be prepared for their sudden deployment because that’s how their jobs work.

But, there are exceptions to the SCRA. Here are some:

• As mentioned, if the rent is more than $3991.90, they will not be protected by the SCRA.
• If they are military reservists or members of the national guard with drilling status, who are on a part-time basis unless they are called upon to aid in a national emergency. Then, they will be protected by the SCRA.

Keep in mind that there are also some states that have additional laws other than the SCRA and you should also be aware of that.

When you post a property listing at Padleads and have that listing syndicated to other websites, you would expect a handful of applicants and some of them might be military personnel. You might think that renting out to military families can become a potential burden but it is not included as a legal basis for rejecting applicants. You should give them a fair chance and the pros of renting out to them could still outweigh the cons. They just might be a good fit for your property.