Screening potential tenants for your property allows you to find the best person for space. While you have to be careful not to discriminate or break any laws during the process, you can set up a set of criteria and qualities you want to see in your renters. Using property management software can help with this endeavor.
1. Pre-Screen
Pre-screening tenants before they apply to live in your property will ensure that you only get those people who will comply with your rules and regulations. For example, if you don’t allow pets on your property, then before anyone fills out the application, ask if they have pets. If you run criminal and financial background checks, you can let potential renters know this as well. This can save both you and the other person, the time and effort, and also ensures that you only get applicants who are willing to comply with your rules and regulations.
Should you find that you don’t have enough time to pre-screen tenants, that’s when property management software can be beneficial. Many of these programs have a built-in feature that will do the research for you on potential tenants, as well as keep you in compliance with the law.
2. Put Together a List of Questions
In general, there are several areas in a person’s background that you should be screening, including their work history, criminal background, income, credit, where they lived before, and if they have ever been evicted. Asking these questions will help you learn about the tenant’s needs and determine if they are a good fit for your property.
When putting together these questions, you have to stay in compliance with the rules of Fair Housing and not ask anything that could be construed as discriminatory. You might consider working with a lawyer to draft these questions, or you might consider using the tenant screening feature on property management software. This can help lower your risk and still ask the important questions so that you can determine who will be the best tenant for your property.
3. Run Background Checks
Once you have found some potential tenants to rent your property, you can then run background checks. These should include looking at their criminal history and credit score, as well as checking previous addresses to determine if they have a history of evictions. This is also the right time to verify their employment status and income. Taking these steps now will save you potential problems in the future.
4. Interview Applicants
Once you have run the background checks and are satisfied with the information you receive, you can then interview the applicants to get a better idea of who they are. You can inform them of the information that came up in their background checks and ask if the information is correct. Mistakes happen, and this is their chance to clear up any issues that might exist.
Once you have finished with the interviews, you can then offer the property to the tenant you want to rent your property to. Keep in mind that you won’t find the perfect tenant, but you should look for someone with qualities that align with your rules and regulations.
As a property owner, you need to do what is necessary to find the right tenants to rent your space. Going through a screening process is the best way to accomplish that goal.