The Military Landlord Guide
You didn't buy a rental property; orders turned your house into one. This is the business you just inherited: pricing, screening, taxes, the SCRA from the other side of the lease, and how to run it all from three time zones away.
CHECKED AGAINST IRS, HUD & DOD SOURCES · JULY 2026
Before the first tenant
| TASK | WHY IT'S NOT OPTIONAL |
|---|---|
| Convert the insurance | A homeowner policy generally does not cover a tenant-occupied home. You want a landlord (dwelling/fire) policy, and your tenant should carry renter's insurance: put that requirement in the lease. |
| Get the lease reviewed free | Landlord-tenant law is state law and it binds you from signature day. The installation legal assistance office reviews leases free for eligible members, on either side of the landlord line. |
| Build the repair fund | Water heaters do not check your LES. Seasoned landlords set aside a slice of every rent check; start the fund before the first tenant, not after the first leak. |
| Document the empty home | Signed move-in checklist plus dated photos or video of every room. Deposits can only hold documented damage; this is the documentation. |
| Make ready | Neutral paint, working everything, zero hazards, and a binder (or shared folder) of appliance manuals and who-to-call instructions for the tenant. |
Pricing the rent
Three anchors, checked against each other: real comps (what nearby similar homes actually rent for: Zillow's rent estimate, Rentometer), the local BAH table (near a base, what tenants can pay anchors to their allowance: official BAH lookup), and your own break-even from the calculator. A rent $50 over the market that sits empty two extra months is worth less than a rent $50 under it that fills in a week: vacancy is your largest controllable cost.
Screening, inside the law
- Uniform, written criteria for every applicant. A common bar: gross income around three times the rent (an LES documents it cleanly for military applicants), plus credit, rental history, eviction history, and a phone call to the prior landlord.
- The Fair Housing Act binds you from the first ad. Seven protected classes: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, disability, and the prohibition covers refusing to rent, different terms, misrepresenting availability, and preference language in advertising. State law often adds more classes. Complaints go to HUD's fair housing office.
- Tenant screening reports trigger federal notice rules: if a report causes you to deny an applicant or charge a higher deposit, you must tell them (adverse action, CFPB).
- A vacant month costs less than a bad tenant. Screening discipline is the single highest-leverage landlord skill.
Sources: HUD, Fair Housing Act overview; CFPB, tenant screening reports. Accessed July 2026.
Manager or self-manage
| PROPERTY MANAGER | SELF-MANAGE FROM AWAY | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Commonly a percentage of collected rent (8 to 10% is a typical planning range) plus, often, a leasing fee per new tenant. Read the contract for renewal fees, maintenance markups, and cancellation terms before signing. | Your time, plus a local bench you assemble: a handyman, a trusted neighbor with a key, and the old installation's housing office. |
| What you get | Marketing, showings, screening, rent collection, maintenance dispatch, and someone answering the 2 a.m. call in the right time zone. | Full control and the fee stays in your pocket, if the systems hold when you are deployed or unreachable. |
| The honest test | Could your rental survive your worst month (field exercise, deployment, new baby) without you touching it? If not, that is what the fee buys. | |
The money and the taxes (Schedule E, in everyday words)
| RULE | WHAT IT MEANS |
|---|---|
| Rent is income when received | Including advance rent (taxed the year you get it), any deposit you keep for damage or a broken lease, and expenses the tenant pays on your behalf. |
| Deposits you plan to return are not income | Hold them separately; a deposit applied as last month's rent is advance rent, taxed on receipt. |
| The deduction list is long | Advertising, travel and mileage (70 cents per mile for 2025), cleaning, maintenance, management fees, insurance, mortgage interest, property taxes, legal and professional fees, utilities you pay, repairs. |
| Repairs vs improvements | Repairs (fixing what broke) deduct this year. Improvements (adding value: new roof, remodel) depreciate over time instead. |
| Depreciation is mandatory homework | Residential rentals depreciate over 27.5 years, straight line, starting when the home is ready and listed (placed in service), not when the first tenant arrives. Converting your home to a rental: the depreciation basis is the LESSER of your adjusted basis or the fair market value on conversion day. It reduces taxes now and gets recaptured at sale: the tax section of the Home Sale Guide covers that bill. |
| It all lands on Schedule E | Cash-basis for most people: income when received, expenses when paid. Uncollected rent is not deductible. Loss limits (passive activity rules) can apply. |
The free professional: MilTax through Military OneSource (800-342-9647) handles rental-property returns and consultations free for the military community: use it the first year, before habits form.
Sources: IRS Publication 527 (2025 edition); IRS Topic 414. Accessed July 2026.
The SCRA, from the landlord's chair
Near a base your tenants will often be service members, which means the lease-break rights you may have used yourself now run the other direction: a tenant with PCS orders or long deployment orders can lawfully terminate on roughly a month's paid notice, and you return the deposit minus documented damage, with no early-termination fee. Plan mid-lease turnover as a normal business event, price the reserve for it, and know both sides of the rule in the SCRA & MLA Guide. Some landlords add a military clause addendum that goes further than the law; that is a negotiation, not an obligation.
Pets: the economic lever
Allowing pets widens your applicant pool substantially and pet households tend to stay longer (fewer turnovers), against real damage and insurance considerations. If you allow them: a written pet addendum (species, size, count, vaccination proof), a renter's-insurance requirement, and a check of your own landlord policy for breed exclusions. One bright legal line: assistance animals are not pets under federal housing law: no pet fees, pet rent, or pet deposits may be charged for them.
The readiness check
Check what is true today. Unchecked boxes are the to-do list before the first tenant, not reasons to quit.
Who to call
- MilTax and free financial counseling, 24/7: Military OneSource 800-342-9647
- Free lease review: military legal assistance locator
- Fair housing questions and complaints: HUD fair housing office
- The tax rulebook: IRS Pub 527 and Topic 414