No SSN, no CC, No Proof of Income

[Evelyn Jordan]

Hey BP People,

I am currently screening tenant applications for a vacant rental property of mine and I came across an interesting situation. The applicants are a Hispanic family with 3 young kids; Mother is a housewife and Father works at an auto bodyshop. They do not have SSN so I cannot run a credit check; As a proof of income I have a formal letter from the bodyshop owner stating the amount of money he pays to his employee monthly. I confirmed father's employment at his job of over 8 years and obtained a good verbal reference from their current landlord where they resided for over 5 years. Applicants also provided a formal letter of reference from the family's pastor who has known them for over 5 years as well. They are willing to put down a 2-month rent deposit.

I do know that there's a lot of people out there without any credit history or SSNs and I am willing to work around it. However, I am not sure how risky it would be to approve their application based on personal and professional references only? 

Would you rent to that family and if so, would you ask for extra forms of identification or obtain more references, ......? 

Any advice would be much appreciated! 

Evelyn

[Jon Holdman]

Originally posted by @Belinda R.:

I ran into this issue recently. I declined the couple after talking to an attorney. he basically said if the deal goes bad forget trying to garnish wages for past rent or damages to the property. If u can, collect as much upfront legally allowed in your state. It was too risky for me. 

 True for pretty much any tenant that leaves owing you money.