The fact is, as the ex-convict population continues to sky-rocket, for some it’s a lucrative industry. According to this Nu-Wire Investor article, some 600,000 inmates are released from prison back into the general population, every year.
Most of our clients prefer to avoid the risks associated with renting to actual hardened criminals, but even if they’re in the business, it helps to know what you’re getting into. The same holds true even if you’re interested in keeping your client roster more presentable.
As we mentioned the other day, most criminal records background searches are boring. If there is anything at all, it’s likely to be some minor infraction from years and years ago. But that’s not always the case.
I happen to have a long-term client, a property manager in Los Angeles who’s been looking over a good 800 apartments for the past ten years. He called up to ask about some suspicious detail in the criminal section of his applicant’s report. It was a couple of prior addresses that didn’t match up and then a blank space with no activity at all. We looked into it and sure enough his applicant had just been honored with a spot on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. In fact, the guy was an out and out fugitive from the law. My client was pleased to be able to call the LAPD and get that guy off his hands before going any further.
The Problem with Most Criminal Background Checks
The fact is, nearly every online criminal background check you run is going to check a database of some 100 million to 200 million records. It’s not going to catch a fugitive with recent crimes and frankly, very often the data is wildly outdated and missing nearly all the details that will allow you to match up A with B. Tenant Approve ended up partnering with the leading Criminal Records aggregators and databases simply because we couldn’t get accurate or up-to-date records ourselves.
As a result we developed our own Nationwide Alias Criminal Records Search which takes the whole process to an entirely new level. With a social trace in the back-end, we get access to any aliases, maiden or a.k.a. names associated with a given Social Security Number and then we search everyone of those names independently. Criminal Records go by name and birthdate, NOT by social security number!
You Can Rent to Ex-Convicts – But You Can’t Rent to Fugitives
The point is, even if you are renting to people with less than spotless backgrounds, and there are lots of them, you still want to know what you’re getting yourself into, what’s the level of risk, and how has this person’s life been led since their last run-in with the law.
Our Online Criminal Records Search includes:
- Felonies
- Arrests
- Cases pending
- Deferred adjudications
- Misdemeanor convictions
- Citation convictions
The records are updated far more often than anyone else’s records that we know of, and they include all of those nasty little details that otherwise nice people get involved with.
Are you renting to a stable of hardened criminals? Or hoping to avoid the whole crime and punishment scene? Either way, let us know if there is something we missed in the discussion above. We’re always glad to hear from you.
Source :tenantapprove
