Tenant And Criminal Screening
Tenant and criminal screening should never be neglected if you are looking to rent out your place. Finding out as much as possible about a prospective tenant's background will give a landlord peace of mind and ensure that the tenant is trustworthy, honest and reliable. |
No matter how nice or sincere a potential tenant appears, a landlord should not be taken in by this. He or she should make an effort to conduct tenant criminal screening. By doing this screening, a landlord will know whether a prospective tenant has indulged in any type of criminal activity recently or in the past. Based on the age of the prospective tenant, a landlord can do checks on a person's criminal past that go back 10 years or more.
When it comes to a tenant and criminal screening, it is best to hire a professional agency to conduct the check. The agency will check all the available databases, local, state and federal, to find out whether the potential tenant was on the wrong side of the law. Through this check a landlord will be able to find out whether the person was involved in any misdemeanor or felony. (See Reference 1) Even something as simple as a traffic violation will show up in this check. While a traffic violation can often be overlooked, but more serious acts like drug offenses, rape or abusing the spouse should never be neglected by the landlord. (See Reference 1) A landlord would never be comfortable dealing with a person who has committed serious offences and should think twice before renting out his or her property to such a person. On the other hand, the landlord should also take into consideration when the criminal acts were performed. If the acts were done many years ago, then it quite possible that the person was young and ended up doing stupid things. However, if the acts are fairly recent or the person has been arrested for repeat offences, then the landlord has the rights to reject a potential tenant's application for renting the property. (See Reference 1)
When hiring a company to do criminal screening of a potential tenant, the landlord should be careful. Not all companies perform the screening in the same manner. There are some that conduct instant checks, which are not accurate. (See Reference 1) Hence, it is advisable to opt for a company that performs a full check for a fee. At least, the results of the criminal screening will be accurate and the landlord will save himself or herself a lot of trouble in the future.
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Tenant And Criminal Screening
The tenant screen law states that landlords are allowed to conduct background checks on potential tenants. These checks can include civil background check, criminal background check, and credit history checking. However, once the landlord has done the checks, he or she has to inform the prospective tenant as to why he or she is refusing to rent out the property to them. (See Reference 1) This is stipulated by the law and the landlord has to follow it. 
