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Property Management – Hidden Hills

Five Stages Of A Good Screening Process

 BY MARIO MALATESTA

Bad tenants can make any landlord’s existence miserable, particularly because they can be very difficult to dislodge once they gain a stronghold on your property. If you’re interested in circumventing situations where you’ve got undesirable people living in your rental property, the first thing you’ll need to do is to implement an effective screening process. Here are the five basic steps to successfully screening potential tenants:

1. Initial Contact

Initial contact with potential tenants is generally via phone, though it could occur in person or through email. However it happens, prescreen potential tenants by asking them questions about why they are moving, when they need a place, where they work, and if they can provide references.

2. Showing the Unit

The second step is showing the unit to the caller. This is your chance to pick up on certain red flags that may indicate that they will not be desirable tenants. These red flags are: speaking in a negative fashion about their current landlord, appearing to be in a hurry to move, unkempt, shifty appearance, and failure to arrive at the appointment at time.

3. The Application Process

Invite interested tenants who pass the initial screening criteria to fill out a rental application. The application should include employment and rental history. You should also conduct a background and credit check at this time. If someone does not consent to these checks, the chances are quite good that that person will be a problematic tenant. Creating a rental application that asks all the right questions can be complicated, however, so you’re welcome to simply use ours.

4. The Approval Process

After you reach a decision on a particular tenant, be certain to let other potential renters down gently. Rejecting tenants can be awkward on both sides. It could also have serious legal implications. You need to be very careful concerning wording when telling applicants that you have decided to rent the unit to another party.

5. The Lease

Until the lease is actually signed, nothing is official, so keep in mind that it’s not too late to put a stop to things and find another tenant if something goes wrong. Before the tenant signs the lease, make certain that you go over every aspect of it thoroughly with him or her to be sure that everything is covered.

FROM:http://swmglv.com/

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