Prescreening Criteria for inquirer who frequents the courts

[Jacob G.]

Hello all,

I was wondering how you would handle this pre-screened person that clearly spells TROUBLE for their next landlord and neighbors. Fortunately, they were disqualified from my rental based on a criminal misdemeanor for one crime of a violent nature, along with the property not being available until the beginning of next month. The main reason I want to pose this question is to see how I can button up my rental requirements in the future. 

First red flag: they need to move by tomorrow because their “lease is up and the landlord wants to rent to someone the landlord knows.” I would hypothesize they were asked to move, or given cash for keys. The current landlord would want to get rid of them so would give a glowing recommendation. Its never good news when someone needs to move immediately, so maybe a means to protect against this scenario is to require a minimum of 7 days before the start of the lease when an application is received?

Second red flag: They have had 5 evictions filed against them over the last 10 years, each of which was dismissed. Some of the landlords filed multiple cases against them too. My understanding is you can only use convictions in your criteria, and not the mere filing as a reason to deny. My requirements stipulate no evictions in the past 10 years, and only 1 greater than 10 years ago. Perhaps in the future having a requirement stating all dismissed evictions must be accompanied by a landlord reference? Does anyone else have a similar requirement? I doubt 5 former landlords would give a recommendation of them, or respond.

Third red flag: They have had other non-real estate cases filed against them and eventually dismissed.

Fourth red flag: They have had a number of restraining orders filed against various people throughout the years.

Based on the rest of their unverified answers to the pre-screen form, they would meet the rental requirements but clearly would be a problem based on their long list of court cases. I know many people lie on the pre-screen, so I would hope they did too. My general process is pre-screen with google forms, invite candidates to an open-house showing if they meet all requirements, accept applications and verify any applicants check out (call every reference, verify every detail, and for those with animals, have a certified animal trainer assess the animal). This house is in a C or C+ neighborhood, fully renovated and competitively priced, so I do receive a few of these type of pre-screen responses, but also receive many inquiries from great candidates that don’t spell trouble.

Thanks for any input,

Jake