Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..?

Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..? by Erica (NY) on June 11, 2012 @23:57

Hello,

I am a landlord and I'm in the process of screening tenants for my apartment that will become vacant in a few weeks (my tenant was transferred by her job to another county).My ad has been on CL for about a month now and I have shown the apartment to about 5 people who appeared to fit my criteria but failed to pay an application fee (thus, they weren't that interested in renting my unit).

Yesterday I met with a young woman who seemed promising. She arrived on time, neatly dressed, with a copy of her credit report. She has a good job in the field of law enforcement (not FBI), a great FICO (over 700), decent income, except for 1 thing. She said the reason she is moving is because her current landlord raised her rent from $1400/month to $1625/month (effective July 1st, when her lease is up for renewal).

She told me where she lives, and I know that in her neighborhood, rents average $1200-1500/month, so I find it rather strange that her LL raised her rent by that much after only 2 years. She claims she is "never home because I work long hours", but I can't help but feel that maybe she isn't punctual with her rent which is why her former LL raised the rent by that much (maybe to kick her out for whatever reason?).

I have not received her references yet, but if she provides a completed application with references, should I accept her? When she asked me about the lease having a 3 day or 7 day "grace period for paying rent", I also got a red flag going on inside my head..but maybe I am overreacting?

What do you guys think? Should I accept her?

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Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..? by Anonymous on June 12, 2012 @00:38	[ Reply ]

It is too early to ask anyone if you should accpet this person. You are in the MIDDLE of the background check process. There is a lot more to the acceptance of this tenant than you have posted here. Never accept a copy of the tenant's credit report. Always pull one yourself. Have you spoken to prior landlords about her? Is there a boyfriend or former husband in the wings, Any children? How long has she been at her current job? Did you verify her position and get three months of her paystubs? By the way you are apparently not pre-screening well enough and your are allowing non-qualified tenants to see the place and waste your time. Don't show your place to people who are not serious.

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..? by LL (CA) on June 12, 2012 @00:40	[ Reply ]

Personally, if someone had such a great job and a great credit score I would be seriously wondering why the LL wants her out. Can you contact the LL and ask about her? I would also look up any LL type references she provides in the county records to make sure they are legit.

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..?

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..? by NY-LL on June 12, 2012 @01:40	[ Reply ]

The property management company may be either intending to (i) renovate the apartment units with upgraded improvements (new appliances, washer/dryers, new kitchen/bathroom cabinetry) and/or intending to (ii) convert the some apartment units to condominiums with similar upgraded improvements -- (hence the $225 rent increase). Most tenants do not complete the rental application until they confirm an interest in the apartment unit. (Otherwise, it is wasted time on a wasted application.) The tenant did make available a copy of the credit report for the landlord’s consideration. (This minimizes multiple unnecessary inquiries into the credit report profile, until interest is confirmed.) As the landlord has stated, the rental application process is incomplete and there is no confirmed interest for the apartment unit by the tenant. Based upon the qualified income, employment stability, and good credit, the tenant’s references will likely check favorably. In the interim, the credit report will need to be reviewed to confirm income-to-debt ratios; the employment references will need to be considered for any potential downsizing, etc.; the landlord references (and court records) will need to be reviewed to confirm any past or pending evictions (not always provided in the credit report). It can be beneficial to screen for a tenant than to screen against the tenant. Look at the positives! The reason for the substantial rent increase ($225 per month) can be confirmed with the rental verification with the property management company. The landlord can also make it a condition of application to provide confirmation of the past six (6+) month’s rental payments to confirm timeliness of payments. The lease agreement should provide for late payment penalties to remedy any potential issue with late rental payments.

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..? by Bunny MAGIC on June 12, 2012 @02:38	[ Reply ]

The potential tenant asking about the "grace period" would raise red flags, alarms, bells and whistles for me, too! I would check her out thoroughly and do a detailed background check, as you would for any tenant, paying special attention to her three previous landlords & what they have to say about her. As for not having an ex or boyfriend, well, you said yourself she is a young woman. Her status of single and having no other person in her life is likely to change. People don't usually ask about a 3-day or 7-day grace period unless they've had problems paying rent on time. That's just weird, as I's guess you have this issue covered in your lease or rental agreement.

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..?

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..? by Micah on June 12, 2012 @09:32	[ Reply ]

#1. Don't trust a credit report that you didn't pull yourself. She could have typed it up herself... As for the rise in rent, it could be heat included, it could be the market rate has gone up (it was gone up 25% where I am over the past 4 years), could be the LL just felt like it. Pull the real credit report and criminal background check first. Make sure you get copies of the latest months pay stubs, confirm the actual LL contacts with city records, and screen as normal!

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..? by Jake on June 12, 2012 @09:37	[ Reply ]

If the tenant is already asking about a 7 day grace period she plans to pay at least a week late every month. With such a great job in law enforcement she still has no cash reserve that would allow her to pay on time. You can also expect this applicant to run over the grace period as well as use it to the hilt. Another red flag is that she has her own credit copy with a glowing report. You can also bet that as a single woman she has someone waiting in the wings to move in as soon as you get out of sight. Worse than an unemployed boyfriend she may have the remainder of the family waiting. This could be the real reason she is moving. She needs a larger place for all of them.

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..?

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..? by Anonymous on June 12, 2012 @10:48	[ Reply ]

I smell a troll.

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..? by Nicole (PA) on June 12, 2012 @10:51	[ Reply ]

I really don't see many issues here. My question is how much is the rent on your place?

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..?

Re: Prospective Tenant Has Fishy Motive for renting..? by Bryan (Ia) on June 12, 2012 @12:10	[ Reply ]

Price increases often result in people shopping around; whether it be for a new ISP, telco, cable company, or whatever. Nothing fishy about it.