{This is a guest post.}
Renting your home to a relative stranger takes a lot of careful homework and planning. If you have never leased your home to a tenant before, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the enormity and consequences of your decision. Consider enlisting the help of a professional management company to ease the stress and time commitment of renting your home.
If you are still wondering how you can make sure that your property will be cared for and your monthly rental income will reach you on time, worry no longer! Here are a few useful tips to help you select the right tenant from multiple applicants.
Get all tenants to fill out a rental application
All prospective tenants should be asked to fill out a rental application form which covers their personal information, employment data and financial situation. It should also include authorization or consent to have a background and financial check done. Sample rental application forms can be requested from the local real estate association or downloaded from websites such as TenantData. If your tenant tries to dodge some question or the given information does not appear to be correct, it is a sure sign that there is some problem.
Run a background and credit check
Get a background check done to verify that they are who they say they are. Do they have a criminal record? www.thecheckpeople.co.uk will help shed more light on how this can be proceeded with. Though some states do not allow you to discriminate against a prospective tenant if he has been convicted for certain crimes, it is always better to be aware if he or she has a history of violent crimes or drugs.
Their credit report should be solid and you should be able to determine whether they have a habit of paying their bills on time. Ideally, their monthly income should be at least three times that of the rent.
Both the background check and credit check can be entrusted to a tenant screening firm for a certain fee. You should also speak to your potential tenant’s employer directly to confirm that he has a regular job and a steady source of income. Do not rely only on a written reference.
Check out their rental history
If your potential tenant has a rental history, try to speak to at least one or two of his former landlords to find out if he had been regular in payments, whether he has left any outstanding debts, whether he caused any unreasonable damage to the property while staying there and most importantly, the reason for leaving. If they were evicted for not paying the rent on time or for disturbing the peace of the neighborhood, you may want to think twice about handing over the keys to your property to this individual.
Observe fair housing rules
The Federal Fair Housing Act requires you not to discriminate against potential tenants on the basis of race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or familial status. You are breaching laws and throwing yourself open to a potential lawsuit if you plan to set different terms, conditions or privileges for different applicants.
There should be full disclosure between you and the tenant. Do not give false information about the condition of the property, neighborhood, average utility costs and so on.
Kurt Jacobson is a surfing enthusiast with a background in real estate. Having moved 10 times in the past 7 years, he thrives on helping others learn from his experiences. When he’s not out shredding waves he writes about homes for househunter.co.
