Unpaid rent is stacking up across the United States. In fact, nearly 6 million U.S households are behind on rent.
For some, this is beyond their control. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in difficult economic conditions for millions of people.
However, unpaid rent existed before the pandemic. A background screening is often predictive of a tenant’s ability to make on-time rent payments. There are many other benefits to a background screening.
Read on to learn why background checks for tenants are critical. Explore how tenant background checks can help you find reliable renters.
1. Find Serious Tenants
There are a lot of unserious tenants out there that are just doing market research. They are not legitimately interested in your property.
Background checks are known to weed out unserious candidates. They often do not want to subject themselves to a background screening when they are not truly interested.
2. Foster a Safer Community
A background screening is going to expose applicants with a criminal background. This allows you to toss applications with a dangerous history.
Some discretion is required before dismissing an application. There is a chance that the former convict is rehabilitated and you should reserve the right to consider that.
However, the screening process makes the entire rental community a safer place. You can ensure that certain criminal backgrounds are excluded such as child endangerment, assault, or domestic violence.
3. Legal Protection
Implementing a robust background screening process has legal benefits. Consider a scenario in which you skip background checks and a repeat criminal is allowed to rent.
This person then goes on to commit a violent assault on another nearby tenant. The victim could hold you liable for failing to vet tenants before they moved in. By conducting background checks on all applicants you are afforded coverage against civil complaints of negligence.
4. Honest Applications
Applicants are not always forthright with negative information about themselves. They may withhold certain information if they think it will damage their approval odds.
Instead, the mere presence of a background check encourages honest applications. Renters do not want to seem dishonest in their applications. They have an incentive to answer all questions honestly.
5. Reduce Your Vacancy Rate
You may be wondering how a background check during the application process impacts the vacancy rate. The answer is simple as finding quality tenants reduces turnover.
Tenants who have a criminal background may cause issues in the community and eventually are forced to leave. Bringing in safe and reliable tenants keeps your properties occupied. Also, you spend less time and resources searching for new tenants.
Five Reasons Why Background Checks for Tenants Are Critical
Clearly, background checks make a big difference. Application screenings provide liability protection in the event someone is harmed. They help maintain a safe community and reduce the turnover rate.
Background checks also weed out unserious candidates. Renters are more likely to answer application questions honestly with the presence of a background check.
If you enjoyed this article about background checks for tenants, contact us today to see what else property managers do.
