Rental housing program teaches responsible property management
The Ludington Police Department and the Mason County Sheriff’s Office conducted a rental housing training program for local property owners, rental homes, mobile home parks and apartment communities. One of the most important topics they covered was how proactive landlord behaviors such as tenant background checks can prevent alot of problems.
For example, participants learned one irresponsible or disruptive resident can easily distress an entire building, causing good renters not to renew their leases.
New screening methods, including criminal background and history checks for possible tenants, is something Larry Martz, owner of Heritage Hills mobile home park, says is one of the things he will be using.
Kudos for Ludington for promoting a responsible and safe environment for apartment dwellers to live. It appears that more landlords are becoming aware of the need for tenant background checks, especially criminal records searches.
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Tenant’s Worst Nightmare : Property Foreclosure
In a difficult economy, tenants can a face their worst nightmare: moving into a apartment only to learn that the property has been foreclosed and they must get out. After moving costs, tenants are facing with moving their stuff again. Any legal action is destined to cost money. Also while living in the foreclosed property they might be subject to losing utilites which are taken care of by property managers such as water and gardening.
North Adams Transcript has a full article about a horror story that occurred to one family :
“we all found out the house was in foreclosure and we were all being evicted”
At tenantchecker.com we frequently talk about the need for landlords to screen their tenants; but perhaps tenants need to start thinking about doing some checking of their own. Can you screen your landlord? Part of this will include some common sense. Inspect the building before you sign a lease. Do you see any signs of problems. It’s painfully obvious, but is there any foreclosure notes posted on property? Ask around the neighborhood. Ask the neighbors what they think. Finally, you can conduct a landlord background check by running a Business Partner Owner Check. These reports can tell you who owns the building, and possible liens and UCC violations that might have occurred.
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SuperBad Tenants: a landlord nightmare
Channel 34 news in binghamton New YOrk has a great story about a super bad tenant that wil make your head shake and your wallet cringe. There’s a stereotype in our culture about bad landlords but not one about problem tenants. There could be after reading this. According to the article, it’s common for tenants to trash apartments, and leave behind garbage once they have moved out. But the landlord said that this super bad tenant:
It was feces all over the place. There was literally millions, not thousand, but millions of roaches. Where I had totally barfed because there’s so much stuff that was going on. Three days ago this sidewalk, from that pole to that tree, was lined with garbage - furniture saturated with urine and infested with roaches, and garbage as high as I am tall.”
The final price tag for the clean up was $10,000. Apparently the tenant paid their rent on time and never called about any problems. Maybe they should have.
Would a background check help?
It’s worth wondering whether a tenant background check would have alerted the landlord to the potential problem with this tenant. As stated in the article, the tenant paid their rent on time and didn’t cause a problem. It’s possible this tenant would have decent credit and no criminal record. This is why it’s worth it to check for possible previous evictions. Evictions occur according to the local, state and federal laws applicable in the area, adn are usually along financial lines, but sometimes the tenant can be evicted for other reasons, such as trashing the apartment. If this happened before, it good to check again.
Another thing to consider is make sure someone is doing walkthrough on your building. If you don’t have a full time maintenance personnel, make sure someone is aware of the problems in the building and communicate with your tenants from time to time to be aware of any problems. The complaints about the smells would have been a first warning.
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Criminal Tenants to face eviction in New Jersey
Problem tenants who commit crimes may have a tough time holding onto their apartments if a new inititive is passed Millville, New Jersey. The City Commission is exploring a new program which will allow landlords to work with the police and speed up evictions for crimes that occurr on their property.
Under the program, police would provide background checks and recommendations on prospective tenants.
Hopefully this program will work to the benefit of the community. We are a little skeptical about the efficacy of the police running background checks giving recommendations on prospective tenants, not because they aren’t informed or effective, only that this is exactly the sort of labor intensive work that boggs down police departments and creates a huge backlog of background research for police officers and non-sworns to do.
To speed up your screening, we recommend you run county criminal records searches in all counties where your prospective tenant has resided. The searches take approximately 1 to 3 business days, depending on your area, and will provide you with a powerful history of your tenants criminal past.
Landlords who attended the meeting in Millsboro shared horror stories:
Ted LaMantia said he has multiple clients that owe him thousands of dollars, including one tenant who declared bankruptcy twice to avoid paying him $6,000 she owed.
Tenant Financial Responsibility
So your prospective tenant does not have a criminal history. Now what? Make sure they can pay you. Also run your tenant credit history and also check for previous evictions, and bankruptcies, liens and judgments. You should also verify their current ability to pay for verifying their employment, either through a pay stub or employment verification search.
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Proposed renter background checks wouldn’t include BYU students
Renter background checks is a smart move for any landlord or property manager. KSL.COM just published an article showing that Provo City is considering background checks for all citizens except for BYU students. Apparently the assumption is that college students are less likely to commit crimes because they follow the college’s code of conduct. As a smart landlord, we recommend running background checks on all college students. While they have guaranteed funding from their parents, it is worth it determine which potential renter has already developed poor credit and a possible criminal record. Provo City would be advised to not show favoritism to college students as all it takes is one incident with a bad student to open them up to some sort of liability situation. Be smart and run credit checks and criminal records searches on all your prospective tenants.
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renter background checks
Difficult times for landlords and tenants
The bad economy is causing difficulties for landlords and tenants. Landlords are having a hard time collecting rent and evictions are on the rise. Tenants wages are not keeping up with the cost of living. Recently in Yonkers, tenants and landlords met with the Westchester County Rent Guidelines Committee ti discuss the issue.
Sounding much more dire than in past years, some landlords said they are essentially down to no profit and are having to sell their regulated buildings. One owner warned that it could get bad enough that owners might begin abandoning buildings like they did in the early 1990s.
If you’re just getting in the landlord business, it’s more important than ever to screen your potential tenants. While you can always evict a problem tenant, it’s a costly experience and takes a long time. Protect yourself from the start by thoroughly screening your tenants with tenant background check. We recommend running a tenant credit report, which will show their current debt obligations, debt-to-income ratios, previous late payments, and any loans they have failed to pay back, or bankruptcy. In these times it’s important to verify income, so ask for a paycheck stub. Compare this information to the credit report; some people live outside their means and you may want to pick a tenant that is not heavily leveraged.
It’s important to know the laws and statutes of your city, county, state and federal for your area. Keep these in mind before you begin your journey as a landlord.
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Check your potential tenants criminal record
Make sure you check out your potential tenant’s criminal history before you offer them the apartment or your home. An instant criminal database search is a fast way to protect yourself and other tenants by finding out your renter’s criminal history. You can go further and conduct hand pulled criminal record searches in the county courthouses where your renter has lived, but these searches can take two or three business days depending on the courthouse. Some counties take even longer.
When screening your tenants make sure “the investigation does not exceed the limits set by state and federal law.” The Los Angeles Times recently listed some instruction for California landlords.
California Landlord Rights, background checks, county criminal records, criminal database searches, criminal records, tenant screening | 1 CommentSince a background check is considered to be a “consumer credit report,” it is governed by California Civil Code Section 1785.13. This statute prohibits screening agencies from using arrest records, indictments or misdemeanor complaints that did not result in convictions. This statute also prohibits the use of convictions that occurred more than seven years before the check.
Under the state and federal fair housing laws, the use of criminal screening, like any other type of screening, must be applied evenly, across-the-board rather than selectively based on certain profiles or stereotypes.
Renting out your home
Chicago Sun times discusses the pros and cons of renting out your old home while you wait for it to sell. In this tough selling environment, renting your home can be a good source of income to cover the mortage. However, becoming a landlord can be a time consuming task if you haven’t done it before.
Rental income can cover some or all of the mortgage payments, freeing you from having to dole out the entire amount each month. You might even make a profit if your monthly expense is low enough.
The problems arise from the human element of dealing with your tenants. It’s best to learn the local laws regarding your rights and responsibilities.
Disputes with tenants over tenant rights and unpaid rent could require legal representation and legal fees. - State, local and federal statutes must be understood and followed, with failure to do so often resulting in fines.
Always establish and maintain lines of communication with your tenants, and make sure they understand the terms of the lease. One of the best ways to protect yourself from problem tenants is to run background checks on them. With a signed release, you can run your prospective tenant’s credit history, criminal history, and eviction records. Most background checks for tenant screening are instant, but you can also conduct a more thorough review of county house records if you feel it is important. The credit report will provide you with valuable information about your tenant’s financial responsibility.
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Tips for New Landlords
Everything about landlord has a great tip list for prospective landlords. As with any new business decision, it’s important to conduct your own feasibility study and prepare a business plan. The emphasis here is on research and analysis. While you may be passionate about becoming a new landlord, it’s important to conduct your research and then examine the facts with discerning mind, not clouded by emotion. Sometimes the best business decision is not to go into business, at least, maybe not right now.
The article recommends speaking to other landlords, and this is sage advice. Find out the problems they are currently facing. Is it a renter’s market? What are the local ordinances and regulations? Have they had problem tenants and how did they resolve the issue? Dealing with tenants can eat up alot of your time so it’s important to establish proper communication channels and prepare your maintenance and repair plan. Do you need to hire a onsite maintenance person? Do you want to have a plummer and electrican that you keep on retainer?
When it comes to collecting rent that is due, it’s important to stay on top of your business. There are software programs that can help with property managements. One of the best ways to insure that you will get paid is to conduct background checks on all your prospective tenants. The most important search to run is a tenant credit report, which will provide you with a snapshot of your prospective tenant’s financial responsibility. If they haven’t been responsible with previous accounts, there’s a good chance they won’t respect or won’t be able to honor the financial contract with you. It’s much more expensive to evict, so do yourself a favor and establish a tenant creport report screening program.
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Background Check your Potential Roommate
The Wall Street journal had a great article about checking out your potential roomates. They say that “twentysomethings are often too trusting of people they meet through, say, craigslist.org or apartment-finder Web sites” This can lead to big problems if you move in and your new roommate refuses or cannot pay their share of the rent. You can be stuck giving them loans and, if you cannot cover the amount, your landlord may evict both of you. This can effect your ability to secure another apartment. In this situation you are much better off renting a studio, bachelor of one bedroom apartment.
The WSJ provided an excellent list of suggestions for checking our your potential roommate, short of running a complete background check.
Ask the person for a recent credit report. Consumers can get one report free once a year from each of the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, TransUnion and Experian Group — by going to the Web site AnnualCreditReport.com. Look for warning signs like overwhelming amounts of debt and missed or late credit-card and utility payments. For more on how to read a credit report, go to Web site myfico.com.
• Obtain proof of employment and salary. Ask for recent pay stubs or tax returns. Or call a potential roommate’s current and past employers (with the person’s consent). The human resources department can provide proof of employment, term employed and salary.
• Check references. Call the person’s current landlord. Then, talk to the landlord before that. “The current landlord has every incentive to paint a false, rosy picture just to have a poor tenant leave,” Ms. Portman of Nolo says. Interview any current roommates and visit your potential roommates at their homes to get an idea of how they live. Experts say criminal background checks are often unnecessary — and generally unhelpful if a person is from out of state.
• Put It in Writing. Once you choose a roommate, you should both sign an agreement specifying the rent amount and due date, how to handle utility, cable and Internet-access bills and terms of potential departure.
Roommates can provide some of the greatest benefits for living away from home. Using this tips can help you avoid the potential problems that will affect your credit history for years.
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