When you rent a property it is important to feel secure and happy with your tenants. A good way to feel this is to do a screening check before you let a property. Some tenants can seem great but turn out to be a nightmare. In order to reduce the risk of renting to a problem tenant, read on for details of doing a thorough screening check.
One option is to hire a rental property management company to screen the tenant on your behalf. This takes the time and effort out of doing it yourself but you need to trust the company and you will also pay for this service. Many people prefer to screen tenants themselves to save money.
Request an application
The first thing to do is request an application. You can create an application form with various questions, such as employment details and personal details. You can also tell them their application will need a criminal record check or credit check.
A rental application should point out some important things. You should look to see how long the tenant has been with their employer, their income level, financial information, contact details for previous landlords, any pets, children and personal references.
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Credit and background checks
Other ways to screen tenants include running a credit check and looking for late payments, any current debt and credit history. You can also do a background check to reveal any criminal convictions, evictions from previous properties and information on public records, which reveals any legal battles. It is important to check finances because landlords can have big problems with bad tenants not paying their rent.
Inventory checks
It is always a good idea to do an inventory check to prove the tenant agrees with the items in the property. You can use useful property inventory software, such as that available from https://inventorybase.co.uk/ to help deal with this and other issues. This type of software can help you do reports, schedule property visits and manage your property easily from your PC or mobile device.
References and interviews
Another good option is to contact the tenant’s previous landlord and their employer and ask them questions about the candidate. It is also possible to interview the candidate in person and ask them about their lifestyle, such as smoking, friends and family who will visit.