Renting
How Landlords Should Investigate Tenants
If you are a landlord it is important to wisely choose your tenants. Just because someone shows interest in an apartment, it does not mean you have to extend a rental invitation. Before doing so, investigate all prospective tenants. Who you do business with can impact your property value, your profits, and your safety.
Before investigating a tenant, you need personal information from them. For that reason, a detailed rental application is advised. On that rental application, ask for all current information. This includes full name, current address, telephone number, email address, and so forth. Next, ask about a criminal record. It is also important to ask about former addresses, former landlords, and employment. Have a section where applicants can provide personal references. In addition to personal references, get contact information for current employer and former landlords.
As previously stated, you need to protect your finances and property. For that reason, contact all references provided. Take special time to contact former landlords. They will be the most honest. Make sure your new renter will pay their rent on time and will not destroy your property.
Safety is another reason to investigate all new tenants. This is not only for your safety, but for other renters and neighbors. Did you know that you could be held responsible for not informing a renter with small children that a sex offender moved in next door? You can be. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t know either. As a landlord, it is your responsibility to know these things.
In addition to contacting all personal and professional references, perform a background check. Online, it is easy to find many companies that offer these checks for an affordable fee. In most states, public records can be searched for free at local or state offices. This is an easy way to search foreclosure listings, civil lawsuits, and criminal records.
For extensive background checks, some companies will not perform the check without having an individual’s social security number. As a landlord, this puts you in a tough position. Yes, you want an extensive check on all tenants, but what if they later fall victim to identity theft? With you be blamed, because you have their social security number? If you are not willing to take the risk, have hopeful tenants perform their own background checks.
When asking hopeful tenants to perform their own background checks, don’t ask everyone. Once you have narrowed the list down to one or two people, make the request. Do this after first speaking with personal references, employment references, and former landlords. If your tenant is worried about the costs, offer reimbursement. After all, background checks can be expensive. Your main goal is to protect your own interests. Just verify the background check is legitimate by contacting the company who performed it.
In most cases, a family moves into an apartment or a group of friends. In these cases, you want to do more than just investigate the person whose name will be on the lease. You do not need to perform a background check on or investigate children, but do so for all adults in the household.
Now that you know how you can investigate future tenants, why should you? Whether you perform your own investigation or buy a professional background check, time and money will be well spent. As a landlord, you are a business owner. Consider it a wise business investment.
