Checking Tenants Backgrounds Before Renting

The horror stories that are told about renters are all true! Yes people leave in the middle of the night without paying rent. I’ve seen them do it! Yes people have stolen copper plumbing and built-in woodwork and they even kick and punch holes in the walls as a present for you to see once their gone. All of those ugly stories are true, and somewhat painful to deal with. There is a savior to landlords, and it is the various tenant check companies that exist. They won’t stop all of your problems, but they will increase your likelihood of getting good renters.

The absolute number one mistake a landlord can make is to not screen their tenants. If you don’t send your tenants through a criminal background check and credit check you are nearing Insanity when it comes to being a landlord. A majority of landlords go through the process of having tenants fill out the forms and paying a small fee $25-$50 per tenant to check their rental history, criminal history and financial history. If you don’t check their background guess who is most likely to be your new tenant? Well, if most landlords are checking these areas and rejecting the problem people they have only one place to go. They find people that don’t do their due diligence and they move in. I have a friend that renter to people that they didn’t do a background check on. After not paying for three months they were finally out. The owner came in to see a huge mess. The carpet was destroyed and even a few of the window screens had been half-eaten by the former tenants dog! She went to sue them and found out that this was the third such incident, and obviously she wasn’t going to get her money back. Just like neighbors always say about the serial-killer “they seemed so nice” was her afterthought.

The checks will show you how they pay their bills. If they aren’t paying their bills now guess who’s next if you let them rent from you? I recently had to reject a renter because he had a Felony on his record for a fight that he was involved in. He begged me to let him rent my property. You can only imagine what would happen if he hurt one of the other tenants and their lawyer found out I knew he had a Felony for Assault.

One month of a vacancy will always be less expensive than allowing Felons or people with bad credit to rent from you. Do your background checks, and a final trick I learned check out the car that they pull up in. It doesn’t have to be expensive just make sure to look inside and see if they keep it neat and tidy. A messy car usually translates to a messy property.

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