Use Same Standards During Each Tenant Screening Process

Selecting a tenant isn’t rocket science, but it can be a complicated, confusing process if you don’t have a set plan in place. Every landlord should have a set list of standards that any prospective tenant must meet in order to be approved to sign the lease and move in. Those standards may differ from landlord to landlord, based on personal preferences, the type of rental unit, and past experiences with tenants. Here are some recommended standards for approving a tenant application:

• The application itself is properly completed.

• The prospective tenant is 18 or older.

• The prospective tenant must prove a monthly income that is three times the amount of the monthly rent.

• There can be no previous evictions on the tenant’s record.

• The tenant has a clean criminal record.

• The tenant’s credit score must be at least XXX.

• The tenant must be currently employed, and undergo a successful employment verification process.

• The tenant’s previous landlord must give a positive recommendation.

Whatever a landlord decides his standards for application approval are, those standards should be written down and checked (twice!) during each tenant screening process for every single applicant. That’s because in the rush to find a tenant — amid the sea of paperwork and reports and the business of collecting fees and applications — it’s easy to overlook a standard or two. It’s easy to forget that you were supposed to call their previous landlord or their current employer. So write down your list of standards and keep it on file to adhere to each and every time.

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Many Americans Don’t Understand Credit Scores

According to a recent survey by the Consumer Federation of America and VantageScore Solutions, many Americans don’t really understand what goes into creating their credit score or how it may be used.

Among the findings, the majority of those surveyed didn’t know that a landlord or property manager could use a rental applicant’s credit score as a factor in deciding whether or not to approve them for a lease. About 67 percent of respondents incorrectly assumed age is a determining factor in the credit score, though nearly half knew the basic purpose of a credit score is to assess the risk for lenders of whether a borrower will or won’t repay a loan.

More than 1,000 Americans were surveyed by phone, averaging a D in total knowledge about credit scores, according to the survey results. VantageScore is a joint venture of three credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion -- and calculates credit scores on a scale from 501 to 990.

Many may be ignorant about a credit score’s purpose or use, but that doesn’t mean a landlord shouldn’t use it. On the contrary, a thorough tenant screening and credit check are tops on the list of ways a landlord will know whether a tenant is lease-worthy.

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