Tenant Screening - 3 Tools Every Landlord Should be Using

Being a landlord can be tough sometimes. By far, the most important thing you will do is come up with a good tenant screening process. After all, if you can get the very best tenants, you won't have to deal with the problems that other landlords wind up dealing with - like delinquent rent payments and eviction procedures. But how do you come up with the perfect way to screen people? Any good tenant screening process will include these 3 tools:

1.Credit reports Above all else, you need to feel comfortable knowing that the tenants you pick to rent your home or office space are actually going to pay their rent, in full, and on time. By going through prospective tenants' credit reports, you can get a good idea of how responsible they are with their finances - and how good they are at paying their bills on time. It may cost a little bit of money to request credit reports on all of your potential tenants, but the cost is well worth it.

After all, how can you have a good tenant screening process, when you don't even know what kind of financial situation your tenants are in? For all you know, they've racked up tons of delinquent bills and have collection agencies hounding them - and that's a situation you need to stay away from.

Otherwise, you'll only wind up with a big headache later. 2.Criminal record search Looking through credit reports is a good start, but it's not the only thing you should check during the tenant screening process. You may find a potential tenant who has a great credit score - only to find out later that he's a felon, or, worse, a fugitive. By going through an extensive criminal record search, you can avoid any legal problems.

Plus, it will give you a good idea at exactly what kind of person you're dealing with. Additionally, running a criminal record search can prevent you from being negligent in any way. Let's say that you manage an apartment complex. By not checking to see what kind of criminal past your tenants have, you could unknowingly be putting your other tenants in danger. 3.Online tenant check It seems like just about everything is on the world wide web these days, so it's only natural that your tenant screening process wind up there, too! With an online tenant check, you can get real-time results that may not have made it onto paper records just yet. With the touch of a few buttons, you can have a much better idea of who you're dealing with.

About the Author

Richard A. Manfredi has written about www.instantbackgroundchecks.com . Offers instant background checks, employment screening, criminal record and tenant credit checks.