Landlord Approach to Open Market Renters

[Joey Fontenot III]

I just picked up a rental property that I will be renting in the open market, no section 8. I am getting lots of phone calls and am getting to the process of tenant screening. My list of Questions include: How much do you typically ask for a deposit- I have been told 2 months of the rent.Do you do a credit check, eviction check, and criminal check - How much does this typically cost. In addition, are there any special stipulations you put in your agreement regarding when your tenant is supposed to pay, late payment punishments, and any other important clauses
Thanks :roll:

[Jon Holdman]

You need a crash course. I'd suggest doing some serious reading in the Rental Property forum.

Good luck getting two months rent for deposit. A month is a stretch many times.

You will need a set of criteria. I don't pay much attention to credit, since the only applicant I even had that didn't have terrible credit ended up doing a midnight moveout. Eviction and criminal, yes.

I have a four page lease with lots of special stipulations. I go over it paragraph by paragraph with the tenant when we sign. I've pieced it together from several leases, input from a lot of reading here, and comments from a review with my lawyer.

Rent's due on the first, late on the fifth. $25 late fee plus $5 a day. Post the pay or quit on the fifth.

Realize that federal, state and local laws apply. You need to learn and follow these.