Prospect tenant with 2.8X monthly rent = monthly income,521credit

[Phin Dinh]

Hello,

I need your feedback please. The prospect tenant is a single mom living with 2 teenagers. She is working and taking master degree as well. I just use the recommended link to run her credit score check. The result shows a poor credit score of 521 and the monthly income is 2.8X monthly rent and the recommendation is decline. Her best friend who lives in my subdivision introduced the prospect tenant to me. She is moving into my subdivision because her kids go schools nearby. She is renting a house right now and she said it is cheaper but too far away for her kids' schools. Would you recommend me to rent it to her? She is very nice lady but I really don't want to deal with headache later. If I will have to reject her. Do I simply just tell her that her credit score is poor? Thanks for your feedbacks.

[Kyle J.]

You should have set standards for your tenant qualifications so you can apply them equally to all applicants. It also makes it easier to deny them when they don't meet these qualifications.  You simply tell them that you're sorry but they didn't meet your minimum qualifications.

It's common for landlords to require monthly income to be 3x the rent and have a minimum credit score. A 521 credit score is very low. It sounds like she has problems paying her bills now, so it would be a big concern for me that your rent is more expensive than her current rent. If she doesn't have a good history of paying her bills on time while paying the cheaper rent, how do you think she'll do when she has to pay more for rent? 

It's not enough to rent to "nice" people. You need to rent to people who are qualified. I'd recommend passing in this case. 

Here's a guide on the subject that you might check out: Tenant Screening: The Ultimate Guide