P.O. Box 4418
Ann Arbor MI 48106
(734) 320-2100
Dan's Houses
Burton Tower

Leasing Information

City of Ann Arbor Leasing Ordinance

As a law abiding company of the City of Ann Arbor there is a new leasing ordinance in town that we must abide by.

How do I get inside one of Dan's Houses?

  • The Spontaneous Approach
    It is a long tradition at U of M that students find their own ways inside houses that they are interested in seeing. Want to try? It's fun and exciting! Feel free to knock on doors and ask if the house is available for next year and if you could take a quick look around. Be polite! Use your restaurant manners for this. It helps if you shower and brush your teeth, too. Also, consider what you are wearing and accentuate your positive attributes. Try to be cute and charming. Bring small gifts of candy or cookies. And by all means, don't go snooping around in people's nightstands!

  • The Traditional Approach
    You can call the office to set up an appointment to view the house. We need to give the current tenants notice that we are coming over. Our tenants begin their leases towards the end of August. With the new leasing ordinance Dan's Houses will not show rental homes until the current tenants have occupied the premises for 70 days. Please view our website for up to date information.

When can I sign the lease?

If a house is available for next year (perhaps there are seniors in the house now who will be graduating), we can sign the lease immediately. The current tenants have 90 days from the start of their lease to re-sign their own house lease. Current tenants get first dibs on their own house! But after 90 days, anyone qualified can sign a lease on most of Dan's Houses.

I've found the house that I want to rent. Now what?

Act quickly! As soon as you're sure you want the house and you know it is available for leasing please call our office. The time you spend deliberating could be the time that someone else is signing the lease on your house.

To be fair to everyone, Dan's Houses does not "hold" houses, put a group at the "top of the list", or take reservations.

Please follow the steps below to rent your dream house:

  1. Call our office and state, "We have our $500.00 non-refundable deposit to be put down on (give the address). We are ready to sign the lease."

  2. After we speak with you, we must meet with you to collect the non-refundable deposit. This deposit can be in cash or certified funds. Why cash or certified funds? Because we want you to be serious about the deposit. This deposit will take your home off of the rental market for 48 hours. Your group will have 48 hours to schedule a lease signing appointment and collect the first month's rent, which is then due at the lease signing. Your non-refundable deposit is then applied to the first month's rent.

What items do I need to have for the lease signing?

  1. First months rent less the $500.00 non-refundable deposit. These funds must be certified. Cash works great!
  2. $50.00 application fee per person.
  3. The Dan's Houses rental application completed on-line!. Why are you bringing me paper?
  4. A copy of your driver's license.
  5. The Parent Guaranty Form filled out by your parents on-line.

Who has to sign the lease?

All the people who are going to live in the house should sign the lease. In addition, you will need to get one parent guaranty form signed per lessee.

Hey—I'm over 18. Why do I need my parents to co-sign the lease?

Because we all know that students are broke. I realize that the parents are the ones paying for the housing (in most instances). If I don't get the rent check, I can always track you down, but you don't have any money. To get unpaid rent, I've found that I only need to make one late night phone call to a parent expressing my concern for your whereabouts because you must be missing, as I haven't received your rent yet.

My parents won't co-sign the lease, can I rent anyway?

Let's review—if your parents don't trust you to make the rent payment, should I?

The only other option for your parents to not sign a guaranty form is to pay your entire year's rent up front.

Is the social security number mandatory on the Dan's Houses application and parent guaranty form?

Yes, your lease is a legally binding document. There is no way possible for our company to collect on a debt without a social security number. If you do not want to provide your social security number, we do not want to provide you with housing. This is non-negotiable. All major financial transactions will require that you provide this number.

Continue to Leasing Documents page »