All Forum Posts by: Tom Lipps

Just thinking out-loud, but if you could come up with objective questions you could "rank" the applicants by "right" answers.

For example:

1.  Would you consider yourself a tidy person?  Yes or No

2.  Have you ever willfully refused to pay rent? Yes or No

3.  Have you ever smoked? Yes or No

Person A answers: Yes, Yes, No --> total score of 2

Person B answers: Yes, No, No --> total score of 3

In this example, I'm going to start with Person B (even though person A submitted their application first).

The questions wouldn't be qualifiers (like being evicted or an active smoker), but they could help zero in on the best applicants.

Amazing! My mind is turning with other potential applications of this.... Google Forms has a "Quiz" Mode. I wonder if you could setup questions in such a way that better applicants got better "Quiz" scores?

Thanks for the advice. One thing I thought about doing was taking pictures every time I go; of everything. I heard this advice on the Podcast before. It basically protects both the Landlord and the Tenant; having a photographic Timeline saved to Dropbox.  I would do this for maintenance purposes, but it could double as a way to keep track of their son's whereabouts.

@Travis Dawson    Great feedback. Especially in regards to the extra income vs having disgruntled tenants. If they were paying market rates, I'd be less inclined to pursue any action.

But it's a two year lease. Doesn't expire until Sept 2018!   :-(

***

...

Unfortunately the lease I'm inheriting is pretty weak. It doesn't say anything about long term guests. It only says, "Residents agree that said premises shall be used only as a dwelling and for no other purposes and shall be occupied only by TENANT and those persons listed on TENANT's rental application."

Thanks for your quick response! They told me their son has been living their "on and off" for a few months. However, I've have reason to believe he's been living there full-time since April.