With a successful rental advertising strategy, you're bound to attract dozens of potential tenants. Should you go on gut instinct and pick the applicant whose personality you like the most? Only if you care more about a budding friendship than on-time rent payments!
All jokes aside, there are many tools that a landlord can use to vet their tenants. A tenant background check can tell you quite a bit about a tenant's past and help you dodge red flags.
Ready to learn more about landlord screening tools to use during the tenant verification process? Read on for our quick and useful guide.
What Is a Tenant Background Check?
When you think of background checks, you probably think of reports detailing a person's criminal background. Is this what we mean when we talk about tenant background checks?
Not exactly, although criminal history is part of it. You may also hear landlords talking about running credit checks. What we're really talking about is tenant screening reports, which can include:
- Criminal history
- Credit score
- Income verification
- Income-debt ratio verification
- Public record filings like bankruptcies
- Eviction reports
This kind of report can help you verify that a tenant has the income to cover rent. It can also give you a sense of their history as a renter, although there are other ways to collect more information that we'll discuss below.
How Much Does Tenant Screening Cost?
Some landlords might skip these thorough landlord screening tools because they're worried about cost. To run a tenant background check, you may need to pay fees of between $25 and $75. You'll also need to take time out of your day to review the report you receive.
The good news is that you can actually ask applicants to cover that cost. Unlike other states, Tennessee does not currently limit the amount you can charge as an application fee. However, charging far more than the cost of the background check can alienate potential tenants and limit your applicant pool.
What Else Can You Do to Screen Tenants?
The last thing you want to do is have to go through the eviction process, which can take quite a bit of time and money. A background check will confirm any history of evictions, but it won't paint the full picture.
It's useful to ask applicants for the contact information of their previous landlord. That way, you can ask about any issues the previous landlord may have had that didn't lead to an eviction but caused frustration or financial strain.
Need Better Tenant Screening? Evernest Can Help
If you have rental properties on the market, it's time to commit to tenant screening. Running a tenant background check can increase your chances of finding reliable, trustworthy tenants.
Are you struggling to find great tenants? Evernest offers customizable property management services including tenant screening. With nearly 20 years of hands-on industry experience, we have the technology and expertise to transform your rental income.
Contact us to learn more about our approach to Nashville property management and get the support you need.
