When you do a tenant background check, you are able to track their tenancy history. From eviction histories alone, you’d be able to tell if a prospective tenant is going to be an asset or a liability. But, you also have to be aware that laws restricting what you can and cannot do when doing background check differ from state to state. Also, there are federal laws prohibiting landlords or landowners against discrimination. Thus, you cannot disqualify an applicant because of his/her religion, sex, nationality or age.
Another reason to do a tenant background checks during tenant screening is that you’d be able to avoid the woes of bad tenants – from those who don’t pay to those who can do extensive damage to the property. If you are thinking how tedious it would be to do a check on one person alone, then think of how tedious it would be to replenish destroyed or vandalized furniture or to remodel the entire property.
A single background check will also help you know whether a future tenant has a good tenancy history. Can he/she pay the rent regularly? You have a red flag when records show that a person have a lot of charge offs and late payments from former landlord or even other credit facilities.
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