Potential tenant questions

[Logan Hassinger]

I have a prospective tenant for my first SFR that has a low 500 credit score. They have also informed me that they broke a lease a about 2 years ago. I will be calling the previous landlord to get their side, but from what the tenant said is there were bed bugs and the apt complex did nothing about it. Income verification is more than 3x monthly rent but will be verified with W-2's and pay stubs. Should I collect first and last months rent ($2400) and a $1,200 deposit? Or more. Help!! Thanks everyone

[Marcia Maynard]

You need to establish rental criteria and then evaluate all candidates using the same criteria. Be careful not to discriminate against protected classes as defined in the Fair Housing Act.

If you want to look at a sample of our Rental Criteria and Tenant Screening Questions you can download them from Bigger Pockets... look under the Resources tab - File Place - Other Documents. Depending on the type of property and your market niche you may want to establish stricter or looser criteria.

Some markets and jurisdictions allow for collecting last month's rent, some do not. Some markets and jurisdictions allow for collecting a hefty security deposit, some do not. If you are not already familiar with the landlord-tenant laws for your jurisdiction, you need to study up.

By the way, a credit score is not the best indicator of whether a person will be a good tenant, more importantly... does the applicant currently owe money to any landlord or utility company? The previous rental history and stability of current income is more important in my opinion.  Also, don't overlook checking legal history.