One of the key things to do when letting out your property is to do a background check for your prospective tenants. This is incredibly important for property managers who don’t have time or resources to check out their tenants before having them sign a lease.
Why would you need to run a tenant background check? Let’s look at some of the best reasons to consider having this done, before you let any new tenant into your property.
Filter Out “Trouble Makers”
The number one reason to have your prospective tenants checked out ahead of time is to keep the problem tenants out. Sure, you want your building filled and every occupancy taken, but is it worth the trouble of dealing with tenants who don’t pay on time, or don’t pay at all? What about tenants who cause damage to property or don’t follow the rules? These tenants can lower your property values and make it difficult for you to keep your current tenants, pay your monthly expenses on time, or attract new tenants.
Find Exceptional Tenants
With a tenant background check, you can do more than weed out the undesirables. You can also find the best tenant out of a selection of prospective tenants that you have. The background check can reveal where they have rented before, how long they rented there, what kind of work they did, and other factors that will help you determine the best possible choice out of a pool of applicants. Picking a new tenant for your building is much like hiring a new employee for your business. You wouldn’t want to choose the first person that comes in and applies. It is to your advantage to screen possible candidates and choose the best one who will be the least trouble, and will be most likely to pay on time with no issues.
Peace of Mind
Taking on new tenants is always a gamble. If you are worried about what you are getting yourself into when you are looking for new tenants, then having a tenant background check done can help you to feel at ease. You will learn a lot more about potential tenants and what kind of experiences past landlords have had with them. Instead of accepting new tenants blindly, you will have a much better idea about the kind of people you are considering renting to. You may be worried about how long you can expect them to live there, how often you will run into payment issues, and how they will treat your property. Get some peace of mind by getting a background check completed.