Finding new tenants is often something of a gamble. In fact, one bad tenant can become a nightmare for any rental property owner, which is why it is essential to be picky. Tenant screening and tenant verification services are the most convenient ways for landlords who want to attract and retain great tenants.
The role of effective tenant screening and tenant verification services is to increase the odds that only qualified and great tenants wind up in your residential rental property. But this is easier said than done. Here are the ways tenant screening and tenant verification services can help you stay ahead of the game.
1. Verify the information in the tenant’s rental application successfully.
It is impossible to know the number of applicants that include misleading or false information in their applications, but odds are you will come across several. If the number of falsified tenant applications tracks that of falsified resumes people submit for jobs, Canadian landlords might be looking at or two in every ten applications.
This is enough risk to justify a landlord’s skepticism about tenant application. Sure, tenant screening can be the best tool to catch fraud, but it can work if only you use it wisely. An experienced tenant screening and tenant verification services provider can help identify gaps and inconsistencies in rental applications. He or she can help cross-check that information against the prospective tenants’ credit reports and verify the information provided.
2. Screen all rental property occupants effectively.
A common way for an unqualified tenant to sneak into your rental property is to move in with a person who is already qualified. The unqualified person might end up being the only one staying in the rental unit at some point. Unfortunately, the landlord will end up in a situation where they don’t have contact information for that tenant.
A reliable tenant screening and tenant verification services provider can help ensure that your long-term tenants or new occupant policy includes the right to carefully screen tenants and verify their information. Landlord tenant laws differ from province to province. However, you must ensure that your property lease agreement or landlord tenant agreement protects your interests.
3. Tenant privacy protection
Is it possible to know too much about prospective tenants? The answer depends on what you (a landlord) does with the information. For example, a previous landlord might flag a person as an alcoholic or criticize them for being a single parent or having too many kids. If you (the new landlord) act on that information, it may be considered discrimination.
Keep in mind that there’s tenant information that’s off-limits when selecting a tenant for your rental property. Fortunately, a good tenant screening and tenant verification services provider sticks to the tried and true methods of screening prospective tenants. These methods include performing tenant background checks, running credit checks for tenants, and asking reliable references about the prospective tenant’s ability to perform responsibilities under a lease.
Such services providers usually take care not to ask tenant screening questions that solicit information that’s protected or private. Also, they never disclose private tenant information, such as the details of their credit reports. That means enlisting comprehensive tenant screening and tenant verification services ensures tenant privacy protection.
4. Find reliable tenants quickly.
You don’t have to meet every prospective tenant to find great tenants. Tenant screening and placement service providers can help handle the tedious process of vetting the potential tenants. They have all the resources you need to run background checks, credit reports, and more. Not only will these services save time, but they will increase the probability of finding better tenants quickly.
5. Be consistent with prospective tenant screening with tenant verification services.
Inconsistency in your tenant screening process might allow bad tenants to slip through the cracks. Besides, a pattern of handling rental applicants differently could increase the risk of being charged with discrimination and makes it challenging to prove your innocence. For this reason, you may want to enlist tenant screening and tenant verification services to ensure that your tenant placement approach adheres to the law.
Conclusion
Screening tenants used to be a challenging process, but not anymore. With a reliable tenant screening and tenant verification services provider, you can easily pull different types of tenant background checks, such as tenant credit reports. This makes it easy to acquire great tenants within a short period.
