Below is a breakdown of how the process works for the Truckee Lease to Locals Incentive Program. Please read these closely and let me know your questions. It is important you take each of these steps to qualify for the grant program.
Truckee Lease to Locals Incentive Program Details
Review the property owner requirements to ensure you meet all of the program guideline terms:
The property must be located in the Town of Truckee town limits.
The property must not have been a long-term rental within the last 12-months. This is defined as having had tenants pay rent to live in the property as their full-time, primary residence, even if the lease term was month to month.
The maximum rent that can be charged is $3,500/month and the property can not be rented to immediate family members.
Truckee Lease to Locals Grant Processing Steps
Determine if you are going to rent seasonally (5-11 months) or long-term (12+ months). See grant amount chart.
List the property for rent and start screening tenants. Please see this guide for suggestions of helpful websites to list your property on. We offer an optional listing and screening service to do this for you, for a one-time tenant placement fee of 50% of one month’s rent. Let me know if you’d like to learn more.
Once you have found a tenant group you are ready to move forward with, we need you to collect their contact info (phone + email) and employment documents. Have each qualified tenant fill out this local employment attestation confirming their local workforce status. In addition to the attestation, you need to collect one of the following income verification documents from each tenant (including those who are not local workers, if applicable to your tenant group) over the age of 18.
2 most recent pay stubs, OR;
A copy of last year’s W2, OR;
A signed employer or offer letter (see example here) that includes the following details:
Employer name, logo, and address
Name of employee
Anticipated start date (if new offer) or when they started originally
Type of employment and number of hours (ie; full time, 40 hours week / seasonal, 20 hours week)
Pay rate (hourly or salary)
Location of where they are working
Name, signature of manager / HR, and date signed
If self employed, a schedule C (P&L) and Business License; if the tenant is a contractor, we can also accept pay stubs from recent jobs or 2 of last year’s 1099 forms.
Use the above documents to verify that tenants qualify for the program (both individually and as a group). Remember, each property can only receive an incentive for a maximum of 4 qualified tenants. Tenant/tenant group qualifications are as follows:
At least 50% of the adults over 18 in the household (related or unrelated) must work atleast 20 hours per week, for an employer located in the geographic boundaries of the Truckee Tahoe Unified School District (TTUSD).
Average tenant annual gross income can not exceed $103,350 (150% of the area median income):
For example, a group with 4 working adults, 3 of whom make $80k year and one of whom makes $40k year would have an average income of $80k + $80k + $80k + $40k = $280k/4 = $70k average. This group would qualify.
Children count cumulatively as one qualified tenant and are eligible for one additional grant payment. Children are notincluded when calculating average income.
Once you have verified that your tenant group meets the above qualifications, sign a lease with your selected tenants.
If you have any questions about your tenants’ eligibility and documents, let us know and we can help with verification.
Next, email Placemate this information: 1) signed lease2) your tenants’ contact information (name, email, phone) 3) the documents you used to qualify them (paystubs, etc) and 4) a local employment attestation filled out by each qualified tenant. Once we have these documents we will send you the property owner application via DocuSign — this includes filling out a W9 and a check request form.
Once we have received your DocuSign, Placemate will submit your paperwork for the first half of the incentive payout to the Town of Truckee. You should receive your payment directly from the Town within 60 days upon your submission of a complete application.
For 12 month+ leases only, at the mid-term point of the lease, Placemate will check in with both the tenants and owner to ensure that the lease is being upheld.
At the end of the lease, Placemate will check in with both the tenants and owner and submit a request for the second half of the incentive payment.
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If you’re finding your own tenants, below is some language you can put in your property listing, and a draft lease agreement for you to use if you choose. You are welcome to market your property as you please and use any lease agreement you like, so long as your tenants and lease meet program qualifications. Let me know if you have any questions about the materials as well.
Draft Listing Language
The owner of this property is participating in the Truckee Lease to Locals Program aimed at unlocking existing homes for local employee needs. As such, only tenants that meet the following qualifications will be considered for this home:
1) At least 50% of the adults over 18 in the household (related or unrelated) must be qualified tenants.
3) Each tenant’s gross annual Income can not average more than $103,350 (150% of the area median income).
4) Children count cumulatively as one additional qualifying tenant.
Lease Template
You can use any lease you wish so long as your terms meet the program requirements. Placemate can not legally prepare your lease for you. However, we have worked with local Truckee legal firm MOBO Law, to create a Tahoe-specific lease template you can use. I’m happy to answer any questions, but I am not a real estate lawyer and my guidance should be taken as just that.
Click here to view and download the lease template and to see instructions on how to complete the lease template.
