Vital Screening Questions Landlords Should Ask Tenants

 

All Landlords want the best possible tenants to occupy their rentals. Failing to select best suited and reliable tenants can lead to expensive property damages, lost revenue due to rent in arrears, and added expense and hassle of going through a time-consuming eviction process. It's important to screen tenants and ask them the right questions to weed out the undesirable applicants and find reliable, long-term tenants that'll make the tenancy worthwhile for you and the tenant alike. Before learning some basic questions to ask your tenants, we have another suggestion for all landlords out there. Invest in pre-screening to make sure your rental doesn't attract any unwanted tenants in the first place. Here's all you need to know.

Pre-Screening: Why Is It So Important?

Pre-screening refers to the process of finding and choosing prospective tenants, even before they apply. It allows landlords to indicate certain criteria for the tenancy as well as the questions they should ask to determine whether the potential applicants will be able to meet those standards or not. Before you move on to making the list of questions to ensure a fair and objective selection, you can save time and money by eliminating candidates that might not be a good match for rental.

For example, if your criterion includes a set move-in time or rent, pre-screening can help eliminate applicants who require a later or earlier move-in date or don't have the budget. You'll not have to waste your or the prospective tenants' time filling out or going through applications, showing the rental, running credit reports, and more to determine if they'd be a right fit.

However, when pre-screening, some applicants make sure you have valid and ethical reasons to eliminate them, as discrimination is illegal in the housing sector. It's important to consult an expert to ensure the screening criteria and questions you've set are compliant with the local regulations and rules. The Fair Housing Act, for instance, prohibits discrimination based on color, race, religion, gender, disability, nationality, and familial status. Another excellent way to screen out some applicants is to see their credit score report, monthly income, clean eviction report, employment history, and reference checks from the past landlords.

Now let's move on to the questions you can ask potential tenants to get an idea of whether a tenancy with this renter is a good idea.

Start The Conversation By Asking If They're Currently Renting

After asking them when they would like to move in, another nice way to keep things rolling is to ask them if they already live in a rental. This will help you ascertain whether they're already au fait with the renting process. It's also an excellent lead to move on to the next question.

Can Your Landlord Provide A Good Reference?

Naturally, all landlords require references, but putting it this way across the applicant can allow them to expand on the relationship with their current landlord. Let them tell you the positives and the negatives; accept all answers with an open mind.

Have You been Evicted From A Rental Before?

Although whether they've been evicted before will unveil in the final screening round itself, asking this question early serves various purposes. It allows landlords to narrow the field quickly, which saves time because you're able to disregard tenants who are unable to justify why they were evicted previously by another landlord. However, it also offers the prospective tenant an opportunity to explain the situation, which can help move their case forward.

Broken A Tenancy Agreement?

Although breaking a rental agreement is quite different from eviction, knowing why the tenant moved out or broke the tenancy agreement to end the lease early may offer some valuable insights for you as a landlord. Sometimes tenants may provide legitimate reasons such as unruly neighbors or new constructions, but giving them a chance to explain while cross-checking the red flags by approaching their old landlord for a positive or negative reference will do the trick.  

Many landlords still go by their gut feeling when keeping a tenant. Although over 87% of the landlords do not wholly trust the applicants and verify the information on their own, sometimes they still end up with tenants who don't pay rent on time, keep pets without permission, and violate the terms in the tenancy agreement. At other times, a landlord might want to break the tenancy due to personal reasons.

In either case, Landlord Assist can help guide you or mediate to secure a fair and successful outcome that allows the parties to go their separate ways on good terms.

As a leading eviction company UK, their team of residential eviction specialists can help you navigate the complex and stringent tenant eviction process. They also offer various other services such as deposit and debt recovery or landlords, landlord and tenant legal services, Issuing Section 21 notices or a Section 8 notice, and more.

Get in touch with them at 08707 662288 or email them at info@landlordassist.co.uk to learn more.