How to work with potential tenants - low income and large savings

[Elena Pech]

Hi, i have prospective tenants who just moved back from Europe. One got prestigious but not well paid Postdoc in university, the other is still waiting for job offer. They show printscreen of their bank account with amount equal to many years of rent. How to work with them? What additional documents to ask? Is there a way to secure money for annual rent, that they can't use for anything else? I think there are many cases, when people have savings but not enough income. How to work with them?

[Nathan Gesner]

My rule is that they show "verifiable income" of approximately 3x the rent. If they don't have income, but they have significant savings, then I'll approve them with a double deposit and the first three months of rent paid in advance. That gives them 90 days to find employment. If everything else (credit, criminal, Landlord, etc) checks out, then it shouldn't be a problem.