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.

Read the entire article here:

 background checks
new jersey landlords
eviction records