Landlords – Here is Your Guide on How to Get Quality Tenants in Your Rental Property
Landlords want to have quality tenants in their rental property. A quality tenant is one that pays rent on time and does not cause problems for the landlord. Poor tenants will fail to pay the rent on time and you will have to spend time to evict them from the property. The best thing for landlords is to get quality tenants in your property. Here is your guide on how to get quality tenants in your rental property.
The first step involves screening all applications that you receive to rent your property. Landlords should have a rental application form that is completed by all potential tenants. This rental form should capture basic information like the tenants name, social security number, where they work, salary, and previous landlord’s names and phone numbers. This form should include a release of information section that the applicant will sign. This will allow you to contact their employer to get verification of their employment status as well as their pay.
Once you have collected the completed rental application you need to get a copy of their driver’s license or any other state issued identification form with photograph. You will be surprised that sometimes people will try to rent a property using somebody else’s name and information. The only way you can prove that this person is the same person filling out the application is to get a copy of a state issued identification form that contains a photograph.
The next step is to screen the application that you received from the potential tenant. This screening process should at a minimum include verification of employment and a credit check. If the applicant lies about where they work and how much they earn, you might have problems with this tenant in the future. A credit check will show you how responsible the applicant is in paying their bills. If they pay on time then this should be a positive sign. If they consistently have charge offs or late payments then this should be a red flag.
The final step is to talk to their current landlord as well as their previous landlord. You should give more weight to the information provided by their previous landlord instead of their current landlord. If the tenant has caused problems with the current landlord, they might be willing to say anything positive to get them out of their rental property. The previous landlord does not have a stake in the game so they would be more than willing to be open and honest with their feedback.




