Look For in a Tenant Screening Service
♫ Thursday, May 20th, 2010Screening tenants is mostly about assessing a suitability based on the experiences with their current employer and previous landlord. Assessing a tenants suitability is a top priority for all landlords and letting agents as it protects your property investment, reduces risk and increases return on investment by simply checking the new tenants credibility.
Running tenant background checks is not something that you should take lightly as you can be assured that the tenant will not. Asking for highly sensitive personal information is something that will often get you a funny look and you can expect quite a few questions. First and foremost will probably be who you are using for your tenant screening services.
There are various things that you will need to see from the company that you are seeking to use for your renter credit checks, but some of them stand out a little more than others. These are things that are going to be important to both landlord and tenant alike.
Security – this is probably the most important thing for both of you. They want to make sure that their information is not falling into the wrong hands and you need to be just as concerned because if it were, you may be looking at legal problems.
Quick Results – the landlord does not want to have to wait days or weeks to get approval and the tenant does not want to wait around either. The longer it takes to get results, the more likely they are to look elsewhere and that you are to have an empty apartment.
Legal Compliance – both the landlord and tenant need to be assured that the company that his handling the tenant background checks is totally on the up and up. Following the various federal standards that are in place goes a long way to give both individuals peace of mind.
Customer Service – neither the landlord nor the tenant should have a negative experience with the company. When the landlord calls with questions, they should be answered immediately and with a positive attitude and it is the same if the tenant decides to call and check out the service for themselves. If they get attitude and have a negative experience, they are probably going to refuse to turn over their information and you are out looking for another tenant.
