All Forum Posts by: Rob B.

Hi Mike, Great question and I'm happy to hear that you're doing your research. There are a lot of great options out there; aside from providing the basics, some services also offer your tenants additional capabilities which makes it an easier sell on your end when getting them to transition over. Either way, you're on BP so you're in the right place.

Hi Alberto, sorry to hear you're experiencing difficulty with the turn around time. Is it just that the applicants are taking their time with completing the application or is it the actual screening turnaround time itself? Sometimes depending upon how serious applicants are, most folks tend to drag their feet a bit while some others who are truly serious about moving are very on top of things. There are definitely a lot of helpful tools out there that can help you to establish a thorough tenant screening process, but if the majority of applicants aren't seriously looking, rather, simply browsing listings online it could be good to try to get some clarification around this from applicants so you can make adjustments if necessary. 

Hate to see a situation like this but I'm sure others who are more familiar with that area can give some solid attorney recommendations. I am inclined to agree with Federico. I know that's not always the easy thing to do, but the potential cost of going after them for unpaid rent compared to the time that could be spent getting the place re-rented might still put you at a loss. Even getting something like this reported to the credit bureaus or to a collections agency can be a bit of a challenge. Best of luck to you! 

Hi Xuanvu! Great question and happy to hear you're getting a lot of interest. Since you want to push the price up on that listing, that is completely your call-- still, since there are pending apps, make sure that your decision doesn't go against local municipal gov. or state laws; but your price for the unit has changed so it could be good to mention this across all applications you plan to deny.  

As a heads up for future purposes, you want to make sure that you’re not violating any type of Fair Housing laws through your screening process.

“The Fair Housing Act protects people from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance, or engaging in other housing-related activities. Additional protections apply to federally-assisted housing.”

Generally, you can’t simply deny someone based on things like Family status or any of the other protected classes as outlined by the fair housing act.

Those classes include:

• Color
• Disability
• Familial Status (i.e., having children under 18 in a household, including pregnant women)
• National Origin
• Race
• Religion
• Sex

Additionally, some states are starting to set regulations in terms of the application process, ie. banning the charge of an application, setting mandates in terms of accepting the first qualified applicant to apply, etc.

So it does vary state by state in the sense that some states may have additional protected classes and additional procedures by which a landlord has to follow. It is super important to make sure that when you’re conducting the screening process that you have valid reasons for turning them down. If the applicant doesn’t meet your screening criteria, then you have to be clear as to why you’re declining their app and give them notice if you know that’s what you’re going to do.

I hope this helps!

Hi Tim, I'm happy to hear that you're doing your research. There are a lot of great options out there; aside from providing the basics (ie. listing tool to get the property published to 10+ major sites, scheduling tool to schedule viewings, tenant screening with comprehensive applications which include nationwide criminal background checks + credit checks + eviction history, digital lease creation tool, rent collection tool, and maintenance tracking tool), some services also offer your tenants additional capabilities which makes it an easier sell on your end when getting them to transition over (ie. their ability to report on-time rent payments to the credit bureaus; this can create an added incentive for making sure they pay that rent on time). Either way, you're on BP so you're in the right place. @Tim Gathers

Hi Bryan, I'm happy to hear that you're doing your research. There are a lot of great options out there; aside from providing the basics (ie. listing tool to get the property published to 10+ major sites, scheduling tool to schedule viewings, tenant screening with comprehensive applications which include nationwide criminal background checks + credit checks + eviction history, digital lease creation tool, rent collection tool, and maintenance tracking tool), some services also offer your tenants additional capabilities which makes it an easier sell on your end when getting them to transition over (ie. their ability to report on-time rent payments to the credit bureaus; this can create an added incentive for making sure they pay that rent on time). Happy to answer any questions you have. Either way, you're on BP so you're in the right place. @Bryan Clement

Hi Brandon, I'm happy to hear that you're doing your research. There are a lot of great options out there; aside from providing the basics (ie. listing tool to get the property published to 10+ major sites, scheduling tool to schedule viewings, tenant screening with comprehensive applications which include nationwide criminal background checks + credit checks + eviction history, digital lease creation tool, rent collection tool, and maintenance tracking tool), some services also offer your tenants additional capabilities which makes it an easier sell on your end when getting them to transition over (ie. their ability to report on-time rent payments to the credit bureaus; this can create an added incentive for making sure they pay that rent on time). Either way, you're on BP so you're in the right place. @Brandon Washington

Hi Ikenna, if you don't mind me asking, which merchant are you currently using?

Just bear in mind that most typical lease start dates are at the beginning of the month (the first). You'll want to account for this because the next tenant who comes in (after this lease ends) may be looking for a start date of the first as well -- but the 15th is also a common start date. Worst case scenario, you can easily pro-rate the rent for the first-month move-in date if it isn't on the 1st or 15th, but still, have the rent due on one of those two dates. 

Hi Tyler, I'm happy to hear that you're doing your research. There are a lot of great options out there; aside from providing the basics (ie. listing tool to get the property published to 10+ major sites, scheduling tool to schedule viewings, tenant screening with comprehensive applications which include nationwide criminal background checks + credit checks + eviction history, digital lease creation tool, rent collection tool, and maintenance tracking tool), some services also offer your tenants additional capabilities which makes it an easier sell on your end when getting them to transition over (ie. their ability to report on-time rent payments to the credit bureaus; this can create an added incentive for making sure they pay that rent on time). Either way, you're on BP so you're in the right place. @Tyler Eastman