When you have a vacancy in your rental property, it is important to fill it quickly to ensure that your rental property begins to be profitable. However, it is important to not just rent out your rental property to anyone. A bad tenant can cause even more problems than a vacant property, so it is important to take the steps to obtain high-quality tenants for your property.
Verify Employment
You should always contact the applicant’s employer prior to renting your property to them. This will help you to ensure that the applicant makes a sufficient income in order to pay your rent requirements. You will also be able to verify how long the applicant has been working at their current job.
Contact References
Contact all of the references provided by the applicant. You may also want to consider contacting prior landlords. When you contact previous landlords, they will be able to inform you of the condition of the property after the tenant moved, their regular behavior, and more.
Background Checks
Background checks and credit checks are an important component of the tenant screening process. You should be wary of poor credit scores, because these may indicate a tenant that might miss rent payments. In addition, this will help you to determine if they have previously been evicted or been arrested for a violent crime. Take care to familiarize yourself with Fair Housing Laws to ensure that you are remaining compliant with these laws.
Set Written Requirements
It is important to set specific requirements when you screen tenants. These requirements can ensure that you can quickly weed out potentially problematic tenants. Having written requirements can also help to keep your employees aware of your specific requirements before renting out to an applicant.
Meet in Person
Though a tenant may meet all of your requirements, they may still not be the best fit for your rental property. You can determine this by meeting them in person before accepting them. It is important to host interviews and meet them personally before accepting them as tenants.
Tenant screening can significantly help to ensure that you obtain high-quality tenants that are able to protect your rental property. As your property management company, you can contact us to learn more about how to effectively screen tenants to fill your rental property vacancy.