Screening Tenants amid Covid-19

[Silvana Lavado]

Hi BP family! I have a question about screening tenants amid the Covid-19 pandemic. I’m sorry if this has been asked or discussed in another forum or YouTube video, but I haven’t been able to find them - if you have a link to a resource, I will gladly go there. Essentially, I put my place for rent before the pandemic really hit my state (about 4-5 weeks ago). At the time, my asking price was a little on the high side, but I was still getting several request to show it and I was confident it would get rented in a few weeks. Of course, once the my state went into a state of emergency, everything slow down and I’ve had to reduce my asking rent from 1,500 to 1,400 and now 1,350. Now I’m getting request again, but I’m having trouble determining how to screen a tenant in this new situation. My requirements are good credit, good landlord and work references, no previous eviction, and at least 3x the rent, but what do I do now if someone meets all the requirements except for income because their their hours have been reduced or they’re in unemployment at the moment until everything gets back to normal? What if they have good work references and I receive feedback from their bosses that they will come back to work after everything opens again? Or what if, given that unemployment checks are higher now due to the CARE act, they meet the 3x the rent but with unemployment? Is it legal to ask for their unemployment checks as proof of income? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!