Would you take a tenant who misrepresented herself in application?

[Cindy B.]

Hi, I have been managing our own rental properties. Recently I have had an experience I am struggling with:

we have 3 unrelated parties who currently live together to apply, -- one of the applicants who only lived with the other 2 for 6 month together (she).

On the application current job she stated who she works for, how much she makes and what her job title is. By the time I requested pay stubs, she send in her unemployment pay history. I also found inconsistent and  misrepresenting info on her debt ratio. Under normal circumstances, we would just denied her application and move on. But the other 2 applicants seems to have decent track records and credit score.

Shall I take them as equals on the Lease? Or give the other 2 the opportunity to apply and deny her only as applicant? Or shall I deny them all?

I know the final decision is ours, but I wanted to hear what other landlord have to say if they are in the situation.

Thank you in advance!

[Jason Allen]

Quote from @Cindy B.:

Hi, I have been managing our own rental properties. Recently I have had an experience I am struggling with:

we have 3 unrelated parties who currently live together to apply, -- one of the applicants who only lived with the other 2 for 6 month together (she).

On the application current job she stated who she works for, how much she makes and what her job title is. By the time I requested pay stubs, she send in her unemployment pay history. I also found inconsistent and  misrepresenting info on her debt ratio. Under normal circumstances, we would just denied her application and move on. But the other 2 applicants seems to have decent track records and credit score.

Shall I take them as equals on the Lease? Or give the other 2 the opportunity to apply and deny her only as applicant? Or shall I deny them all?

I know the final decision is ours, but I wanted to hear what other landlord have to say if they are in the situation.

Thank you in advance!

Hard no. Birds of a feather flock together. People who are lying to you (or scamming you) right from the start when they are (or at least should be) on their best behavior, are going to be more of the same if/when you rent to them. If you try to reject one but keep the others, guess who is going to be moving in a few weeks later?  The only way I would consider the remaining 2 was if they found an alternate who met the criteria (i.e. there would not be an empty bedroom for the one you "rejected").

There was a time when I very briefly considered not rejecting low-level, one time felons, but anyone who lied about it was automatically disqualified...  If you are desperate enough to consider renting to people who are already lying to you, you probably need to lower your asking price to attract more applicants.