What do I need from the tenant to do a proper screening?
Hi, I am leasing my first rental and want to make sure I do this right so I don’t get stuck with a bad tenant. What things do I need from the potential renter so I can do a proper screening on them?
It really comes down to what specific documents you need from the tenant that you'll feel secured and comfortable of renting it to him/her.
The typical criteria would be credit, background check, renters insurance, first + last month of rent + security deposit. If you would like to go beyond, you could request for updated paystubs and bank statements as well.
Okay! To run the background check, credit, etc. do I just need an id? Or will I need their social as well?
@Timothy Eaton You should get an id copy. We usually run background through a service like smartmove or keycheck or a couple others. You send a request by email. If you do it that way the information is entered by them. The issue is if you do a judgement because you evicted someone you need the SSN so at some point you want to collect it. I also verify employment so I do have a app other than the credit check service. This gives them a place to write down previous LL and rental history so you can call previous LL.
I agree with most everyone above. I would add that you want to get contact info of there previous landlords or property managers if they have any. I would contact them to see how they were as tenants.
Timothy, what is the _specific_ jurisdiction of the property? It will matter in WA. Depending on the city or county you may not be able to ask for SSN. I will DM you a pdf of how to create your criteria legally for WA.
@Timothy Eaton
1. Credit report
2. Background check
3. Last 2 pay stubs
3a. Look at their year to date earnings
3b. Look at how much they make per pay period
4. Most recent bank statement
4a. Overdraft fees
4b. Cash flow (how much gets deposited, how do they spend)
Zillow's platform is excellent, their product comes with an application feature that will get you applications with credit reports and background checks. The other items you should request manually and review yourself.
Quote from @Olivia Grabka:
@Timothy Eaton
1. Credit report
2. Background check
3. Last 2 pay stubs
3a. Look at their year to date earnings
3b. Look at how much they make per pay period
4. Most recent bank statement
4a. Overdraft fees
4b. Cash flow (how much gets deposited, how do they spend)
Zillow's platform is excellent, their product comes with an application feature that will get you applications with credit reports and background checks. The other items you should request manually and review yourself.
do you include all these requirements in the rental ad for transparency or do you communicate them verbally? if verbally, at what point do you communicate them?
Hope they don't have kids or work for the school district. If they stop paying rent in Sep, you can't even think about starting eviction until school is out.
WA State law (RCW 59.18.257) requires that landlords provide prospective tenants with written, qualifying criteria prior to obtaining any information about a prospective tenant, including what types of information will be accessed to conduct the tenant screening and what criteria may result in denial of the application.
This does not need to be in an Ad (Vasudev Kirs ), but does need to be stated when someone applies, before filling out the information. When creating your criteria, it is important to focus on the evaluation of the following qualities:
• Capacity to pay: Does the prospective tenant have enough income to afford the rent and other expenses involved such as utilities or additional costs such as parking or storage?
• Credit worthiness: Does the prospective tenant have good history of paying bills on time, and is their debt to income ratio low enough that they can afford your rent while meeting other obligations?
• Civil Integrity: Does the prospective tenant have a civil records history that would influence the type of renter they would be, including any history of previous eviction, owing money to previous landlords or poor landlord references due to payment or behavioral issues?
• Contractual Integrity: Has the prospective tenant fulfilled previous contracts in a timely and complete manner? This can include information from landlords on lease violations, but also information from screening reports on payments and collections.
Check your jurisdictional information so that your criteria meet the legal requirements for the area and, of course, for fair housing. Renting in Seattle has its challenges, as Henry is oft to tell you, but you can be successful if you state your criteria clearly and hold your applications to the criteria. I leased a property in the Central District in February and there were no problems because I followed my procedures and policies
@Henry T. This is not the case in all states. NH only really cares about tenants with no heat during the winter. At least in my part of NH.
@Timothy Eaton I have created an initial application that has basic information on it like name of all tenants applying, address, make and model of any vehicles, previous landlords, personal references, and I ask what types of debt they currently have and any pets.
Then I use MySmartMove to do the background/credit checks after I’ve approved the application.
I have noticed that MySmartMove keeps going up on their price by a few Pennie’s at a time. It’s now up to $44 for the full background check package.
@Vasudev Kirs
All in the ad for the listing; Zillow makes publishing the listing easy too. Like I mentioned, Zillow's rental product is outstanding.
Quote from @Alecia Loveless:
@Henry T. This is not the case in all states. NH only really cares about tenants with no heat during the winter. At least in my part of NH.
Thanks Alicia! Yes, my response would be different if he were not of Seattle. The "no evictions during school" is only in Seattle I believe. Land of no more mom/pop landlords, only corporations.
Happy to share my detailed screening criteria. Feel free to private message me if interested. Good luck & happy investing!
