8 Steps to Ensure You Get Good Tenants

When you conduct your background checks on prospective renters, do you follow a method that is comprehensive, specific, and consistent? The following are eight steps that you absolutely have to include in your process if you want it to be foolproof.

Step 1. Examen de crédit

Obviously, this is the very first thing that the majority of people do. But don’t make that the only thing you focus on. It’s a good start, but it won’t get us very far on its own. A check of an applicant’s credit history can shed light on their current financial situation. It gives you information such as how much debt they have, whether or not they pay their bills on time, and so on.

Step 2. Income Verification

You can’t just take the applicant at their word and accept that they have a stable income; you need to verify it. You need to make a phone call to the employer and verify that the information the applicant has provided is accurate, or you can request the applicant’s most recent pay stubs. If someone is self-employed, you can verify their income by requesting to see their most recent tax returns. This is a common practice.

Step 3. Check the ratio of your debt to your income.

Determine the level of debt in relation to the amount of income. This will show what percentage of their income goes toward paying down their debts and what percentage of their income is actually available to pay the rent. The general rule of thumb is to allocate approximately thirty percent of their annual gross income to cover the costs of rent and the utilities that go along with it. When you take into account all of their other obligations (based on the information in their credit report), that percentage of their gross monthly income really shouldn’t go above 40%. You can make use of that as a guide to assist you in determining whether or not they have sufficient funds to pay the rent.

Step 4. Employment Eligibility Checking

You are going to want to make sure that they are still working at the place that they mentioned on the application. They might have been terminated from their employment the day before, quit, or been engaged in a completely unrelated activity.

Step 5. Identification Verification

You will want to get a copy of both the front and back of their driver’s licence or another form of picture identification from the government so that you can truly verify that the person is who they say they are.

Step 6. Verify the Previously Occupied Space

Be careful to have a prior landlord verification. This is of the utmost significance. You should talk to a few of the landlords who previously managed the property. You need to find out whether or not they paid their rent on time, whether or not they treated the property with consideration, and whether or not they were able to obtain their entire security deposit returned. That should give you some indication of how well they maintained the property. Knowing how they behaved in the past is a very good indicator of how they are going to be and act in your rental home. The landlords will usually share a lot more information with you, but you should still find out how they behaved in the past.

Step 7. Pet Verification

As the number of people who own pets makes up the majority of the population, there is a significant likelihood that an individual who is interested in renting your house will do so with a pet in tow. If you do allow pets on your property, there are a few things you can do to safeguard not only the physical property but also yourself from legal responsibility in the event of an accident. First things first, you need to make sure that the person applying includes a picture of their pet, as well as information on its breed, height, and weight, all of which should be included on the application. Many potential tenants believe that you, the landlord, might not be fond of a dog that weighs one hundred pounds; so, they state that the dog weighs approximately fifty pounds. And then they come, and you have this enormous dog, which is not the dog that you thought you were getting or that you approved of, and it’s not even the dog that you wanted. CHECK WITH YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY TO ENSURE THAT YOUR DOG DOES NOT COME FROM A BREED THAT IS NOT COVERED BY THEIR POLICY. There are specific breeds that some insurance companies choose not to cover Check to see that you don’t have any potential legal problems.

Step 8. Check of Criminal Record and Background

A lot of people have the wrong idea about the kinds of things that can be included in a check of someone’s criminal history. You need to be sure that you have a complete understanding of all of the guidelines and restrictions that govern the usage of a background check when applying for a rental. Check with the relevant authorities in your state or in your community to ensure that you are using the information appropriately and that you are not treating anyone unfairly.

Tenant screening is an obvious and significant component of property management duties that need to be carried out. We at Richey Property Management have perfected our procedure over the course of our many years in business and adhere strictly to it. Because this is something that we believe to be extremely essential, we are consistent in our treatment of all applicants. Nobody ever gets the impression that they are being treated unfairly in any way. Throughout this procedure, we spare no effort in our pursuit of the most qualified tenant we can find.