Pre-Screen a Rental Applicant Before You Give Out the Keys

If you are a landlord or property manager, pre-screening a rental applicant is mandatory. The more you pre-screen a rental applicant, the lower the risk of making a poor choice of tenant. If all you want is to fill your vacant apartment and get the first months rent in the bank, any process will suffice. You want to have a tenant that will stay a long time, respect your property, respect the neighbors, and pay the rent on time every month. Something more than a money order for the first month’s rent and security deposit, three pay stubs and a letter from the current landlord is required.

You want to not only have a good tenant in your home or building. You want to be repaid for all the money you have invested into your vacant apartment. The longer your tenant stays and pays the rent every month, the sooner you will recover your investment. The cost of painting and making repairs and verifying all of the applicant’s information is tax-deductible as a property expense. The investment is repaid by the positive, long-term occupancy of your apartment.

There is a real cost from cutting corners by not taking time to confirm application information. You cannot be certain of any potential renter by not spending the money to do a credit and landlord check. A landlord should never give out the keys to the building with minimum confirmation that the person or family will pay the rent and be responsible. Handing over the keys after a lease is signed, just to get the vacancy filled could cost you legal fees, extensive repairs to the apartment as well as the building. It could even sully the reputation of your building and yourself as a landlord.

Why do you have to know so much about a rental applicant? Why spend from $75 to $150 per person checking so much background information? After all, you don’t want to become a private detective just to fill a vacant apartment. And, after having an apartment vacant for even a month, verification costs may be a struggle to pay. So, why do you want to verify every piece of information given to you by your rental applicant? Information will take some time to gather. Time you may feel you cannot afford to give toward the process.

Let’s look at an example situation by assuming you rented your two bedroom apartment recently without the benefit of a credit check, previous landlord or other verification checks. The tenant has been in the apartment for about three months, and has not paid the rent for the month. You now have to go through the legal process. When the constable is sent to serve the eviction notice, he reports that he counted seven people living in the apartment. Also, the apartment is a wreck. Now you have to evict more people than you thought, and your re-renting expenses will be horrifically high.

Don’t “Rush to Rent” the apartment so much that you fail to qualify your rental applicants. Verify everything that is put in writing by a third party, not the candidate. As a landlord, you must make good business decisions based on verified and confirmed facts. You cannot rely on verbal information. You cannot cut corners because the interviewee says he plans to pay you four months rent in advance. It could be the only rent you’ll get. Spend the money and take the time to confirm what is written on the rental application. Ask a lot of questions. It’s the responsible thing to do for the benefit of your property and/or for your other tenants.