Pre Screening Checklist

[Rob Brown]

I'm going to have a rental vacancy in the coming months. Does anyone have a document for pre screening prospective tenants? I want to start standardizing my screening process for possible tenants that conforms to the Fair Housing Act.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Account Closed]

I put my criteria in my ad, then when I spoke to them over the phone, I'd go over the criteria and ask them if they believed they'd qualify.

I suggest you start by making a list of your criteria, and make sure it's legal.  As long as it's not based on any of the protected classes, you should be fine.  That can vary by state.  For instance, in CA, you can't require each tenant to qualify for income - you have to allow the applicants to combine their income to meet the income requirement.  Some states have a requirement that only so many unrelated adults can live in a unit, etc.

If you put your criteria in the ad, nobody can later say you made up criteria because they were ___________________.   Then, when you speak to them on the phone, you go through your criteria item by item and ask them if they meet each one.

Many will give up and hang up lol.  Some will say yes, they meet everything, then after they waste your time showing the unit, you'll find out they didn't qualify and knew it.  But, the pre-screening does help eliminate that.  And if your criteria is within the law, and you treat everyone the same, and document everything, you shouldn't ever have to worry.