Background Check ... last? - Landlord Forum thread 359671

Background Check ... last? by Darryl on September 2, 2019 @09:57

We just had a tenant apply for a property, he seemed amazing! Great job, decent credit, passed his pre screening phone interview, references all checked out, we showed the trailer, told him everything looked great so far.. He was the NICEST person. Kind, quiet, curteous.. we even passed him on our way home pulled over on the side of the road, my wife called him to make sure he was okay and he said "yes, I just had to make a phone call and I don't feel comfortable driving while I'm on the phone" .. Wow, right? (most people don't do this these days, even though its the law)... One of the very last things we did was check his criminal background (as per the tenant screening flow chart), and wow what a surprise. He murdered his newborn baby, went to prison for 15 years.. Then a couple years ago he went threatened to kill his girlfriend and himself, went on a high speed car chase, then threw an illegally obtained firearm out the window into a random front yard containing kids.

My question is this: Why isn't the criminal background check done earlier? Is it because a prospective tenant needs to see the property before filling out an application, hence the need to show the property first? My thought was if you had great pictures showing the property, do the phone screening, then have them fill out an application and do the background then?

Thinking about it now, I guess its all done about the same time anyway - you get the application and then check pretty much everything out. I guess I'm still in shock over what we found. We didn't have any questions on the application specifically asking about criminal activity / if they are a felon / etc. Lesson learned! Biggest lesson I learned here though was to just be aware. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. And be sure to thoroughly screen.

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Re: Background Check ... last? by Garry on September 2, 2019 @16:50	[ Reply ]

All Landlords have there own ways and time frames to check out a prospective tenant. There is no set guidelines as to what should be done 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. I, very rarely, do any kind of a pre-screening over the phone, or by email. If someone calls, I set up an appointment to show them a place. I have application forms on the kitchen counter if they choose to fill one out. The forms have all kinds of Qs for them to answer. I like to meet people to get a "feel" for them. Once I have their app, I can run anything I want on it, at any time. Usually the first thing I check out , is their criminal background. If they pass that, then I choose what to check on next. I don't do credit checks, as most all the tenants I work with, usually have low scores anyway. I only do M-2-M leases, and deal in cash or money orders. What I do, seems to work for me, even though it may not work for other LLs.