Do they think we won't check?

[Sylvia B.]

Seriously?

We had a recent applicant for one of our hoses that isn't quite ready to go yet, and boy could they spin a yarn! Supposedly they were subletting a house and the person they sublet from wants to move back in, so they are desperate to move ASAP. (First warning sign.) We told them the house won't be ready until the end of Jan., so they said they'd keep looking. They come back in a few days saying they got a month extension.

Verbally they say they have 2 kids, on the application it's 3. Hmmmm... what's up with that? 

According to the salaries they put on the application they make more than enough to qualify for the rent, perhaps too much? Both of them work for the same employer, a federal agency that won't even verify that they are employed there unless we go through a lengthy and invasive verification process ourselves. Yeah, not gonna happen. Yes, we could ask for pay stubs & tax returns, but the spidey sense is already tingling on this one.

Okay, so let's move on down the application to rental history. They have been at their current address only 3 months. Before that they lived with his mother? Really? Their oldest child is a teenager. Hmmm... doesn't look good. Current landlord is someone we know quite well. Good, we can get the whole story on this subletting business.

Boy, do we get the whole story! It was all a big fat lie! The landlord is trying to get rid of them so she can clean up the house and put it on the market. They are trashy and dirty and fill the house with so much stuff the plumber couldn't even get to the kitchen sink to fix a plumbing problem they caused. As of 4 days ago they still hadn't paid rent for December, and when they were paying it was never on time.

She said that there were a lot of other issues and concluded with, "You really don't want these people to rent from you." We agree. Next time we see them it will be, "We've decided to go with another applicant."