CHAPTER 4 Weed Out Bad Apples
Without a doubt, the most important step for a homeowner to take during the entire rental process is screening all potential candidates in order to weed out the “bad apples” and find a good- quality tenant. In most cases, good tenants lead to rental bliss. However, a bad tenant will almost always result in a bad tenant experience, leading to an overall bad rental property experience. There’s no way around it—you must screen every single tenant! You must ensure you’re comfortable renting to them before you have them move into your house, to protect yourself, reduce your risks, and avoid a potential disaster.
SET UP MINIMUM QUALIFICATION STANDARDS
The first step in the screening process involves setting up minimum qualification standards to protect yourself. You might be wondering what these are. Basically, these are the very minimum standards that you decide each and every single prospect must meet in order to qualify as a potential tenant. If an interested candidate doesn’t meet all your standards, then they aren’t able to rent your home. Plain and simple! This way, you can quickly move on to the next candidate. These standards also ensure you check through every item before approving a tenant so you don’t miss anything and accidentally let in a “bad apple.” Further, because you apply these minimum standards to all tenants, you can also avoid any accusations of discrimination, such as with the Fair Housing Act or Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), or favoritism.
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