Tip of the Month - November, 2016
Choosing Tenants-Rental Applications
Source: Leases & Rental Agreements 2nd Edition
By: Marcia Stewart-Attorneys Ralph Warner, Janet Portman
Each
prospective tenant-everyone age 18 or older who wants to live in your
rental property-should completely fill out a separate written
application. This is true whether you are renting to a married
couple or to unrelated roommates, a complete stranger or the cousin of
your current tenant.
Always make sure that prospective tenants complete the entire Rental
Application, including Social Security number, current
employer/employment, banks & emergency contacts. You may need
this information later to track down a tenant that skips town leaving
unpaid rent or abandoned property.
Ask each prospective tenant to show you his/her driver’s license or
other photo indentification as a way to verify that the applicant
is using his/her real name.
Be sure all potential tenants sign the Rental Application, authorizing
you to verify the information and references. (You may need written
authorization. You may want to prepare a separate authorization so that
you do not need to copy the entire application each time proof that the
tenant has authorized you to verify the information.) Be consistent in your screening.
You risk a charge of illegal discrimination if you screen certain
Categories of applicants more stringently than others-for example, only
requiring credit reports from racial minorities.