Tenant applicants are getting smarter

[Bryce Y.]

So I had someone apply the other day, middle aged couple with 3 kids. Seemed very nice and professional. I am running their background and everything looks good so far. Employment is solid, previous landlord checks out.

Then I get to the current landlord. First thing I do is look up the address on the county assessor website. I see that this person owns 4 rentals spread over 3 cities. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Hi do you have any houses available to rent?

Her: Not at the moment; there is possibly one coming up. Are you interested in the one in City A, City B, or City C? (doesn't skip a beat)

Me: Well actually I was trying to do a tenant reference check, blah blah blah.

Her: Oh, they're the best tenants in the world (sarcasm, but she gave a good review)

I later ran their background and found out that the current LL filed for eviction this month, so I called the real LL and got quite a different story. In this case it was pretty easy, but had they not filed for eviction I think I would have ended up renting to these people. Kind of a scary thought. These applicants are really getting smart with coordinating things with their friends. Any tips/comments?

[Aly W.]

When I do a check on a tenant's landlord, I don't pretend I'm interested in anything other than identifying how they know the tenant. Instead of asking the "landlord" if they have anything for rent or if they're even the landlord, I tell the person I'm calling about Tenants Joe and Jill, and how do you know them? If it's the tenant's friend, they may not be sure how to answer - are they playing the current landlord, the previous landlord, the employer?

If they say they're the landlord, I ask them if they own the rental property. If their answer doesn't match the tax records, I ask for an explanation. At that point, the conversation either falls apart or I get a real answer from the real landlord. I've never had a real landlord give a good reference for a tenant they were trying to get rid of; I've had landlords give me helpful warnings.