How to rent my house to corporate housing

Corporate housing is furnished, temporary housing, usually for a month or longer, and a house can be part of it. The Corporate Housing Providers Association, a trade association for the industry, describes corporate housing as a professionally managed industry that provides fully furnished, temporary residential-style accommodations for individuals and corporations, typically for stays longer than 30 days, and says it includes furnished apartments, condominiums, and single-family homes. That is an industry describing itself, not a legal definition, but it is a fair picture of what you would be offering.

So renting your house “to corporate housing” usually means one of two things. You can lease the house to a corporate-housing company, which then places the people who live there; CHPA describes its providers as working under formal tenant/landlord leases and paying rent to property owners. Or you can rent the furnished house yourself to the person who will live in it, whose employer may be arranging or paying for the stay. Either way, the owner’s part is much the same: keep the house open to anyone who qualifies, find where your local rules draw the short-stay line, report the rent, tell your insurer, screen by the rules, get the house ready, and put the stay in writing.

General information, not legal or tax advice. The sources were checked on 2 October 2026, and rules change.

1. “Corporate” describes who pays, not who may live there

HUD’s page on fair housing rights and obligations says it is illegal to discriminate in the sale or rental of housing, and that the Fair Housing Act prohibits this discrimination because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability.

Corporate housing is not a kind of person. It describes how a stay is arranged and, often, who pays for it. The people who actually live there are whoever the job, the move, or the circumstance brings. CHPA lists business professionals, relocating employees, military personnel, and people displaced by various life circumstances, and it describes company relocation as giving employees and their families a fully furnished place to stay while they settle on permanent housing. A family moving with children is squarely in the market you are aiming at, and familial status is on HUD’s list.

• Describe the house, not the household. The rooms, the beds, what is furnished, the dates, the price, and the house rules. Leave out “employees only,” “corporate clients only,” “professionals only,” and anything about whether children may come.
• Use one set of criteria. The same screening, the same deposit, and the same terms for every applicant, whether a company is paying or the person living there is.
• Don’t hand the restriction to someone else. If a corporate-housing company places the occupants, don’t ask it to turn away anyone you couldn’t turn away yourself.

2. Decide who your tenant is

The two routes put different people on the other side of the lease, so choose before you list.

• Leasing to a corporate-housing company. Read the lease for who the tenant is, who may live in the house, how long the term runs, who pays which utilities, who cleans and handles repairs during a stay, and what happens to the furniture and the house at the end. CHPA says its providers operate as insured business entities; ask what that insurance covers and get the answer in writing rather than relying on the description.
• Renting directly. You are the landlord to the person who lives there. If their employer is paying, decide whether the employer, the occupant, or both sign the lease, and screen the occupant the same way you would screen anyone else.

3. Find where your local rules draw the line

A furnished stay of about a month sits close to the line many local rules draw between short-term and longer rentals. The line is local, it is not drawn the same way everywhere, and there is no single national rule. Two examples show how much the wording matters.

Florida

Florida Statutes §509.013 sets out the state’s lodging definitions. A transient public lodging establishment is one rented to guests more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 consecutive days, or advertised or held out to the public as a place regularly rented to guests for periods of less than 30 consecutive days. A nontransient public lodging establishment is rented, or advertised or held out as regularly rented, for periods of at least 30 consecutive days.

The statute then excludes some homes from both definitions. One exclusion covers any unit in a condominium, cooperative, or timeshare plan, and any individually or collectively owned one- to four-family dwelling house or dwelling unit, that is rented for periods of at least 30 days or 1 calendar month, whichever is less, and is not advertised or held out to the public as a place regularly rented for periods of less than 1 calendar month, provided that no more than four rental units within a single complex of buildings are available for rent.

Length is only half of that test. A house rented by the month but advertised as regularly rented for shorter stays does not meet the exclusion. That is Florida’s rule, for Florida only.

Kansas City, Missouri

The City of Kansas City, Missouri’s Short-Term Rental page defines a short-term rental as the rental of property, a dwelling unit or a portion thereof for a period of less than 30 consecutive days, unless the rental meets the definition of “lodging” or “bed and breakfast.” A stay of 30 consecutive days or more is outside that definition. The page does not say such a stay is free of every other city rule, so don’t read it that way. That is Kansas City, Missouri’s definition, for Kansas City, Missouri only.

Everywhere else

Look up your city or county’s rules on rentals and short-term rentals, and find out where its line falls and how it counts the days. If your home is in a condominium or has a homeowners association, read those rules on leasing too. Then set your minimum stay, and the way you describe the rental, to match.

4. Report the rent

For federal income tax, the reference is IRS Publication 527 (2025), Residential Rental Property. The points that matter for a furnished stay of a month or more:

• Rent is income, whoever pays it. In most cases you must include in your gross income all amounts you receive as rent, and rental income is any payment you receive for the use or occupation of property. A check from a company counts the same as one from the person living there.
• The 15-day exception won’t apply. If you rent property that you also use as your home and you rent it less than 15 days during the tax year, you don’t include that rent in your income. A month-long stay is past that exception.
• Rent paid up front counts when it arrives. Advance rent is any amount you receive before the period it covers, and you include it in your rental income in the year you receive it, regardless of the period covered. A stay paid in December that runs into January is income in December’s year.
• A deposit is income only if you keep it. A security deposit you plan to return at the end of the lease isn’t income when you receive it. If you keep part or all of it because the tenant doesn’t live up to the terms of the lease, include the amount you keep in your income for that year. If an amount called a security deposit is to be used as a final payment of rent, it is advance rent.
• Hotel-style service changes the form. CHPA says corporate housing often comes with additional services. If you yourself provide substantial services primarily for your tenant’s convenience, such as regular cleaning, changing linen, or maid service, you report rental income and expenses on Schedule C, and you may have to pay self-employment tax on that rental income. Heat and light, cleaning of public areas, and trash collection are not substantial services. If a corporate-housing company supplies the cleaning instead of you, ask a tax professional how that is treated in your case.

That is federal income tax only. State and local taxes are separate questions, answered where your house is. A tax professional can tell you how these rules apply to your year.

5. Call your insurance agent first

The Insurance Information Institute’s guide to coverage for renting out your home says that before renting out your home, your first step should be to call your insurance agent. Depending on the rental, a standard homeowners policy may not cover losses incurred while the home is rented out.

For a lease to one person, a couple, or a family for a longer period, which the guide illustrates as six months or a year, it says you will likely need a landlord or rental dwelling policy, and that landlord policies generally cost about 25 percent more than a standard homeowners policy. That is Triple-I’s general statement about leases of that length. It is not a price for a stay of a month or two, and it is not a quote for your house. Tell your agent exactly what you plan: how long each stay will be, that the house is furnished, whether your tenant is a company or a person, whether you will live there between stays, and whether you or anyone else will clean during a stay.

The same guide notes that a landlord policy covers the structure and your financial interest in it, not the tenant’s belongings, and that many landlords require a tenant to buy renters insurance before signing a lease.

6. Screen every applicant the same way

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s page What is a tenant screening report? explains that many landlords use a tenant screening report to help decide whether to rent to someone and how much to charge for the security deposit. A report may include credit reports, rental history (including eviction actions and lawsuits), and employment verification, among other things.

If you use one, know the notice rule before you turn anyone down. A landlord is required by federal law to let the applicant know:

• that a tenant screening report or credit report was used to deny them housing;
• contact information for the company that made the report;
• their right to dispute the information in the report; and
• their right to a free copy of that report if they ask within 60 days of when the landlord denies them housing.

If you lease to a corporate-housing company instead, ask who screens the people who will live in your house, and how.

7. Get the house ready to be lived in

CHPA describes corporate housing as equipped with furniture, housewares, and utilities, and names high-speed internet among what it provides. Picture someone arriving with a suitcase and a start date, and set the house up for that person:

• Furnished to live in, not to look at. Beds with linens, a kitchen with the cookware and dishes to cook a real meal, somewhere to sit and work, and towels.
• Utilities and internet on before arrival. State in writing which ones the rent includes.
• Room for someone else’s things. Clear closets and drawers, and store or lock away what you don’t want used.
• A record of condition. Dated photos at move-in and move-out are what you will point to if a deposit is ever in question.

8. Put the stay in writing

• Who is on the lease, and who lives there. A company, a person, or both, and who may occupy the house.
• Dates, and what happens if they move. A relocation or a work assignment can end early or run long. Agree in writing on notice and rent for either.
• Money. The rent, when it is due, the deposit, and what the deposit can be kept for. Given the IRS treatment of advance rent, decide whether you are collecting a deposit or last month’s rent, and call it that.
• Services. What is included: utilities, internet, cleaning, linens, and who handles repairs.

For the same ground without the corporate framing, see How to rent my house monthly.

9. Where Fab Rent Homes fits

Fab Rent Homes lists homes for stays of 30 nights or more. It is not a corporate-housing company, it doesn’t place homes with corporate-housing companies, and it has no arrangement with any of them. A listing here is open to anyone who needs a furnished home for a month or more, relocating families included. Guest bookings aren’t open yet.

Sources

• Corporate Housing Providers Association (a trade association), What is Corporate Housing?: chpaonline.org/what-is-corporate-housing
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Housing Rights and Obligations: hud.gov/stat/fheo/rights-obligations
• The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes, §509.013 Definitions: leg.state.fl.us
• City of Kansas City, Missouri, Short-Term Rental (STR): kcmo.gov/programs-initiatives/str
• Internal Revenue Service, Publication 527 (2025), Residential Rental Property: irs.gov/publications/p527
• Insurance Information Institute, Coverage for renting out your home: iii.org/article/coverage-for-renting-out-your-home
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, What is a tenant screening report?: consumerfinance.gov

Checked 2 October 2026.