How to Screen Tenants for a Rental Property

Do you have a rental property you want to rent out to tenants? If YES, here is a proven method you can use to Screen Tenants for your Rental Property. Investing in real estate is capital intensive and as such you need to manage the property very well if you must continue to generate revenue from it.

The nightmare of any landlord (property owner) is a bad and troublesome tenant and it is necessary to try all you can to avoid these set of people. Depending on the country you live, there are laws governing the property rental business, and you must get yourself acquainted with it if you don’t want to fall on the wrong side of the law.

As matter of fact, in most developed countries of the world, there are separate laws governing property rentals when it involves immigrants. There are several ways you can avoid leasing or renting your property to tenants who will eventually become a thorn in your flesh.

Besides avoiding troublesome and unreasonable tenants, you can get yourself involved in a police case once you lease or accommodate a criminal in any of your properties. That is why as a landlord (property owner) you must ensure that you properly screen everyone who wants to rent or lease your property.

7 Tips Needed to Effectively Screen Tenants for a Rental Property

1. Check for Immigration Status (Applicable to Foreigners)

One of the means of screening tenants for your property is to ensure that you request for their immigration status especially if they are migrants. There are laws governing renting properties to migrants and you need to check up with the required authority to confirm the requirements.

Part of what you need to do is to request for a copy of their international passport and resident permit. It is a crime to rent a property to someone with a visitor’s visa status; it could land you in jail and you can be blacklisted by the government of your country.

2. Request for Employment Status

Another means of screening tenants for your rental property is to request for their employment status. If you don’t want to fall into the trap of struggling to collect your rent from a tenant that is occupying your property, then you need to make sure that you include employment details as part of the information you ask for. You can also make it a point of duty to confirm from their employers or visit their business location if they are self employed.

3. Request for Referees and Guarantors

In screening tenants for your rental properties, you must ensure that you request for referees and guarantors from them. There should be one or two persons who can vouch for anyone who intends renting your property. The truth is that every serious tenant will easily fulfill this requirement. Requesting for referees and guarantors from potentials tenants will give you soft landing in case a tenant occupying your property gets involved in any criminal case or causes serious damage to your property.

4. Request for Rental History

Another means of screening tenants for your rental property is to request for their rental history. Request that they provide you with their previous address and the reason why they want to leave there; it will give you an idea of where they are coming from and if they are troublesome. You can go the extra mile to talk to the landlord to know if the tenant is troublesome or not.

5. Request for Previous Utility Bill Payments

It is one thing to rent or lease a property and it is another thing for the tenant to be able to pay the utility bill. So, part of the screening you need to carry out on those who intend to rent your property in to request for their previous utility bill payments. The truth is that any tenant that doesn’t pay his or her utility bills in his or her previous accommodation will find it difficult to pay in your property.

Although once a tenant can’t pay his utility bills, power supply, gas supply and water supply will be cut-off from his or her flat, but you can avoid such tenants that will always pose a problem to constituted authorities.

6. Interface with Potential Tenants

Another means of screening tenants for your rental property is to interface with them; you will have all the opportunity to ask every question that will help you make an informed decision. For example if you only want working class or married couples to rent your property; you will get to know all that during the course of interviewing them.

Aside from interfacing with them, you can also provide them with a form that will cover all the information you want to obtain from them. In case you don’t want to interface with potential tenants yourself, you can ask your lawyer or real estate agent to help you do it.

7. Ensure that All Legal Documents and Tenancy Agreements Are Duly Signed

Lastly, another effective means of screening tenants for your rental property is to ensure that all legal documents and tenancy agreement are well understood and duly signed by the tenant before releasing your property to them. Once there is a legal agreement between you and your tenant, it will make it easier for all parties to respect the binding tenancy agreement. You can talk to an attorney to help you draft a detailed tenancy agreement document.