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How to Spot an Applicant With a Previous Eviction

One of the worst nightmares for any landlord or property manager is suffering through a “Tenant from Hell” experience, with months of unpaid rent, damages, and finally, an eviction.

But what adds insult to injury? Finding out somewhere down the road (oftentimes in court) that your tenant had been evicted before. It’s even worse to discover they had been evicted multiple times.

The problem is that it is far too easy for rental applicants with eviction histories to pull the wool over the eyes of an unsuspecting landlord. Even if you run them through a tenant screening process, complete with a credit check, an eviction can slip through if you don’t do your homework effectively.

Here is a simple yet effective process that will help you to flag tenants with “holes”in their rental history — the ones most likely to be hiding a prior eviction:

Step 1: Make sure your rental application has space for at least three previous landlords (more is better). IMPORTANT: Make sure your application lists the start date and end date for each rental time period.

Step 2: Make it a point to call each landlord listed and talk to them personally, verifying the tenant actually lived at their property.Verify the start date and end date for each landlord.

Step 3: Quickly research each landlord to the point that you are assured they really do own (or manage) the rental property listed on the application. The intent here is to confirm this is a legitimate landlord and not someone who is posing as a landlord to help a bad tenant defraud you.

Step 4: Compare the information you gathered from landlords, and any previous addresses listed in the credit report, to what was provided to you by the applicant.

If the rental dates do not match (especially by a wide margin), your applicant may be hiding something. If you cannot confirm the landlord listed on the application is, in fact, a landlord, your tenant may be hiding something.

Simple discrepancies, like transposed numbers, are not unusual. But gaps of a few weeks or months  in rental history, addresses kept from the rental application, or the inability to confirm the information on the rental application should be red flags to any discerning landlord that screening this applicant requires a little more scrutiny before you let a potential tenant from hell move into your rental.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this post in not intended to be construed as legal advice, nor should it be considered a substitute for obtaining individual legal counsel or consulting your local, state, federal or provincial tenancy laws.

The reason for our success is helping owners like you when they need it. Below is a partial list of property management services we provide to help you protect your real estate investment.

• Tenant placement
• Tenant screening (including: credit check, landlord and employment verification, social security trace report, california eviction check and criminal check)
• Regular property inspections
• Accounting and landlord bill payment
• Monthly financial reporting
• Maintenance service and supervision (we use only proven independent vendors)
• Collections
• Evictions
• We supply all the necessary forms to meet California’s Landlord/Tenant laws
• 24 hour emergency phone service
• Advertising to the broadest tenant base possible

Call or e-mail us today for more information. We’re ready to get started!

Carnahan Property Management services Woodland Hills,West Hills, Calabasas, Canoga Park, Tarzana, Reseda, Topanga, Encino, Northridge, Van Nuys,North Hills,Chatsworth, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, North Hollywood, West Hollywood, San Fernando Valley, Granada Hills, Mission Hills, Simi Valley, West Lake Village, Agoura,Toluca Lake, Valley Village, Burbank. Call us at (818) 884-1500 and check if we can service your area.