Tenant Background Check: Key Information for Landlords

Before any landlord leasing property ever considers signing a lease agreement that has a prospective tenant, it is critical that the landlord gets to be a signed rental application from each adult who’ll be included within the lease agreement. Using this type of information, the landlord presenting the ability to conduct an investigation known as the tenant background check or tenant verification. This application should request key background information including key doubts about the potential renter’s past including the past addresses in the past 5 years, employment record, and criminal records. One of the most important uses in this application is that it supplies the landlord with the basic data from where he or she can conduct an effective  tenant background screening for the applicant(s). Nealy all tenant screening services require that you’ve got a valid social security number many require a current or past address likewise.

The data your applicant offers the purpose of obtaining a lease with your property lies the groundwork that you should be able to harvest a whole lot of information about your prospective tenant. I’d highly recommend that you use an excellent quality service gives you with nationwide data. Don’t use tenant screening services which only provide you with state only data. It can be surprising how many of the top name online criminal background check services are severely lacking the vital information which might be imperative for you to have as being a property manager. It is absolutely necessary that you have a nationwide history of any criminal conviction records, court judgments, and previous addresses.

When you finally receive the results of the setting check, you want to search for any discrepancies contained from the report that differs from what your had applicant stated. By way of example, if your background check report shows a variety of previous addresses reported from your applicant, then you possibly have a major issue. Also, if you learn previous court judgments, you can find usually major issues. Unlawful detainers are especially troublesome because it signifies that in the past, your rental applicant had to be forcibly removed from a house with a previous landlord. There are many tenants to chose from who’re honest and pay their bills promptly with a clean record. Don’t gamble your future with normal folks who have a shady past.

Tenant background screening Tip 1 – Verify Address and Landlord information:

Since I’m a licensed CA real estate Broker, I have access to the on-line tax records via MLS. For anyone who is not licensed, ask an agent you know to check the tax records for you personally.  Check the prospective tenant’s License for the current address (one reason I require copies from the driver’s license) and compare it for the address on the application · When the addresses on the driver’s license and the application match, determine who owns the property, in case the name for the tax records matches the landlord on the application · If you’re able to find the landlord’s phone number around the tax records, use that number to call the last landlord(s) · If your landlord’s phone number is not indexed in the tax records, use ZabaSearch.com or the on-line white pages to find his/her cell phone number · If all you have is usually a phone number, or if you would like cross-check it, use the ReverseSearch.com number look-up service online

Tenant screening Tip 2 – Confirm Employment Information:

It’s my job to require that copies on the last two paychecks be submitted to me for several reasons: (1) To ensure that the prospective tenants earn sufficient income to cover the rent; (2) To be assured that the wages are garnishable should the renters go into default; and (3) So that you can verify their employment before approving the application.

I never call the employer’s telephone number listed on the application, instead do my own research. We’ve run into cases where the mark tenants put their relatives’ name and number on the application, and warn the crooks to be expecting a work verification call. Instead, I exploit the following process to verify tenant employment status:

Note the employer, as on the paycheck stubs · Google the employer, or call 411 and acquire the employer’s cell phone number

Call the number you removed from 411 and ask for the HR department, then verify employment of the prospective tenant. HR usually will never disclose the salary, but will say “yeah” or “nay” regarding the salary if you allow them to have a ball-park figure

In the event the employer is one of the companies which have automated employment verification system, call their main operator and enquire of to be connected to the person on the application as the renter’s supervisor, or even the prospective renter himself. If it person really works there, the operator will patch you thru.

Tenant screening Tip 3 – Inspect Tenant’s Current Living Conditions:

You need to if the applicants will hold your property in a good condition? You send a friend to inspect the interior of their current residence, certainly.  Have the friend knock about the door and ask for “John Doe”. Because the door is opened, your friend can easily assess the interior condition from the property, which will provide you with a pretty good idea of how well these tenants will hold your property once they transfer to it. Your friend is going to be told that neither John, nor Mary lives there, which will be the end of it.

As far as the exterior goes, it is possible to drive by the property yourself, or have your friend try taking some photos for you. Yes, accomplishing this involves a little trickery, but unfortunately some renters just job care of the properties they lease. Like a landlord, it can find yourself costing you a lot of money to repair the damage, so sometimes it is necessary to take certain precautions, regardless of how sneaky. After all, it’s you who’s planning to pay for all the repairs, which means you have every directly to do what it takes to minimize your expenses.

Tenant screening Tip 4 – Always, Always, Always Review the Credit Report:

The information I discover within the credit report can make or break the offer for me and my prospective tenants. I give credit report about 50% of the total weight inside my decision making, regardless of how well any devices checks out. Sometimes you will discover judgments or evictions your prospective tenants did not tell you about. They could have plastic card payments amounting to almost a lot more than their total monthly income. Or, many times out that however the prospective tenants have high earnings, they have got never made one payment punctually, and have a large number of collection accounts on his or her record.  In general, I evaluate each credit history on a case-by-base basis. I overlook certain conditions, for example medical bill collection accounts, whether it is obvious that the applicant has a medical problem and could not work with a period of time. If there are additional bills that were accruing during that time period, I might overlook those, at the same time.

One of the other things I might give renters some slack for is really a foreclosure of a property purchased over the last peak. To confirm it was a purchase instead of a refinance, I access the tax records just as before. If the property was refinanced, rather than purchased, it informs me that the applicants are not handling their finances properly, and i also most probably will NOT approve their application.  Hopefully, these “hard-nosed” landlord’s tenant screening tips will be handy for some individuals, and save you money over time.

Source: tenantbackgroundchecksusa