Tenant Background Screening

Tenant background screening? The landlord’s most effective tool for choosing prospective tenants is diligent tenant screening. There are a number of tenant screening services out there, with the most common being the tenant credit screening. Fair housing laws do not forbid the landlord from creating their own guidelines, regulations and rules in the tenant application, but they must apply the same guidelines to each applicant equally.

Question on rental guidelines or tenant background screening? Contact our Landlord Tenant Lawyers for advice and assistance in creating rental agreement.

Some tenant background screening guidelines for landlords and property managers may include:

• Careful tenant background screening
• Each prospective tenant fills out an application
• Contacting previous property managers
• Calling employer to verify employment
• Calling the tenants banks to verify accounts
• Running a credit check
• Making rental decision
• Notifying the applicant

Utilizing the tenant background screening process may prevent losses from damages, future evictions, delinquencies, or bad checks. Screening tenants will help the landlord in making legal rental decisions. These choices must be based on business qualifications, guidelines, and not illegal discrimination prejudice.

Equal opportunity should be given to each tenant application. Under the fair housing act, background checks show the past seven years of an individual. If there is a criminal record, the landlord has to check to see if there was a conviction or just an arrest. A tenant may not be refused for an arrest if there is no conviction, but if a series of arrests show up on their background check, then the landlord may refuse the application without violating discrimination laws.

Landlords beware: discriminating against tenants is illegal. Rental discrimination includes discriminating against: married, divorced, separated, widowed, single or cohabiting individuals. Another danger of discrimination against tenants includes sexual orientation. Sexual orientation includes heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality and a person's preferences, attitudes, beliefs and practices pertaining to sex.

Question on rental guidelines or tenant background screening? Contact our Landlord Tenant Lawyers for advice and assistance in creating rental agreement.