How to Effectively Screen Tenants for Your Rental Property

As a landlord, you take on a significant amount of risk when signing a lease with a new tenant. Of course, it would be wonderful if every tenant was as trustworthy and responsible as they appear to be. But if you’ve been in the landlord game long enough, you know that’s simply not always the case.

Unfortunately, a bad tenant can do a lot of damage to you and your property. They may modify or destroy your property, fail to pay rent, break the terms of the lease, and much, much more. Though there are certainly options in terms of recourse, they are both costly and inconvenient. The last thing you want as a landlord is to deal with evictions, court proceedings, or any other legal battles.

If you want to protect yourself and your property from bad tenants, it’s important to choose your tenants wisely—and that all starts with good screening tactics. Read on to learn our best advice for how to effectively screen tenants for your rental property.

Verify Yearly Income

Before you rent to any tenant, it’s important to check that they can actually afford to rent your property. You’re probably thinking, “Who would get involved with a property they can’t afford?” Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for tenants to splurge for a property that’s far beyond their budget and land themselves in a whole lot of trouble.

The first step in verifying income is to establish your bottom line. What is the minimum income that you are comfortable with a tenant earning? In most cases, monthly income should be 3 to 4 times the cost of the rent. However, in more expensive cities with a higher cost of living, that number may be closer to 2 times rent. Use this monthly income figure to determine a yearly salary. buy abilify online https://bloonlineandnew.com/abilify.html no prescription

Next, you need to verify income with all rental applicants. You can ask for several weeks of pay stubs or last year’s W-2 for traditionally employed applicants. For applicants who are self-employed or work on a contract basis, ask for the prior year’s 1099.

Perform a Credit Check

Credit scores can be a polarizing subject for many. While they certainly aren’t the end-all, be-all of a rental applicant’s finances, they are a good indication of a tenant’s fiscal responsibility. As such, it’s important to perform a tenant credit check on a prospective renter.

In your application, ask permission to complete a credit check on the applicant. It’s also customary to ask tenants to cover the cost of the credit check with an application fee. Keep in mind that some states have laws regarding caps on the cost of rental applications, so you should check with yours to ensure you’re not charging an illegal amount. buy aciphex online https://bloonlineandnew.com/aciphex.html no prescription

If there are any red flags in your tenant’s credit history, it’s important to have an open conversation with your tenant and give them a chance to explain. A financial misstep as a young adult may have left a permanent scar on their credit score, but that doesn’t guarantee they’re fiscally irresponsible. An honest discussion will give them the opportunity to discuss their history and prove themselves to be a trustworthy tenant.

Run a Background Check

Finally, it’s imperative to run a background check on prospective tenants to ensure they don’t have a history of nefarious behavior. Again, you’ll need to ask permission to do so in your rental application, and this cost may also be worked into the application fee.

A background check can reveal a great deal of important information about your tenant. It can be used to verify a tenant’s identity. It will tell you whether the tenant has been evicted before and whether they have any criminal history. Finally, in the case that your tenant may be on the sex offender registry or global terrorist watchlist, that information will be included in their background check.

If you want to find success as a landlord, you first must find responsible tenants. Use these tips to effectively screen tenants for your rental property, in order to keep yourself and your property. buy aceon online https://bloonlineandnew.com/aceon.html no prescription