Do you request seperate application from potential tenant?

Question

It just occurred to me this week that after these many years of renting homes that I only request a single application from one adult which means that if 3 adults wish to move into one of my homes the applicant only need to list the landlord history of the person with the strongest landlord track record.

How are other landlords doing applications (in the City) out there? I said in the City on purse to get a focused set of responses since that is where most of my homes are.

How are other landlords doing applications (in the City) out there?  I said in the City on purse to get a focused set of responses since that is where most of my homes are.

Account Closed · Answer

Usually, landlords get only one application and information is about each person is entered onto the application.

I am thinking that your question should be asking whether or not landlords do credit checks and background checks for earn person that is living in the unit. Some landlords charge a separate application fee and get credit and background checks for every adult living in the unit. I think landlords can run into a lot of problems if they rent to sex offenders and illegal immigrants.

Anthony Wick · Answer

@Marcus House

$40 per adult to run credit, criminal, nation wide eviction history. I recently had a person and her two elderly parents that wanted to move in together. That’s $120 and three checks. Paid directly to MySmartMove. I don’t collect money or profit from applications.

Max T. · Answer

@Marcus House

I get a separate app for each tenant over 18 and partial app for any co-signer

John Underwood · Answer

My application has room for multiple adults and all people occupying the house.

Kim Meredith Hampton · Answer

I always ask for a rental application across the board from each person occupying the house over the age of 18

Account Closed · Answer

I've been in the real estate business for more than 50 years. The only reason I wanted to rent a place 46 years ago was because I had just moved to California and that is when I experienced the landlords from hell.

As far as denying any tenant applicant, I don't believe a landlord has the right nor the power to make a decision regarding an applicant's criminal history since persons with criminal histories still have the right to rent. I don't think a landlord has the right to turn away sex offenders with a few exceptions listed below.

Landlords who are accepting rental applications the right way have to keep every application in their files and the landlords need a standard form filled out stating why every applicant was accepted and rejected. The reasons for both acceptance and rejection have to use the same rules, be honest, equal across the board and without discrimination for every applicant so if (when) an applicant takes the landlord to court for discrimination the landlord can show that he applied the same rules for every applicant.

From the internet:

"The law is less clear on this topic.  On one hand, the law prohibits sex offender registry information from being used for the purpose of denying housing.  A landlord who does use the registry for that purpose can be sued for damages and possibly fined.  However, a landlord also has a duty to protect residents from known risks, or risks that the landlord should have been able to recognize.

If a landlord decides that sex offenders constitute a known risk, he or she may consider denying applicants who are current sex offenders or evicting such residents.  If a person is found to be a current health or safety risk to others that person will not be protected by fair housing discrimination laws."

Don't Discriminate

Rejecting applicants based on an "all entries" approach to their criminal background could be considered arbitrary discrimination. To stay on the right side of the law, you must show that the past crime affects the applicant's ability to meet the tenancy obligations or presents a direct threat to the health and safety of other residents. There's no hard and fast rule here. However, certain types of crime, such as burglary, assault, arson, sex offenses and drug dealing convictions will be more relevant than traffic offenses, and older convictions are typically less relevant than newer ones.

Avoid the Small and Spent

It is illegal to refuse to rent to someone because of past drug use, though you can consider a history of drug manufacture and dealing. California law prohibits any consumer report from including arrests, indictments or misdemeanors that did not result in a conviction, or crimes that are spent by more than seven years. If you reject an applicant based on these factors, you're likely committing arbitrary discrimination. In other words, you have to look beyond the crime at the facts and circumstances surrounding the individual conduct.

Account Closed · Answer

We don't charge our tenants for credit checks. First, we meet with every tenant, speak with them, get 3 months of their bank statements and we know at that time whether or not we are interested in renting to them. We get their signed authorization to check their credit and we pay the Apartment Owners Association $10 to check their credit and evictions nationwide. I feel like paying the $10 is starting off on the right foot and I don't see why landlords think the tenant should have to pay for a credit check to multiple landlords who may not be really interested in renting their units.

We are only renting to them and we are not selling them the property. Forty-six years ago, I was looking for a place to rent, paid several landlords for credit checks and even though I had perfect credit and a lot of money in the bank not one landlord would rent to me. I am guessing the reasons was because I had just moved to California and because I was only 22-years old. Since then, I hated landlords for taking my application and taking my money even though they knew they would not rent to me.

About two years ago, one of my employees was looking for an apartment to rent. He was single, had a girlfriend and he had 4 children who visited him every other weekend. He filled out an application and the landlord knew about his girlfriend and 4 children. He paid $45 or $75 (can't remember) for a credit check. The landlord called him and told him he had to pay for a credit check for his girlfriend even though she did not have a job. So, after paying for the 2nd credit check the landlord told him he would not rent to him because of his children. Sorry, but I hate crooked landlords who make a profit from credit credit checks.

Thanks to the internet and craigslist, there are thousands of people scamming people looking for places to rent and most of the scammers are landlords. I had another employee who paid a $4,000 deposit to rent a house. The landlord was actually at the house when my employee rented it, but my employee spoke with another person who said he already had a lease with the landlord and the landlord was allowing him to sub lease the house. So, my employee signed a lease, paid the $4,000 to move in and he was given the keys.

My employee loads a truck with furniture, drives to the house and the locks are changed. My employee calls the person he gave the money to and he is told to call the landlord. The landlord tells my employee that this person he rented the house from is his tenant and his tenant has been renting the house to multiple people, taking their money, changes the locks and there is nothing he (the landlord) can do. The landlord tells my employee that he is suing his tenant because he has not been paying any rent for several months.

The bottom line is; it is landlords who are renting houses to multiple tenants and ripping them off. What I don't understand is why the landlord was at the property when his partner in crime was ripping off people.  My guess is that the landlord does not trust his partner in crime and he wants to see how much money changes hands so he doesn't get ripped off.

Marcus House · Answer

@Anthony Wick  I am curious. Are you charging application fees  in Center City Row house neighborhoods?   Others are welcome to provide their thoughts on this question as well.

Marcus House · Answer

@Jack Orthman well said.  Thank you.

Marcus House · Answer

@Jack Orthman thank you for sharing that.  Everyone I have been reading all of the responses carefully.  I have been doing this for over 16 years and after an "observation" last week with one of my applicants I decided to see what others were doing.  Things have been running very smooth for the past 10 years but just really wanted to understand what other are doing differently to see if there may be ways I can improve.  With most of the responses mentioning getting a criminal background check, I can't help but wonder about something.  Are landlords out there with policies (again in center city neighborhoods) that you will not rent to someone with a criminal record?  If yes is this legal in most states?  I noticed that one responder above stated that they use www.mysmartmove.com to do tenant screening.  In light of the fact that evictions are not reported to credit reporting agencies unless the judgement is turned over to a collection agency and therefore a report like this would not catch most evictions is this really value added for the purpose of identifying evictions?  Is www.mysmartmove.com the most reliable service provider or do other have other alternatives that they recommend (I may need to new post for that one)?

Do you request seperate application from potential tenant?

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