Should I rent to this Renter...........

Question

Hello,

I was wondering what your opinions might be about this applicant. He is from out of state and showed up with his pregnant wife and 2 small kids. Seen like good people. He's starting a new job this week in town so that's the reason he's moving. No furniture, was driving from CA to KY and said he's just starting fresh. He said that his credit wasn't so great 4 years ago when he lost his job and he's rebuilding now. I'm going to do a check on it later. He provided a Job acceptance letter from his new employer showing that he'll make 4 times the monthly rent requirement, which is great. The issue is that I just tried to contact his past landlords and had to leave a message with one but the second one was a disconnected number. He's willing to pay first and last month rent as well as a damage deposit equal to a months rent up front. He also said he would be willing to set up automated payments for rent in the future. With that being said, do you think it would be worth it to rent to him without being able to speak to any previous landlord? This is a condo townhouse for about a $1000 per month.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Aly W. · Answer

Jon K. is absolutely right about checking previous landlords. I've discovered several "landlords" that were actually the tenant's relatives when I checked the tax records, although they never mentioned that up front. Or the owner listed on the tax records didn't match anything the tenant had on their application and they told me the tax records were a mistake. Beware of tenant with no verifiable rental history. And if a 30something tells you they've always lived at home, run.....

Jon K. · Answer

Run a full credit report, rental reference check, search court records in his previous cities for evictions and lawsuits, etc.

He has bad credit.

So far, he doesn't have any verifiable rental references. Google the landlord's name, number, address, etc. that he gave you. Look up property tax records on the previous address he gave you to see if the landlord's name he gave you really owns the property.

You must get a rental reference. Must. Otherwise you're taking in these people blindly. Run a rental report.

Check bank statements.

Verify with employer... a letter isn't enough. Easily could be faked.

Automated payments mean nothing. If there's no money in the bank, automated payments are useless.

VERIFY EVERYTHING.

Seriously. He says he has bad credit. He has a new job, but you need to verify that (and what income) with his employer. Check credit, rental history, court records, bank statements, everything.

Most people don't move their wife and kids across the country to start a job THE SAME WEEK with no place to live. Is he staying at a hotel or something? Maybe he could make a good tenant, but you know nothing verifiable about him yet. Verify everything, and rental references are an absolute must. Find the previous landlord. Look up property tax records and get the owner's contact info from there. Check credit, plus everything else.

Mike Franco · Answer

Doing a quick google, I see that KY doesn't have a maximum limit on security deposit. So you need to collect way more.

Forget about last month's rent. Get like $2500 security deposit.
You need more security.

Michelle Marty · Answer

Are you worried the landlord numbers arent legit? I'd run the eviction report. That usually provides past addresses and if its a complex you can call them. They'll probably ask for a signed waiver from the tenant allowing them to disclose information so add that to your application. As of right now I wouldn't rent to them.

Ned Carey · Answer

I say no at this point all you have is starting a new job. You know nothing else about him.

Did you do a criminal check, eviction report, contact past employers? Does he have personal references?  Did you look up the owners of the properties, he claimed to have live in in the past, and done a skip trace to find them?

Seems to me you have more homework to do.   Good luck - Ned

Should I rent to this Renter...........

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