It is every landlord’s dream to select tenants who are responsible, respectful, understanding, and pay their rent on time. To have the highest chance of selecting these renters, a thorough screening should be done by landlords. This is one of the most important things that landlords can do to preserve and protect their property investment.
Plus, filtering out the problematic prospective tenants will help landlords avoid having unnecessary stress and problems. Screening any applicant thoroughly, including reviewing their tenant background and eviction history, will ensure that only qualified tenants are chosen for your property.
Finding a good applicant is never easy. In the following article, you will learn about ways to effectively screen your Grand Prairie property applicants, focusing on key factors like eviction history and tenant background, to increase your chances of landing great applicants who will respect your property and pay rent on time.
Property managers can also use these techniques to ensure they are selecting the most reliable renters. Keep reading this article to learn more
What is tenant screening?
An application form can only tell you so much. It can also be easily falsified. That’s why it’s important that proper tenant screening is conducted, including a thorough credit check.
The best tenant screening goes more in-depth into the applicant’s background and verifies the information that they have given you. By using the best tenant screening methods, you can ensure a more reliable and accurate evaluation of your potential tenants.
This means going through their credit history, employment history, as well as any criminal background and eviction history to choose the best applicant for your property.
A credit report helps landlords assess the applicant’s financial responsibility, making it easier to decide who is qualified for the rental. Property managers and property owners can also benefit from these screening steps to ensure they are selecting reliable tenants.
Below is a comprehensive five-step guide on how to find the best tenants for your rental units, with a focus on evaluating creditworthiness to ensure you select reliable applicants:
Step 1: Planning and Marketing
Planning is the first step. You need to consider the kind of tenant that you want and incorporate these qualities into your rental listing and advertisements.
Make sure to highlight that you are looking for tenants with a strong credit history, as this will help filter out those who may not be financially reliable. You can also include a statement about conducting a credit check during the screening process to ensure potential tenants meet your criteria.
You will have to be specific to attract the right kind of applicants. Do note that these qualifications must meet the Fair Housing Laws.
There are a few factors that you can look out for to eliminate applicants. Pay attention to the following:
- Criminal record
- Rental and payment history
- Employment and job stability
- Lifestyle
After you have identified what you want in a tenant, you will need to plan for your marketing. Whatever type of platform you are using, this will help landlords pre-screen your applicants more effectively.
Your ad should be clear and directly to the point. You may want to consider putting in the general location, the price, your pet policies, and other policies, as well as any other details about the credit check service and your tenant screening services.
This will help landlords and applicants know what to expect. It’s important to highlight that you’ll be reviewing applicants’ credit, ensuring that only those with good credit will be considered for the rental through your tenant screening services.
Mentioning your tenant screening services can also provide reassurance to applicants, showing that you are thorough and fair in your approach.
This will help you in screening out those who are not qualified to rent your property.
Step 2: The Interview and Viewing
The next step would be to interview the prospective tenants.
The first form of communication would be a phone call. Most would call to ask if it is still available and for more details. Take advantage of this opportunity by asking them a list of prepared questions. Remember to provide objective information about the unit, your general rental guidelines, and encourage them to visit the property.
These are some questions you may want to ask:
- Are you currently renting, and if so, where?
- Why do you want to move?
- Will you be living alone or with other people? (If with other people, how many?)
- Do you have a pet?
- Have you been evicted before?
- Would you agree to a credit and full background check?
- Do you have references from your employer or former landlord?
- Do you have any questions? What questions do you have for me?
An over-the-phone interview is vital but a decision shouldn’t be made from it. The next steps would be to invite the prospective client to a face-to-face interview, following a rental viewing.
Take advantage of this by asking a new set of questions like:
- What do you do for a living?
- How long was your last tenancy?
- When would you like to move in?
- Do you – or someone you live with (if any) – smoke?
- Is there anything I should know about before running a deep background check on you?
- Have you ever been bankrupt?
- What can you say about the rental unit?
- Are you comfortable paying a $[amount] security deposit and the application fee?
- Do you have any questions?
If you feel that you are satisfied with their responses and are sure that they were honest, polite, and cooperative, the next step would be to have them fill out a rental application through your tenant screening services.
Step 3: Provide a tenancy application form.
When taking on a new tenant, you should always use a comprehensive tenancy application form. Each adult in the property should have a completed application form for your records.
The best way to collect the most important information about your prospects is through a rental application form. This form is a very important starting point for any property leasing.
The application has information about a prospective tenant and provides sufficient information to do detailed tenant screening checks, including a brief interview, credit checks, references, tenant screening reports, and income verification.
This tenant screening report, along with the credit report, will offer an in-depth analysis of the tenant’s background and help you make a more informed decision. It is important to ensure that you comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act when accessing these reports to protect both your and the applicant’s rights.
In the form, you can ask for details such as:
- Employment information
- Residential history
- General details such as criminal records, past financial issues like bankruptcy, conflicts with former landlords and the reason behind them, and pet information.
- Lifestyle description, for example, do they smoke?
Step 4: Background Check and Tenants’ References
To confirm the information the prospective tenant has declared, a background check is essential.
This process is important and has many benefits as it helps you verify, validate, and even uncover what the applicant may have failed to mention in interviews and in the application form, including details from their credit report.
You should contact the tenant’s employer to learn more about their character and employment history. Ask questions to determine whether or not the renter is responsible, hardworking, clean, honest, and trustworthy, as part of the best tenant screening process.
This also validates whether the information the renter provided about their employment was true, which can be cross-referenced with their credit report. As a property owner, it’s essential to ensure that all details match up to help make an informed decision about the tenant’s reliability, including their criminal history.
Next, you should also contact former landlords to determine whether or not they speak highly of the tenant. This also makes it easy for you to understand what kind of tenant-landlord relationship to expect from the applicant, and how that might reflect in their credit report and criminal history.
Now that you have run all your prospects through this screening process from Step 1, including reviewing their credit report and criminal history, you’ll have cut down to an even shorter list of good quality renters. All that remains is to choose the best one from the final list.
Step 5: Final Decision and Lease Signing
This is the final step where you, as the landlord, get to decide on who you will accept as your renter. Rightfully so, the one you should choose should be the one with the most merits.
However, as you, the landlord, accept or reject tenants, you need to do so with the Fair Housing Laws in mind.
Additionally, if you receive a service request or a special accommodation request from an applicant, you must handle it in accordance with the law, ensuring fair treatment and compliance with housing service regulations.
Always respond to such requests promptly and professionally, maintaining the integrity of your service and adherence to fair housing standards.
This means that you shouldn’t discriminate tenants by rejecting their applications due to their nationality, handicap, familial status, sexual orientation, gender, religion, age, political ideology, or race. Doing so may land you in a serious lawsuit.
In summary, having a thorough tenant screening isn’t all that complicated. All you need is time, patience, and knowledge on how to effectively run the process for your Grand Prairie, Alberta properties.