As a landlord, it’s crucial to find a good tenant for your rental property. A good tenant takes care of the property and pays the rent on time.
Once you start screening possible occupants, you’ll need to know how to tell which candidates will end up being good renters.
Here are the top qualities to look for in a potential tenant:
- Responsible
When you have a responsible tenant, you know that your property is in good hands. A responsible tenant maintains their unit and pays their bills promptly.
To determine how responsible a potential tenant is, call their previous landlords. Find out how their unit looked when they vacated it. Was it neat, messy, trashed? Did they leave a forwarding address for their bills? Did neighbors complain about them, and if so, what for? How was the applicant as a tenant? Did you receive any complaints about them? These are some of the questions you should ask during your reference check.
- Prompt
An applicant who promptly returns your calls or your emails indicate that they’re serious about renting your property. It also shows that they’ll act in a timely manner when it comes to submitting requirements and paying their dues. As important, they won’t sit on maintenance issues, reporting a broken faucet or a leaking pipe on the property as soon as possible.
- Honest
An honest tenant is more likely to follow house rules and regulations. When you vet their application form, the data they provide is truthful and above board. They won’t falsify information just to bag your rental. Consider inaccuracies on their application a red flag. Determine if they’re honest mistakes or a deliberate attempt to mislead you. Dishonesty may mean trouble down the road.
- Polite and respectful
Once you meet your potential tenant face to face, assess your interaction. How do they answer your questions? Are they polite and respectful? Or do they turn defensive and argumentative? Knowing how the potential applicant behaves gives you an idea of the kind of tenant you’ll be dealing with if you approve their application.
- Accommodating
In addition to being polite and respectful, a good tenant is also accommodating. They’ll readily provide access to their unit if you need to inspect the property for legitimate reasons, and will do so with minimal inconvenience to all.
- Financially responsible
A good tenant is fiscally responsible. One way to determine this is by asking their permission to obtain their credit score. A good credit score means the potential tenant will be able to pay their bills on time.
Their credit report will show their debt, their payment pattern throughout the years, and other public records. It will also reveal if the applicant has been evicted before.
You can make the credit check a clause in the rental application or provide a separate document that the tenant can sign.
If you’re searching for California homes in Bel Air, Cheviot Hills, or Brentwood real to invest in, I’m the agent to call. Get in touch with me, Sasha Rahban, at 310.963.9680 or send me a message here.
