Tenant Screening Tips For 2020

Do you have one or more Central Valley rental properties that have a vacancy? If so, one of the things that you’re definitely going to be doing in the coming days is tenant screening.

Sadly, most landlords hate the process of tenant screening because of the simple fact that it takes time out of their day and or they don’t like having to review the background of a prospective tenant.

Thankfully, tenant screening doesn’t have to be a problem if you know what to look for! This is why in this article we will provide you with several tips that you can use to help simplify the tenant screening process

Tip #1 – Review Their Rental History

The first thing that you want to look for when screening a potential tenant is the rental history. Ideally you should be searching for an individual who has lived at their previous residences for a period of at least 12 months each.

During the process of investigating a tenant rental history, if you find that they have lived in rental properties for an average of 3 to 6 months per property, you should ask them to specify the reasons why they stayed at each rental property for that length of time.

It could be that the prospective tenant has a job which requires them to move periodically but, if they are unable to explain the reasons why they move every few months, you should consider looking for another tenant elsewhere.

Tip #2 – Do They Have A Criminal Record?

Another thing which may pop up while you are investigating a prospective tenant is if they have a criminal record or not.

In the cases of criminal records, you should specifically find out what type of crime that prospective tenant may have committed, when the crime occurred, and if the crime was either a violent, or non-violent crime.

Tip #3 – Are There Any Evictions?

Last of all, but most important, another thing to consider when screening potential tenants is if they have any evictions in their rental history or not.

 Let’s say that a prospective tenant does have an eviction in their past, if this is the case, you should find out if the eviction occurred within the last 7 years end if the eviction can be classified as a “satisfied” eviction meaning that the prospective tenant paid all court costs associated with the eviction including any back rent that they owed.

Let Us Help You with Tenant Screening!

There’s no doubt that tenant screening can definitely be a headache! Thankfully, the team at RPM Central Valley are experts at tenant screening, tenant selection, maintenance, customer service, rent collection and so much more!

To learn more about the property management services that we can offer you, contact us today by clicking here!