If you are a property and apartment manager, there is a heavy responsibility on your shoulders. You are hired to take care of what might be someone’s most valuable asset. While managers always try their best to rent the apartment to the most appropriate candidate, mistakes and misjudgment are not uncommon. The consequences of even the smallest mistake can sometimes be unimaginably devastating. However, you can choose to play it safer with proper tenant screening.
How Important Is It for Apartment Managers?
The problem is that no one really roams around with a tag on their foreheads. A couple of meetings are not enough to tell if someone is involved in criminal activities or has a habit of not paying dues on time. The possibilities are countless; the prospect could be a criminal, an ill-mannered person, a messy someone with no regard for the property’s cleanliness and condition.
The problem gets bigger for apartments where one bad tenant can destroy the peace and order for everyone in the building. If that happens, you will have to deal with a lot of trouble later. And that is why screening is extremely crucial, especially in the case of apartments.
Based on all the possibilities identified above, it becomes apparent that a proper tenant screening must go beyond a typical criminal background check.
So, What Exactly Should You Look For?
In order to avoid all kinds of risks, apartment managers should opt for a comprehensive tenant screening service that includes:
Complete Credit Check – One thing you want the most from a tenant is, of course, timely payment of the rent. A person already behind on his/her payments won’t be able to promise you that. Therefore, it is important to know the tenant has a habit of paying the dues on time (and, of course, won’t be going bankrupt any soon).
Complete Criminal Background Check – Once again, you won’t want to be held responsible for providing shelter to someone who’s working on a world destruction plan or, more realistically, a terrorist attack. While smaller offense such as DUI in the past is not problematic, renting an apartment to a drug dealer, murderer, or sex offender is never a good idea.
Income Verification – In order to make sure that the tenant is able to pay the dues on time, it is crucial for apartment managers to verify that the prospect has a legitimate source of income. Employed or self-employed, he/she must earn enough to pay the rent without any excuses.