It can be hard to find the perfect tenant, but luckily there are many vetting procedures in place to support this. Here are a few red flags for landlords. Make a note of these when renting out your properties!
Bad Credit
Bad credit isn’t always the perfect indicator for a bad person to rent your property to, however, a deeper look into an applicant’s credit profile is more significant. Consistently missed payments, large defaults on loans and/or credit cards can indicate the potential tenant being a financial risk to avoid.
Prior Evictions
Much like credit scores, prior evictions need to be investigated on a case by case basis. However, it is more than likely that the eviction was for a serious reason such as not paying rent or property damage.
Bad References
These references can be from employers and previous landlords. Both can be equally important! For employers, gaining references that confirm their employment dates would be the first step. Following that, bad character references would be a red flag for landlords too. It would be in your best interest to find out things such as: if the tenant ever made late rental payments; if they terminated their lease early or if they were generally unpleasant tenants.
Repeat Criminal Convictions
Repeat criminal convictions definitely fall under the high alert category of red flags for landlords. Like some of the other categories, criminal convictions also require some investigation on a case by case basis, to ensure that no housing discrimination laws are being breached.
However, as a landlord, you will be well within your rights to deny housing to potential tenants if their recent criminal record makes them dangerous and a risk to other tenants or neighbors.
To see what the red flags are for tenants, take a look at our earlier post!
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