Who needs to be on lease and application?

[Paul C.]

Hi, I currently have my first property listed for rent. I've had a couple of prospective tenants that would like to apply and I have a couple questions. Do all adults need to be on the application if I want to run them all through a background and credit check? Does this mean I will have to pay the fee for those checks for each person? What if the tenant only wants to have one or two of the renters on the application and lease? What about the lease, should everyone have to sign it or just the person who is responsible? My position is that I want to protect myself from getting bad tenants. Thanks!!!