Prospective Tenant contacted Landlord's FB friends w/o telling me

[Lora H.]

Hi BPers!  This is a new one for me and I'd love some feedback.  I just moved and am trying to rent out my previous home which will give me my 2nd rental.  I have been vetting out a joint applicant couple.  I educated them that I have an application for them to fill out, I run a background/credit check via smartMove and I require 3 references from each of them, former/current Landlords preferred.  They provided me everything I have asked for, including their signed permission for me to contact their Landlords and ask anything about their rental history with them.

Last night I got a call from a friend of mine telling me that one of the applicants contacted her via Facebook asking my friend if she could tell her anything about me and her rental experience with me.  First of all, my friend has never rented from me nor do we have any idea why the applicant would make that assumption.  Secondly, my applicant never asked for any references from me or told me she was going to contact my friends.  I find this very weird and I'm a bit jaded about her doing this.  If she would have asked me I would have gladly given her names of tenants of mine, after getting their permission to contact.  I'm also disappointed because they communicated to me they appreciated my transparency about everything and yet, they couldn't give me the same respect.  I don't have anything to hide but I am protective of my friends' contact info just as they are of mine. 

How would you feel if a prospective tenant did this to you?  Would you still rent to them? 

I am planning to speak with her today.  I will be diplomatic about it and ask her why she did that, how many of my friends did she contact, etc.  But I also will tell her how I feel about it as well.  If she would like to speak to any of my other tenants that she should ask first.  Thoughts?  What would you do in this situation or has this ever happened to you?  Thanks!