Tenant Screening and Its Critical Ingredients

Attracting the best possible prospective tenant is the first step to selecting the best possible tenant. Well, the type of prospective tenant you attract is largely contingent on a number of factors. These factors basically include the rate of rents, neighborhood, unit mix and your marketing methods.

As far as I know, to attract a prospective tenant, one should note first that the relationship between a landlord and a tenant must be cooperative, and not adversarial. Much like a shopkeeper and his customer, a landlord and his tenant want to establish a long term mutually beneficial relationship. It must then be based on respect for every person’s privacy, property as well as the right to profit.

However, one should know that besides a professional image, nothing should be more important than your intuition or gut reaction about a prospective tenant. Unfortunately, relying mainly on your perceptions or worse yet a manager’s first impression is no way to run a business. It is even more no way to determine who will be a responsible tenant. Oftentimes, the tenant may appear to be more financially capable and more substantial than he truly is. With this fact, perhaps the best tip that I can give you is to always check your prospective tenant out no matter what your gut reaction is about.

Application: The Backbone of Tenant Screening

As often said, the application is the backbone of tenant screening. It is particularly designed to force a prospective tenant into providing the most vital information accurately. It asks the applicant the most important questions, but much to it, an application has been created to eliminate any possibility of errors or omissions. This even minimizes confusion.

Having said all these, a proper application form must then be used. Perhaps the secret to reading a prospective tenant application is to determine inconsistencies.

Essential Factors for a Successful Tenant Screening

There are several factors that are mandatory for a successful tenant screening. These include the name, social security numbers, birth information, driver’s license, address, banks and savings accounts, etc. Since, they are crucial to the success of a tenant screening, then there’s no reason for us not to consider them. Let’s take a look at each of them.

Name

Name is the most obvious criteria for tenant screening. However, this is often left partially incomplete. Well, one specific rule to note when considering a background check, like tenant screening, is to provide a full, complete and current name. This is mandatory for every resident. And, since the main presumption is you may have to ultimately sue for possession and back rent, it must be clear who the responsible parties are. So, when reviewing the name block on the application, make sure that it is properly spelled and a middle name is included. Also, make sure that the nicknames or aliases are also included.

If for instance, a female tenant is the applicant, it is necessary to obtain her maiden name as well as any former married names. Obviously, this will help you to obtain the proper screening report on the right person.

Besides the tenant’s name, the name and complete identification of the children and other occupants also play a very important role. As you may know, children may move in as minors, but time will come that they may be evicted as adults. In addition to this, complete names of children may be a big help for you later, especially when you are trying to find out delinquent tenants for collection purposes.

Be sure the name of the primary tenant is clear as to generation and gender. Note that confusion, whether it is intentional or not, is one of the most significant factors when evaluating a prospective tenant. Thus, if certain confusion appears, particularly over generation, it should be clarified between junior or senior or a II or III generation. As to gender, it is not always clear if the delinquent tenant is male or female. This can also be of great help for a private investigator researching a debtor’s assets.

Here are other possibilities that may create confusion:

• Use of a nickname in the name block.

• Inconsistency of the surname. For example, if a child from a previous marriage is included as a tenant, his or her surname may not be consistent with wither of the adult applicants. Clarifying the origin of the child’s surname may help you locate a delinquent tenant at a later date.

• There are some instances when an unmarried couple uses the same surname on an application to appear married. If you know a couple doing this, see if the surname is consistent with the accompanying documentation.

Moreover, if you are dealing with a commercial property, be sure that all of the various business names, fictitious business names, DBA’s, and corporate names are included along with the responsible individuals. Note that all of the business names used by the individuals can be verified through public records or perhaps through an information provider.

Social Security Number

Other than the tenant’s name, the social security number has long been deemed as the most important piece of information required for tenant screening. So if possible, try to confirm the social security number by checking and cross-checking as many ways as possible. If the SSN is available, ask for the SSN of your prospective tenant and compare it to the number provided on the application. Be careful though to check for transposition of numbers, as well as for inconsistencies with the name.

One particular hint here is to look for an application form that breaks down the social security number into three groups. Experts often say that this will likely minimize the possibility for errors, omission, as well as transpositions of the social security number.

Ask for the prospective tenant to give you a copy of his or her pay stub or his or her most recent W-2 Form. Then, compare the consistency of the social security number with the one indicated on the application.

Once you are satisfied with the evidence, showing that the number provided may be legitimate, it’s now time to examine it even further. While a number of people may not be able to give you with a copy of their social security card, always note that a counterfeit social security card can now be bought for as little as $40.

The next step to take is to understand how to read a social security number. In the first place, a social security number is always broken into three sets of numbers. Except of a few numbers issued to the military during the mid 1970s, all the social security numbers contain the digits. Those that were issued with ten numbers all start with zero. The first three digits mainly indicate where the card originated from. So, if for example, a number originates from Montana and the prospective tenant shows previous addresses from New York and Florida, then claims to be born in Texas, and is now applying to rent your apartment in California, then there may be a problem. If this kind of situation occurs, you must be smart and play detective. You can ask the prospective tenant what particular state they received their social security card.

Furthermore, if you have a prospective tenant who provides you a social security number with the area number not corresponding with any of the fifty states, assume that this is a fraudulent social security number. So send that tenant on his way.

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