Tenant Screening: Protect Your Assets by Conducting a Background Check
By: Jemar Wright
If you are a property owner whose business is renting out your property to someone, then you probably encountered problem tenants in the past. These problems might be non payment of rent, causing disturbance to neighbors, spoiling the house, bringing unwanted elements or drugs and many more, plus the fact that the person renting your house could be a drug lord, sex offender, felon, theft or criminal. You can never judge a person by his mere appearance alone, the way he transact be his business with you or what type of car he drives. Thus, conducting a tenant screening is a must for every landlord to take.
To avoid this from happening it is important for a landlord to conduct a background check on his potential tenant. Before he can do a background check he must ask for the tenants signed approval that he is going to do a background check on the person. Background checks can put off future tenant problems. It can check the background of any potential tenant if they have the capabilities to pay the rent; it gives a thorough background check on the person’s credit standing and employment. It typically, gives a detailed summary of the person’s information such as social security number, marital status, bankruptcy records if any, eviction, lawsuits and crime records, as for credit records and financial records these are based on the FICO scores of the applicant.
Also it is a good practice if you could talk to past landlords and neighbors, regarding any misdemeanor and civil disturbance that he has committed and if possible ask how well do they know the said person, why is he leaving his current abode etc. But then again this should be part and partial of your background check to see if the person really fits the bill. Employers are also a valuable source of information it could give you an idea regarding his interpersonal skills and integrity. You could call the human resources manager to inquire about the applicant. For self employed applicant the information on the background check will show if he is diligently filing its tax accounts. All this information together with what you’ve gathered from the internet will be a great tool for tenant screening. While a tenant screening cannot tell you which is the best applicant to rent out your place, this information can guide you to make an objective and an informed decision whom will you grant the privilege to live in your place.
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