With the advent of today’s home mortgage mess, more and more people are looking to rent, some because they have lost their homes and others because they are afraid to invest in a home right now.
Having a tenant who not only pays the rent on time, but also takes care of the property you are renting is vitally important.
As a landlord, you must get a signed rental application form with a prospective tenant and all adults to be included in the lease. This application form should have a clause that gives you permission to conduct a background check on all applicants. Additionally, the application should have questions about the potential tenant’s last 5 years of addresses, employment information, and criminal history.
The application must ask for the applicant’s social security number, and applicants must sign a separate form authorizing the landlord to perform a credit check in addition to the tenant’s background check. This should give the landlord enough information to request a background check and credit report on all rental applicants, giving you a world of information with which to make a decision as to whether or not these are worthy tenants of your property.
Since the landlord doesn’t really know if the information in the prospective tenant’s application is correct, the landlord must do a nationwide check of previous criminal records, court judgments, and addresses.
If the background check shows previous or different addresses than the applicant’s reported, you may have a problem with this applicant. If you find previous court judgments, this may not be a person known to repay your debt.
Today, with all the privacy laws, calling the previous owners is not as effective because people are afraid to say something negative for fear of violating the privacy law.
Landlords have found that if people are good stewards of their credit history and are free from any criminal activity, then they are the type of people who will make good tenants.
Landlords are looking for someone who will take care of their property, who does not create ill will with the neighbors and who pays the rent on time. Good tenants look for an environment in which there are similar people within the rental complex in which they live.
Tenant background checks can work in favor of both parties.