Are Tenant Background Checks Important?
Is it true or not that you are anticipating putting resources into your most memorable Portland Oregon investment property? Assuming this is the case, despite the fact that you might be anxious to lease that property out ASAP, actually you can’t rush the screening system, particularly with regards to historical verifications in Portland Oregon.
Personal investigations are significant in light of the fact that they guarantee that you will screen the top occupants and try not to lease to people who are not qualified.
Tragically, notwithstanding the wide assortment of assets that proprietors can use for record verifications, numerous proprietors actually are ‘wavering’ about personal investigations and they skirt this significant piece of the inhabitant choice cycle.
In this article, we will offer you a few motivations behind why record verifications are significant, and we will likewise offer you tips that you can use for effectively looking at the foundation of occupants for your investment property.
Background Checks Bring Long Term Tenants
Perhaps of the main thing that you need as a proprietor is long term inhabitants since this guarantees that you will not need to go through the tedious course of screening and putting new occupants each two or three years.
Shields Your Best Interests from Liabilities
One more significant part of leading inhabitant individual verifications is that they safeguard your wellbeing and assist you with keeping away from the problem of leasing to somebody who might actually be a miscreant or obligation at your investment property.
Wipes out The Chance of Renting to Evasive People
Inhabitant historical verifications are additionally successful at possibly preventing sly people from leasing from you also in light of the fact that they realize that the historical verification might actually uncover something that they are stowing away once you survey their set of experiences.
Keep in mind, for your wellbeing, and the security of your occupants, it’s dependably fitting to really look at the foundation of each occupant regardless of whether they encourage you to do in any case since you would rather not disregard Fair Housing Laws.
Gives Insight into A Tenants History
Can we just be look at things objectively for a minute, we as a whole have a past, and the individual verification will uncover an inhabitants complete past including in the event that they’ve moved each several years, changed positions oftentimes or on the other hand assuming that they have a high outstanding debt compared to revenue and will most likely be unable to pay their lease on time every month.
Bringing that profound plunge into the inhabitant’s set of experiences will likewise assist you with knowing whether the occupant needed to move because of their work and you will actually want to investigate their total history, instead of just pursuing a choice on their application in view of what they recorded on their rental application.
Tenant Background Check Tips
#1: DEVELOP WRITTEN QUALIFICATION CRITERIA and DOCUMENT THEM
As a landlord, you have to decline an applicant from time to time. Sometimes, that applicant may be a member of a protected class under federal or state housing regulations. If an applicant accuses you of housing discrimination, you’re going to want to be able to show them a race-neutral, gender-neutral, disability-neutral, familial-status-neutral criteria written in advance. And of course, you’ll want to be able to show how the plaintiff didn’t meet these perfectly legal tenant screening criteria.
#2: Verify Income Sources
A generation ago, it was very difficult to create a fake pay stub. However, now that everyone has a computer, a scanner, and photo editing software, it’s a snap to forge or alter a pay stub. Sites like www.stubsamples.com and www.speedystub.com allow small business owners, contractors, and others who are frequently paid in cash—many of whom are legitimate applicants—to create their own pay stubs. However, it’s a simple matter for anyone to generate entirely fraudulent pay stubs for the purpose of deceit.
To reduce the risk of being conned by a fraudulent pay stub, consider asking for three months of bank statements as well.
#3: Check Out Social Media Profiles
If you can find the applicant on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, take some time to scroll through their account. Does their information match their employment and residence history? Are there references to committing a crime or being incarcerated? Do they affiliate with any hate groups or gangs? Know the warning signs.
#4: Contact Two Previous Landlords
Remember, their current landlord may speak of them in glowing terms just to get rid of their worst tenant. If the tenant is trashing the place, is a chronic late payer, or is generating complaints, the current landlord has every incentive to give a superlative reference just to get them to pack up and leave. Call their previous landlord, if possible, to get a less biased reference.
#5: Run a Background Check on Each Adult Applicant
Both spouses and roommates should get their own background check. Stay alert to attempts to substitute a relative’s background check information in place of the actual applicant.
#6: Don’t Offer Leases Without a Completed & Signed Rental Application
Often, someone who fails to complete an application in full is hiding something. If you need to conduct an eviction down the road, you may need that application in order to show that the tenant lied. If you allow them to turn in an incomplete application, you open yourself and your other tenants up to risk, and you lose important documentation if it comes to an eviction.
#7: Don’t Make Written Comments on the Application Other Than Those Pertaining to Your Rental Criteria
A comment like “Credit score of 560 is less than the 620 required” or “Income is less than the $4,000 per month required to rent” is fine. However, if a plaintiff’s attorney gets ahold of the tenant’s application and finds that you’ve written “Two small children” on the application, that’s probably enough for them to go after you on a housing discrimination claim.
#8: Hold on to Applications for Several Years
The specific time frame depends on the statute of limitations in your state. However, be sure to keep them under lock and key. These records contain sensitive, personal information on each applicant that they’re depending on you to secure. Access to these records should be on a strict need-to-know basis.
#9: Beware of False Positives
If a tenant has a common name, it’s relatively easy for an innocent person to get flagged. If an otherwise good tenant is coming up hot on a criminal background check, look at the mugshot and basic biographical info to be sure that it’s the same person.
#10: Use a Property Manager
A professional, experienced property manager offers important benefits for the landlord. First, you don’t have to spend time dealing with unserious or unqualified applicants. Second, a qualified and experienced property manager is likely to stay up to date on the evolving laws and regulations that govern housing discrimination. They can prevent landlords from making common mistakes, like posting discriminatory language on housing ads that can cost careless landlords tens of thousands of dollars in fines and court costs. Third, if the property manager makes a mistake, they generally carry substantial errors & omissions insurance that can protect you if their error results in liability to you as the landlord. This is a vital consideration. You can ask for proof of E&O insurance when you interview and contract with a property manager.
Contact 4RentLocal.com/Rent Portland Homes – Professionals
At Rent Portland Homes – Professionals, our team will save you the time, money and hassle of conducting background checks yourself.
You can count on us to screen and place the most qualified tenants in your rental property.
Besides background checks, we also offer full-service property management including dispossessory eviction, rent collection, maintenance, customer service and more!
Learn more about the services we can offer you by contacting us at (503) 447-7735 or click here to connect with us online.