?Question on declining a tenant

[Yvette Dietrich]

Based on our prospective applicant's initial contact he quoted 600 as his credit score and in our ad, we stated we were looking for 'good' credit. His credit came out at 530 with other delinquencies, judgement and liens on his account, and his wife has not filled out the report yet. I did not realize that with using Bigger Pockets SmartMove you can plug in the parameters, which I failed to do and it came back as 'accept'. Can I reject him without legal repercussions and what kind of form letter can I send him?  I don't want to end up in court.  Thank you, Yvette

[Kevin Rowghani]

Your reason of rejection needs to be clear.

I typically don't send a letter since I don't want a paper trail and the time to send the document.

My approach to rent a property is as follows which has bee helpful.

Step 1) create an application to capture tenant information, include specific property information, what utilities tenant will be responsible for, defining tenants desired start date, minimum income requirement, credit score, down payment (first, last , sec) application fee and defining holding fee. What docs tenant need to provide with application. This is a must! I tell them they need to provide their most recent pay stubs and it needs to be minimum 1 months worth
2) post prop on line
3) pre screen tenants over the phone (why they want to move, what do they do for a living, income, what do they pay now for rent, etc
4) schedule showing if they pre qualify (prefer one trip with multiple showings)
5) Pre call 1 hour prior to showing to confirm
6) show and review application if they are interested
7) schedule meeting to obtain app and all supporting doc with app fee. App fee will save time on ones who are not that interested
8) review app with tenant prior to leaving to look for blank spots or missing info
9) start review of app by checking local municipal court docs (no cost)
10) cross reference landlords phone number on google. You typically see landlords advertisement or you get pre-pay phone numbers.
11) check public records of landlords name on record to application. This will tell you if your going to call the real landlord or owner. Jot down date of purchase or purchase price to check landlord. For instance I ask at the end to verify when they bought the property and for how much. If they don't want to answer it's a red flag.
12) call the human resources dept of tenants employer to verify income and employment status.
13) I use ntnonline.com to find evictions and crime info
14) if all checks out, collect one months worth holding fee from applicant which is non-refundable ( cash, bank check or money orders). If you are going to sign lease in a few days it's cash only. Checks may take two weeks to clear.
15) schedule lease signing and inspection of condition and take pictures for the as-is condition