What is the Best Way to Conduct a Tenant Check?

The best way to conduct a tenant check is to make sure tenants are who they say they are and that their income is sufficient enough to pay all rental costs. A background check into their past tenancy situations is important and this usually includes speaking with former landlords. A tenant check may be done by a landlord, property owner, property manager or a tenant screening agency. A tenant screening agency is a company that provides the service of records checks on tenants to landlords.

One of the most common and effective ways to conduct a tenant check is to ask for information from the tenant and then verify and check everything. This information should include the tenant's full name, current address, name and address of current landlord and name and address of current place of employment. Past rental and employment history should also be included. A form may be given to the tenant to fill out. Some tenant checks also ask for business as well as personal references.

The best way to conduct a tenant check is to make sure to verify and investigate all of the information the tenant provides. After all, there's no point in asking for and reading information without checking it all thoroughly. Public records should be examined as well as the tenant's standing in the national credit bureau. The possibility of any criminal charges should definitely be checked out as the safety of other tenants must always be a consideration.

What should never be a consideration when conducting a tenant check is the tenant's sexual orientation, race and gender. Tenants should never be discriminated against. The information they give employers about their contact information, name, current and past rental agreements and current and past employers is relevant and should be verified. The purpose of a tenant check is to make sure tenants will be reliable in terms of paying rent and maintaining the rental property.

When screening tenants, bankruptcies and tax liens may be an issue. Otherwise, a tenant check is very similar to a background check when hiring a new employee. Tenant checks have the added element of being concerned with the person's past rental situations. It's important to speak with the tenant's current and past landlords to be sure the tenant hasn't been evicted before.