This is an original and creative method of helping out tenant and landlords.  We have always stressed the importance of understanding the rental laws of your community, as well as State and Federal.   Jefferson Community is providing a great resource to their local community, and we hope more cities and towns follow their lead. 

They stressed in the article the importance of establishing a business relationship with your tenant/landlord, instead of seeking a friendship.  This is a business situation and “friendships” can feel betrayed by some factors that are out of your control as a landlord.  They recommend establishing the business relationship right away to avoid any awkwardness later.    

Source of Credit Reports
One of the ways of establishing that business connection is to begin with a formal tenant screening program.  The applicant is required to sign a release form, and will undergo a standardized background check based on your requirements, which may include a credit history report, eviction records, employment verification, as well a criminal record search. Obtaining credit reports on your potential tenants requires an initial site inspection of your office premises, to protect credit data against potential fraud.  You may be tempted to allow your tenants to bring in a downloaded version of a credit report.  While this is expedient, you are exposing yourself to potential modified documentation.  The power of Photoshop is hard to decipher.  We recommend you obtain credit reports using your tenant screening provider.

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Desperate Times
These are desperate times, and more than ever you need to start tapping into your a survivalist instinct.  Think of life as an episode of “Man vs. Wild”  But instead of wandering through a Siberian Forest, you are moving through your world on the brink of an apocalypse.  You can save yourself time and money by relearning street smarts.  The stories of older relatives who survived the depression are more relevant than ever.  Now is the time to think carefully about every financial relationship you build, which bank you decide to use, what landlord you want to rent from, want tenant you want to rent to, and the quality and reputation of every business relationship you cultivate.

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“We did a full background check,” she said. “He had just gotten out of prison. That’s probably why (his girlfriend) kept it under wraps, because otherwise we probably wouldn’t have rented to him.”  “We didn’t give him authority to live there,” Albert Rodriguez said. 

He had apparently moved in with his girlfriend a few weeks before, unknown to the property management.  The girlfriend had rented the apartment and apparently passed the tenant screening; he had just gotten out of prison and would have been disqualified according to their tenant screening policy.  After several complaints of loud music, the male was shoot to death in the trailer. 

Property Managers are struggling with this all too frequent problem of shacking up with the significant other, especially if presents a danger to the residential community.  How can you monitor your tenants effectively to be aware of this potentially dangerous changes?  You could institute a policy regarding formal notification anyone staying over longer than say three days, but would any tenant effective follow the procedure.  Could you institute incentives and disincentives for not reporting?  How has time to monitor this behavior?  It could be case of Monday Morning Quarterbacking.  The trouble is for these property managers, they might be faced with a laced from other tenants for some perceived negligence.   Hopefully the property managers will come up with a successful and practice solution to this now know hole in the tenant screening process.

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35,000 housing units are currently in default within the city of Los Angeles, and are at risk of being lost by their owners. A large percentage of those homes are occupied by renters who face eviction as their residences are sold.

California state law requires a 60 day eviction notice for tenant who has paid on time and is in a month to month lease situation.  Some renters are getting evictions notices telling them they need to get out in less than that time.  Some renter are claiming that they have been asked to leave in 3 days.  If you are in this situation, call your local authorities and report the eviction.  Usually you will receive a revised eviction notice given you 60 days.   Then the real problems begin.   As more people are looking for replacment housing, the available rental market is feeling a spike in demand; rents are certainly to rise.

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Using Media to promote your safety policy
However property managers and landlords can use electronic media to their advantage by publicizing their efforts to increase security.  By taking proactive steps to increase property safety, such instituting a comprehensive tenant screening program with tenant credit reports and background checks, property managers can publicize this information and usually reach a local newspapers.  For example Denton Apartments in made headlines in Dothan Alabama by discuss how they are cracking down on the partying teenagers in their parking lots.  The rest of the article discussing how running a background screening program and checking for drugs has become a full time job for the management company.

“We do not rent to felons and sex offenders. We may have a good person with a clean record to rent a place for somebody else and they try to slide in under the radar,” Hallford said.

“It’s a full-time job for me, looking for unauthorized persons in units. Residents have three days to get those people in here for background check. We do not want felons and sex offenders on the property and we do not want drugs on our property.”

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Tenant’s Liability

According the OC Register, some tenants believe that they don’t need renter’s insurance because they are covered by the building owner’s policy.  While the building owner’s policy covers the building, it doesn’t cover theft or kitchen fires.  Tenants are arguably liable for “any problem they create” such as a kitchen fire.  Even if your landlord doesn’t require renters insurance, it’s valuable for tenants the protect their property and the risk of a lawsuit with renter’s insurance.   Renter’s insurance should defend you should someone decide to sue you for slipping and falling inside your apartment or on your balcony.  Another little known detail is that renter’s insurance might be able to provide assistance should you be involved in a civil suit, similar to the protection provided by a home owner’s policy.   Talk to your insurance broker about the exact details of each policy.  

Landlords Benefits of Renter’s Insurance

Landlords who require renter’s insurance enjoy the benefits of having tenants who are protected, should a tenant-caused accident occur in the apartment, and it also provides a level of tenant screening, by screening out some tenants who are so strapped that they can’t afford to pay an additional  $15-20 per month.  If your tenants cannot afford this small amount, chances are they might not be able to pay the rent very soon.

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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.

Read the full article here:

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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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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Channel 34 news

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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