There are a ton of things to look for when reviewing a prospective tenant’s application, but we will go over the most important red flags we see on applications.
- Past eviction or collection accounts from past landlords. These things are probably the biggest red flag on a credit check. If a tenant has recent bad rental history leading to eviction or collection, it is most likely best to turn them down. If they are moving out of their current rental due to an eviction, it is most likely best to decline them in order not to end up with an eviction on your hands in the future.
- Negative rental history from their current landlord. If their current landlord give you a report that they have lived in the property for one year, and have been late 11 times, this is another one of those red flag. You do not want to move a tenant in that you will have to chase down monthly to collect rent.
- Monthly income is another one of these issues. We require that our tenants make at least 3 times the monthly rent in order to approve an application. This requirement has served us well over the years, it enough income for the rent to be paid and not too high of a requirement that tenants cannot meet.
With this being said, we always do find out the other side of the story from the prospective tenant. There have been situations with eviction or collection balance where the tenant has documentation showing that the issues was in fact not the tenants fault. In these cases, the best thing to do is review all pieces of information and make your best choose you can with the facts, and not on emotion.
We hope this helps you choose your own requirement for your rentals that fit your needs.