5 Steps to Check a Tenant’s Rental History
When you rent out apartments or homes, it can be quite difficult to determine whether a tenant will be a good or a bad tenant. Checking a tenant’s rental history is one way to find out if you have a potential renter or a potential problem. If you play your cards right, you should be able to not only do a credit check, but you can talk directly to a previous landlord. This will allow you to find out about everything from temperament and mental stability to cleanliness and attitude.
Here are the steps to getting a complete background check on a tenant:
1. Attain a Release of Rental History Contract
You should be familiar with what a Release of Rental History is if you are renting homes – it will give you permission to ask questions from landlords. You need to get written consent from the applicant in order for this to happen. If you are creating your own, make sure that you have the following categories: SSN, DOB, driver’s license or state ID number, previous property address, previous rent amount, landlord contact information, date, and signature of applicant.
2. Think About Your Questions
When you call the previous landlord, make sure to think about what questions you are going to ask. As questions that are objective and can be answered with a “yes” or “no.” If you need more information, then you can ask. Questions to ask should center around rent payments, rental rates, how long the person lived there, if they followed the rules, and in what condition did they leave the property.
Have these questions written down so that you can make the phone call as quick as possible.
3. Have the Right Attitude
When you call landlords, make sure you speak politely have a good attitude. Going into the phone call with a negative attitude could rub off on the other person. Even worse, it could cause the past landlord to have a negative attitude and not tell you the truth. Think of this as a business call, because that is exactly what it is.
4. Actually Make the Call
When you first talk to the landlord, make sure to introduce yourself as a potential landlord for their previous tenant. Be sure to have not only the name, but a physical descriptor as well. Ask permission before you ask any questions. If the landlord doesn’t want to answer them, you have to respect that. The landlord may ask for a copy of the Release of Rental Information that was signed. Make sure to take notes and follow up on each one.
5. Don’t Take Everything At Face Value
Since most applicants will give you their landlord’s name if they truly don’t believe that person will say anything negative about them, you have to consider what happens if the previous landlord does say something negative. Before believing everything the previous landlord has to say, think about your prospective renter. Does the renter have habits that the landlord may not like such as working late at night?
Most importantly, make sure to really talk to the potential tenant about any concerns that you may have and remember, an open relationship between you and your tenant makes for a good relationship