Charge Multiple Applicants Application Fee (??)

[Jennifer Baldassari]

Hello!

We showing our first property to potential tenants.  Yay!  I have several different applicants (different families) that are interested in filling out the application and paying the fee of $55 (which covers background/criminal, credit, and eviction reports).  Should I have the applicants pay and process the background checks one at a time (one family at a time) or everyone interested as they come in? I hate to waste people's money if the first person in line checks out and rents the place (causing issue for other families paying the $55 per adult and waiting to find out if they are selected then discovering they are not getting the place).

I don't know if I'm asking that question correctly but I hope you catch my drift.

Thank you!

Jennifer

[Kevin Manafi]

Hi @Jennifer Baldassari,

Congrats on almost having your first property rented out--that's very exciting! And great that you have multiple applicants to choose from.

While it's nice of you to be concerned about them spending money with the possibility of not being selected, that just comes with the territory when looking for rentals, and is something that most prospective tenants do/should understand. Without having all of the applicants apply at the same time (or as they are interested on a rolling basis), how would you be able to compare and know who the better prospective tenant could be?

The application fee itself is sort of a funnel that helps weed out unserious prospective tenants by forcing them to "have skin in the game." Also, it's safer to have everyone interested just fill out the application if they so desire so that you are protected from potentially violating Fair Housing Laws (discrimination) as well.