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A lot of landlords like to take people at their word. You want to trust your tenants and maintain a good relationship. After all, you have a mutually beneficial agreement and a solid relationship is the best for both parties.
While it's good to keep things on great terms with tenants, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do your due diligence. We're going to talk about doing a tenant background check today, giving you some insight into the benefits of doing so.
A background check policy is well worth your time, and it's something that could save you a lot of time and money. Let's take a look.
Why Should You Run a Tenant Background Check?
The primary reason for running a background check on your tenant is to see if they've had any issues paying rent in the past. Further, you're looking to see if they have a violent history or engage in things that might make your relationship too difficult to manage.
Unfortunately, there are few ways to see if this is the case without running a background check. It's worth knowing that an individual damaged the inside of their last rental. It's worth seeing that there were numerous fights between this individual and their neighbor in their last house.
Naturally, you're the one who decides where to draw the line. No matter who you are, though, there's a line of what you're willing to allow. Violence and destruction of property are very detrimental to the ultimate goal of your investment property.
Conducting effective background checks helps you to increase your return on investment. More importantly, though, it maintains a healthy and happy community of residents. Whether you own an apartment building or your rental property exists in a tight-knit community, you want to make sure that someone isn't going to enter that situation and cause harm to anyone else.
Tenant Background Check Advice
Note that you have to have a very good reason to refuse an applicant after reviewing a background check. Fair Housing Laws prevent you from discriminating against anyone based on demographic factors.
A background check isn't a reason to dig into a person's life and look for issues. It's an opportunity to see the facts and assess whether or not those facts pose a risk to current tenants or property.
At the same time, it can be hard to deny someone that you've had a conversation with already. Most people are generally pleasant, and you might like almost everyone you meet.
That said, habits and repetitive behaviors erupt and work at odds with a person's general demeanor. Even if someone is nice, that doesn't mean they won't have a bad day and start a fight with your other tenants.
So, have a set of criteria that you base your decisions on. Create that criteria before you take applicants and use it on everyone who applies. That way, if someone doesn't meet the standard, you can show them the list and explain exactly why.
Need More Tenant Background Check Tips?
Hopefully, the ideas above showed you the benefits of running a tenant background check. There's more to learn about how to go about the process, though.
We're here to help. Explore our site for more ideas on property management, background checks, investment properties, and more.
