URGENT suggestions needed on tenant screening

[Piku Nanda]

Hi All,

I have been a landlord for 2 years now. I use Transunion smartmove to screen my tenants.

I am currently reviewing an application of a tenant who has 1 criminal record . This person was found in possession on 1 ounce of marijuana 6 years ago. They were put on probation at that time . When the potential tenant first met me , they were upfront and mentioned that they were arrested for marijuana 10 yrs ago (which I now found out was 6 yrs ago , but still far enough in the past) . Other than this, the rest of the results are decent (no negatives on credit even though they have only 4 credit accounts , no evictions). 

Also, when I met this person, they seemed to be a high energy individual (I am quite laid back so cant really tell if this was just a regular happy person or a person high on drugs).

I am a pretty boring kind of person and have never had anything to do with marijuana. I am in a dilemma whether on not to rent to this person. If I rent to them and they end up using marijuana, what sort of damage can they do to my property ? How big of a deal is a one time marijuana related arrest ? Is there anything I can do to minimize my risk and still rent to them?

Please share your thoughts.

Thanks

[Cassi Justiz]

In my opinion, a one time marijuana charge 6 years ago isn't much to worry about. 

Lying about it or trying to hide it would be a red flag, but as long as they were up front with you and haven't violated their probation I wouldn't be too worried about it. The fact that they weren't accurate on the time frame (10yrs vs 6 yrs) is a bit concerning, but I would say that's more about how they presented it to you. (it's been 6 yrs and 11 months and they said it's been close to 10 years, etc)

 I would still take it as a consideration, but I wouldn't disqualify based on that alone. Make sure you are still looking at the other aspects of your tenant screening (job history, income, etc) to make your final decision. 

As far as damage to your property, it wouldn't be any worse than someone smoking cigarettes in there. Just have a lease provision in that no illegal substances are allowed and having them in the property is a violation of the lease. That way if something does pop up again, you have grounds to terminate the lease. (Depending on what part of the country you are in, it may not even be illegal anymore.)