Tenant Background Checks - Why You Need Them and How to Do it Yourself
As a property owner of rental properties I am sure you have invested a lot of money, sweat and tears into maintaining a decent home or building for others.
Conducting tenant background checks can be the smartest move when proactively trying to protect your investment.
As a Private Investigator this author has a long list of clients whom rent properties and conduct background checks on every new renter.
The information that can be learned can help prevent many problems down the road.
Some items included in a tenant background check include:
It is safe to say that as a property owner you are not going to want to rent to an individual whom as been evicted from another property.
This background check should be a part of your process when selecting a new renter and in most states the possible renter is responsible for paying for the check.
Additionally, a background check will give you a better idea of a person's character than just a credit check will.
This is also a smart way to check any information they have supplied on an application.
How to do your own check There are many background check web sites out there.
There are also many sites that are total rip offs.
As a rule of thumb, most of the sites that charge a subscription fee are more professional and work very hard at keeping their databases up to date and comprehensive.
You will get the best results for a minimal investment.
The easiest way to conduct tenant background checks is to subscribe to a good site then use the information provided by the prospective tenant on an application to execute the search.
Conducting tenant background checks can be the smartest move when proactively trying to protect your investment.
As a Private Investigator this author has a long list of clients whom rent properties and conduct background checks on every new renter.
The information that can be learned can help prevent many problems down the road.
Some items included in a tenant background check include:
- Court Documents - bankruptcy filings, liens or judgments, Prior evictions
- Criminal Records
- Prior Addresses and contact information
It is safe to say that as a property owner you are not going to want to rent to an individual whom as been evicted from another property.
This background check should be a part of your process when selecting a new renter and in most states the possible renter is responsible for paying for the check.
Additionally, a background check will give you a better idea of a person's character than just a credit check will.
This is also a smart way to check any information they have supplied on an application.
How to do your own check There are many background check web sites out there.
There are also many sites that are total rip offs.
As a rule of thumb, most of the sites that charge a subscription fee are more professional and work very hard at keeping their databases up to date and comprehensive.
You will get the best results for a minimal investment.
The easiest way to conduct tenant background checks is to subscribe to a good site then use the information provided by the prospective tenant on an application to execute the search.