Unqualified applicant keeps contacting me, wary of rejecting

[Joseph G.]

First post, I hope I'm following the rules and I appreciate your help. I bought a duplex in September. One of the sides was vacant and in need of renovation and I had a builder do this in October and November. While standing outside, I was approached by an individual who expressed interest in renting my unit as soon as it was available and explained that they're especially interested in my unit because they have family living next door. They mentioned a criminal record in the 1990's, low credit score, and being payed in cash. I told them I didn't care as much about the old criminal record and the credit score as much as I care about verifying income. They said they could pay a higher deposit and/or have a co-signer, they just wanted to make sure they secured the unit. I expressed my intention to finish renovations, take pictures, and list the unit online so that I could collect applications and compare them and told this person that I would be happy to take their contact information and update them once I was listing the unit.

I started getting a weird sense about this person when, after I mentioned uploading pictures to the future listing, they said they didn't need to see pictures or take a tour, they knew they were interested as they'd seen my builders doing a lot of work and taking new materials into the house. We exchanged information (I should just have taken theirs instead I realize now but at least I'm using a fake number) and parted ways. Over the next couple weeks they called two or three times a week to ask how things were progressing and if the unit would be ready by X date. On some days the builders weren't working this person would say things like, "I didn't see your guys here today." They also shared details about their family and moving plans, that if they couldn't find somewhere they were going to move their family back to California (much higher cost of living, makes little sense). It was quite annoying and felt like this person was insinuating some kind of obligation to them to have my unit available soon. The calls were rarely concise, this person talked a lot and seemed to talk over me even when I was answering his questions. I had to remain firm that I wanted to stick to my process and bring the unit to market.

At some point in our discussions this person mentioned having housing vouchers but was totally uninformed about how the program works, not knowing that I as a landlord have to apply and have my unit inspected, have the government as a third party, etc. I do my research and tell them they won't be able to move in by the date they want if we're going to go through section 8. They say they it's not necessary to use the vouchers, under the impression that they get to keep them if they don't use them. I inform them that it's not true and that that's the renewal timeline, not their time to find somewhere to start using the vouchers. I try to hint that this person should find somewhere that is ready to accept section 8 now if they need somewhere immediate instead of moving their four children (single-parent hh) across the country.

When I listed the unit I sent them a link. Immediately they started to fill the free questionnaire and then the paid application out but ran into some problem logging in and called me for help. I wasn't able to help; it was entirely on their end and they just needed to reset their password. They figured it out and submitted their application, which had issues of its own.

They had uploaded pay stubs after telling me they were paid in cash by clients, this was confirmed by the number listed as their employer reference. So what are these pay stubs that shouldn't exist? I looked at them closely and some of the numbers made no sense, like working the same exact hours 3 paychecks in a row and the YTD figures being wrong moving in the wrong direction. This person also has more of a criminal history than they let on, being convicted in the 2000's decade and having arrests and charges even up to 2018, some of them for things like DV, making threats, drug/weapon possession, and driving without a valid license, although on the more recent ones they may have been found not guilty. They were honest about having bad credit, but left out owing about $75k in child support. I mentioned the pay stubs and child support to them and they said they paid their boss in cash for his boss to give them a pay check because they needed something to upload to applications like mine. I felt this was deceitful. Also it was possible to skip the upload you just have to check the "upload the rest of my documents later" button. They said the child support was a mistake, that the government was charging them child support for children they are currently supporting and they had to get out of it. For this reason this individual has no bank account and says lawyers want almost $10k to get them out of it.

I didn't even want this person to apply, they just went ahead and did it immediately. Every other contact looked into the unit and filled out the free questions before spending $55 to apply. This person seems not just unqualified but quite irresponsible and unreasonable. If I were low income, single, with 4 kids, I'd be a lot more knowledgeable about my housing vouchers and careful about throwing away application fees.

They still call me and I'm not sure what to do. They've had relatives call me just to ask the same things (also how I found out their "landlord reference" is their sister). This person is also not licensed in their occupation but apparently that can be revoked for owing child support. Normally I wouldn't post this, I'd just send a rejection letter and that would be it. What bothers me is that this person spends a lot of time near my house due to their relatives next door. I don't want to upset my neighbors or have issues between them and whoever my future tenants are. This person did offer to have a co-signer and keeps asking what they can do to make me comfortable but my main problem with this applicant is the perceived dishonesty, second is the lack of logic in their decision making and expectations. I think that this person would be a very needy tenant. In a 5 minute span the other day, they called twice, left one voicemail, texted once, and had their sister call and leave a voicemail. If I reject, they'll see the house is vacant until someone moves in.