Most landlords use traditional methods to perform background checks on prospective tenants, but some are branching out to social media outlets to do some investigative work of their own. While it may be tempting to log on to Facebook and Twitter and try to see what you can find out about a would-be tenant’s lifestyle and personality, the social media background check tactic brings with it a host of potential legal issues if what you find becomes the reason you decline to rent the property to that person.
Fair Housing laws are very clear about the fact that it is illegal to deny housing to anyone based on race, color, national origin, religion, gender, familial status and disability. These are, by and large, well outside the realm of the typical rental application, so finding out and exhibiting some bias against a person based on what you find out through Facebook could lead to some serious legal ramifications. Another potential problem is that sometimes the wrong person’s profile is mistaken for the applicant in question. There are many, many duplicate names out there, and it can be difficult to ascertain whether you’ve got the right John Doe’s Facebook page.
The better idea is to stick with a professional tenant screening service, a company with a proven reputation for being thorough and following the letter of every law. Paying someone for fact-checked reports on an applicant’s credit, criminal record and employment is a far better use of your time than surfing the internet and potentially finding something that’s either false or could get you in trouble.
http://www.alwaysscreen.com/
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