All Forum Posts by: Vitaliy Merkulov

When screening tenants, in addition to running a credit report, checking landlord references, and checking bad tenant databases I also try to check the applicant's social media accounts. Some people have their accounts as public and some are set to private so I can't find it or see any activity.

I check the social media profiles to see if they have any pets or excessive partying lifestyles because some of the units are in quiet areas with mostly elderly people living there and there is a strict no-pets policy. 

Would it be ok and legal to require all applicants to connect their social media accounts with me so I can get access to their social media profiles even if they are set to private?

It would work very similar to BP Connections

The applicant won't need to tell me their password, they will just need to connect to their social media profiles. I will be able to view their social media profiles without becoming their friend/follower. If they don't submit them and I find out that they have social media profiles that they didn't submit, I will disqualify them.

Am I crazy for going this far with tenant screening? Would anyone else want to be able to do this too?

@Michaela G. Renter Inc says that it's completely legal because they are FCRA compliant and fact based so there is no reason to worry about a slander lawsuit.

Here is what they Renter Inc says

As some of you might have heard, that credit reports are no longer going to contain some negative information on the reports according to this this article "Credit Reports to Exclude Certain Negative Information, May Pose Risks for Landlords" that cites The Wall Street Journal. 

From what I know, most landlords and property managers heavily depend on credit reports for screening tenant. So I'm assuming that landlords will need to find additional sources for information on applicants.

What additional sources do you use for screening tenants besides the traditional credit score, eviction, and landlord references?

Social Networks?

Googling their name?

Google Maps?

Showing up at their current home?

Other?

Would love to learn some secrets from the Pros on BP :)

Please report them to Renter Inc or other bad tenant databases so future landlords are warned. You owe it to future landlords.

@Jeff B. I'll look into Credit Report rules to see if they will allow me to run credit reports on someone else's behalf.

As far as CA is concerned, that @Sarnen Steinbarth linked to, I read through it, i didn't see anything that would make me believe that screening tenants on their behalf would be in violation of real estate broker code. 

Here is a California's definition of a real estate broker.

A real estate broker within the meaning of this part is a person who, for a compensation or in expectation of a compensation, regardless of the form or time of payment, does or negotiates to do one or more of the following acts for another or others:

(a) Sells or offers to sell, buys or offers to buy, solicits prospective sellers or puchasers of, solicits or obtains listings of, or negotiates the purchase, sale or exchange of real property or a business opportunity.

(b) Leases or rents or offers to lease or rent, or places for rent, or solicits listings of places for rent, or solicits for prospective tenants, or negotiates the sale, purchase or exchanges of leases on real property, or on a business opportunity, or collects rents from real property, or improvements thereon, or from business opportunities.

(c) Assists or offers to assist in filing an application for the purchase or lease of, or in locating or entering upon, lands owned by the state or federal government.

(d) Solicits borrowers or lenders for or negotiates loans or collects payments or performs services for borrowers or lenders or note owners in connection with loans secured directly or collaterally by liens on real property or on a business opportunity.

(e) Sells or offers to sell, buys or offers to buy, or exchanges or offers to exchange a real property sales contract, or a promissory note secured directly or collaterally by a lien on real property or on a business opportunity, and performs services for the holders thereof.

Source: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=10131.&lawCode=BPC

Am I missing something?

@Jeff B. I was afraid of that, do you have sources or anything so I can look into that? 

So, I was not supposed to help my landlord friends with tenant screening? What if it's like SmartMove where applicant initiates the credit report? 

Thanks.

@Kim Meredith Hampton I don't know where else to ask about California laws about this? Do I ask a real estate broker about this?

I googled some of this, some articles say that there are no regulations for this kind of stuff including skip tracers.

@Account Closed thanks for the info, would you know anyone who might know the answer to it.

Do I need to be a real estate broker to be able to screen tenants on behalf of other landlords for a fee? Im in California if that makes any difference. 

Being a landlord for some time, I've learned the best ways to screen tenants and found new sources of finding information about past tenants that is not reported in credit reports and eviction checks. I've been helping my landlord friends with screening tenants. 

I would like to start offering tenant screening services to landlords for a fee. But I want to make sure that I don't have to be a real estate broker in order to do that.

Here are the services that I'm planning to provide as part of my screening, not sure which ones or any require me to be a broker.

1. Landlord submits information about applicant (rental application, release authorization)
2. I run the credit report on applicant and evictions report. (I'm certified to pull the full credit report)
3. I verify the landlord to be a legitimate landlord/property management company or if it's a private landlord: verify with public records/county records.
4. Call/fax/email the landlord to request references, call/email every day up to 7 days.
5. Check alternative sources for bad/good reports about tenants rental history. There are over 10 major databases that store this information on landlords. Most of them require a membership to have access to these databases. Renter Inc, donotrentto, tenancy bureau, ratetenants, tenantdata, theRRD and etc.
6. Check prior rental payment history, positive or negative, if they have been reporting it through a payment companies like PayLease, PayYourRent, RentTrack, ClearNow and eRentPayment.
7. Compile all the finding into a single report and provide it to the landlord including a list of sources where the information was archived from so it could be provided on a "adverse action" notice to applicants as per FCRA requirement.

Do any of the services above need me to be a real estate broker to perform on behalf of another landlord if I charge them a fee to do this? I'm not a real estate broker and I'm not planning to be. I will not be showing the property on behalf of the landlord, or meeting or talking to the applicant at any point. 

Thanks a lot for your help.

In my case, my "professional" tenants were extremely nice and were checking each word on the contract. 

But it turned out that they lied about their previous landlord and listed their friend as the landlord. Lied about pets, and lied about their income and evictions. Never paid me after they moved in. Ended up costing me over $11k for backed rent and damages. I've reported them on Renter Inc for future landlords to know not to rent to them.

@Thomas S. Do you know where I can find any statistics that could help me prove this?