I just got a call from a screening bureau about a former tenant. I liked this tenant, I was very fair to her, and she paid promptly, took care of the house she rented from me, and I gave her a great reference. However, this screening bureau was not a place I would ever consider using. I usually self-screen, I like knowing what a former landlord / landlady says about a tenant. The landlord prior to the current landlord is more likely to be honest, a current landlord may say wonderful things just to get rid of a horrible tenant.
However this screening bureau was awful. First, the screener did not pronounce the Hispanic – Filipino name anywhere close to where it was recognizable. My response was “Who?” Next, the list of questions was way too long and not extremely helpful. There were the initial validation questions to screen if I was really a landlord, and her landlord. Justifiable because I initially had no idea who this person with the horribly butchered name might be…. However, the list of questions got so ridiculously detailed and trite that you would have to pay me to sit through the interrogation about a former tenant.
I really believe in providing references. We as landlords must collaborate. In so doing, we prevent unethical tenants from wreaking a serial path of financial and emotional destruction across the lives and businesses of well-meaning landlords who provide quality housing at fair prices to those not willing to or able to purchase their own housing.
There are those tenants who shove rotting pork into furnace ducts, use sledge hammers to smash the subfloor, short out furnaces, pour cement or tampons down drains, have parties on your roof requiring a roof replacement, and do myriads of other types of costly damage that is so far beyond what a typical damage deposit can fix. Then there are just the sob story tenants, money is coming soon but not yet, who skip out after 6 or 9 months of unpaid promises, leaving a landlord in the red for the next year or two or three, making up for 9 months of unpaid rent out of a $200 or so profit when the rent is being paid.
However, screening bureaus that abuse the privilege of well-meant information by asking irrelevant questions without getting to the gist of the matter harm all of us.
What tenant screening questions really matter? Here are mine:
Did the tenant pay on time?
If you had a brand new remodeled unit, knowing what you know about the tenant, would you let him/her move in?
Did the tenant own any pets? (this prevents the person who claims no pets, and all of a sudden has a service dog. (service dogs cannot be charged extra pet rent or pet deposits for. Moreover, in my experience with about 15 instances of service dogs against 45 instances of declared and paid for pets, service dogs cause the most damage, since there is very limited penalty to the tenant when the law prohibits landlords from covering their losses. A few “scratched to death” doors will eat up your one month’s rent security deposit, leaving no funds for the urine stained carpet and the urine soaked subfloor, or the 150 gallons of dog waste in the yard.
Did you have any other problems or issues with the tenant, or were there any other issues reported by neighbors?
That’s really it. These are great questions to start the conversation. If any answer gets too long, you know there is a red flag. Being a landlord is about triangulation: you listen to your gut, and you get external evidence (credit report, criminal and eviction history, references) and make sure they jive. If you find one red flag, dig deeper. If the tenant seems a high risk, they probably are. Find someone who feels safer. I’ve had tenants move out and cost me $6,000 to $10,000 in remodel costs. Rushing to fill a unit with the next tenant like that is never worth it. I’d rather have one more month of vacancy than that.
One final note: If a tenant manages to tug at your heartstrings; if you are their only salvation in a cold, uncaring world, run! Our job is to love ourselves first. This includes drawing healthy boundaries in all our relationships, including our landlording business. You are nobody’s salvation. Moreover, you already know that as a landlord, nobody will rush to save you! Take care of you. Sometimes the biggest gift to a deadbeat tenant is to teach them that they must act in a way that is responsible to themselves and the world around them.
Wishing you much love and success in your landlording journey.
Fleming