Legally Rejecting Applications

[Matt Weddon]

Getting ready to rent my first property!

I've been reading up on the process to go from advertisement to signed lease. I feel I have a good handle on the basic best practices and will be listing the property on Zillow shortly. 

Something I'm questioning: 

For the sake of the hypothetical, let's say you have an applicant who objectively scores the highest in all categories on your minimum qualification standards (references, credit score, rental history, income, etc.,) relative to all other applicants, but after showing them the property you have the distinct sense they'll be a difficult, high maintenance/game-the-system/treat-your-property-poorly tenant.

Essentially: how do you stay on the right side of the law rejecting a tenant that appears to be the best applicant on paper, but to whom you don't want to rent based on unpleasant personal interactions or impressions that they would likely take poor care of your property?

Is this a matter of just ensuring that you don't decline them for an illegal reason that would constitute a Fair Housing infraction?

I've read that you don't have to rent to the first person who comes along meeting your qualification standards, but also that you must have a fair, legitimate business reason to deny them, and I'm trying to reconcile these.

[Kevin Sobilo]

@Matt Weddon, I try not to even think about those types of things UNLESS there is objective documentation or they admit to doing something specific.

The only example I can think of is that I asked an applicant questions about their credit report. I couldn't understand why their credit wasn't better considering their income was what it was and their debts were not unreasonable. The husband had a good paying job that had a slow season where he would collect unemployment a few months per year.

They used that period of unemployment to skip paying student loans and then try to get some kind of program/hardship deferral or something aka "gaming the system".

If there was no objective evidence like that, I am not going to make a decision based on "how much I like" an applicant. I'm not showing up with a standard set of interview questions to ask them or anything of the sort. So, that just is not part of my criteria. Also, it lends itself to unconscious bias because we are more likely to view negatively people who are different than us.

Also, I put stock in the fact that I can manage things well and that I try to operate above reproach. When you do things the right away all the time, you can't be pressured by a high maintenance tenant. Dealing with tenants is also not personal to me, so I don't get upset or frustrated by how they behave in general.

So, I DON'T trust my ability to determine someone's character based on a few minute casual conversation and I DO trust my ability to manage even difficult tenants.