Prospective Tenants and Rental Applications
You need to develop a sound way to screen potential tenants and take rental applications.
Tell Prospective Tenants Your Rules
When prospective tenants call about the rentals, or just show up to your open house, it's always best to describe all your requirements—rent, deposits, policy on pets, lease terms, etc.—and specific special conditions up front.
In addition, tell prospective tenants about what personal information they'll be expected to fill in on an application, including contact information of previous landlords along with credit references.
Getting a Unit Ready for Prospective Tenants
A clean rental in good repair will rent faster than a rundown one. It pays to keep your rental competitive with others in the same market area. When showing a rental unit, make sure your basics are covered:
- You need to clean all rooms and furnishings, floors, and walls —make sure that the bathroom and kitchen are spotless.
- You need to remove all clutter from closets, and cupboards.
- You need to take care of any insect or rodent infestations. Nothing will ruin a tenants day faster than a roach sighting.
- You need to make sure that the appliances and fixtures work. Repair any leaky faucets and frayed electrical lines
- You need to cut the grass, trim shrubbery, and clean up all trash and debris on the grounds.
- You need to replace or repair old fixtures and appliances, and repaint walls, replace carpets if necessary.
Hopefully the previous tenant left the place in good condition, and you may not need to do much cleaning or repairing before showing it to new prospective tenants. So you can make this more likely, you need to be sure and send outgoing tenants a move-out letter detailing your specific requirements for refunding the security deposit.
Show the property to and accept applications from everyone who's interested.
It is always best just accept applications from anyone who's interested and make decisions about who will rent the property later, in order to avoid any discrimination complaints. You want to make sure and keep copies of everything.
Ask Interested Tenants to Complete a Rental Application
So you can avoid any legal problems and of course, choose the best tenant, you need to ask all prospective tenants to complete a written rental application that includes all information on the applicant's employment, income, and credit; Social Security and driver's license numbers and past credit history including evictions and bankruptcies.
Before giving prospective tenants a Rental Application, complete the box at the top, filling in the property address, rental term, first month's rent. and any deposit or credit check fee tenants must pay before moving in. Here are some basic rules for accepting rental applications:
Give an application to all adult applicants. Each prospective tenant—everyone age 18 or older who wants to live in your rental property—should completely fill out a written application. This is true whether you're renting to a married couple or to unrelated roommates, a complete stranger, or the cousin of your current tenant.
Make sure you get a completed application. You need to also make sure that prospective tenants complete the entire Rental Application, including Social Security number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), drivers license number, or any other identifying information (such as a passport number); current employment; and emergency contacts. You will need this information later to track down any deadbeat tenants who leaves without paying rent.