Landlord Credit Check Services – Prerequisite To Know Your Tenant’s Background

Giving a property on rent especially to a stranger has risks associated with it. Most landlords and house owners rent or lease out their apartments and houses because it’s a source of income for them. But it’s also a troublesome affair because there are risks involved. What if the tenant turns out to be a miscreant or a criminal? What if he fails to pay the rent on time? What if he cannot afford to pay such high rent and has not disclosed his actual income? What if there are eviction cases filed against him? Is it safe? And hundreds of such other questions that keep tormenting the landlord.

The best way is to hire the services of professional landlord credit check services to carry out a tenant background check. These service providers or agencies will find out all appropriate answers to the landlord’s questions in context to the credit history of the tenant.

Broadly speaking four grey areas need answers before a landlord seriously considers and decides to go ahead with a specific tenant. They are –

• Criminal background of the applicants who have applied for tenancy.
• The credit health of these applicants
• Their current income figures and information pertaining to their sources of income.
• Eviction related information and other lawsuits that they might be related to bankruptcy, payment failures, tax evasions, etc.

Landlord credit check services are agencies in the market that make available the following information about a potential tenant to the landlord or a real estate agency –

1. They are the best way to confirm if the tenant has provided his correct personal information like his name, past residential addresses, present address, birth date, marital status, spouse name if married, social security number, employment history, and current employer.
2. It provides an in-depth analysis of the applicant’s credit history. It will list out all his bank accounts, credit cards that he is holding, loans and mortgages that he has applied for and/or are ongoing. If there have been any inquiries in the last few years on his credit history and if yes, the names of people who have wanted information about his credit report, any legal suits of bankruptcies or evictions or tax liens.

Leading landlord credit check services requires limited information like the full name of the potential tenant, his last two addresses of residence, social security number, birth date, and present employer to extract credit information. However, such credit check services can be carried out only after the tenant agrees in writing to the credit check, as per the Fair Credit Reporting Act guidelines.

It is mandatory for the landlord to submit important documents like –

• Proof of current address – official and government documents
• Identification proof like a passport or driver’s license
• Proof that the landlord owns the rental property.

Once the data is approved, the credit check can be done and completed in a matter of a few seconds. Many landlords charge their tenants for the credit check while some don’t because they do not want to lose the opportunity of getting good tenants.

Eva Taylor is a professional consultant who lives in California. She loves to write about various interesting topics like education-related issues and solution, travel & tour stories, online marketing, etc.