As a private landlord, screening tenants is one of the most important parts of ensuring that your rental properties are well-maintained and profitable. If you’re not a professional landlord or a corporate asset holder, you likely have less room for error, and the wrong tenant – especially in a tenant friendly province or state – can break you.
Get ready to uncover our top strategies for pinpointing the perfect tenants for your property!
- Know the Law
It’s important to be familiar with the landlord-tenant laws and the regulations governing tenant screening. In Canada, each province has their own “Residential Tenancies Act” (RTA), and what is permitted in one province, may not be the true for another province. Make sure you familiarize yourself with your rights and responsibilities as a landlord. Moreover, you need to be familiar your legal obligations with respect to fair housing laws and anti-discrimination laws. It’s important to know what information you’re allowed to ask for during the tenant screening process, and what information you’re not allowed to screen for.
- Develop a Screening Policy
Develop a screening policy that outlines the steps you’ll take to screen tenants and what you’re looking for in a tenant. This policy should include the criteria you’ll use to evaluate tenants, such as employment status, credit history, rental history, and criminal background. Having a clear screening policy in place will help ensure that you’re treating all tenants fairly and consistently. Also consider the size of the property – how many people are legally allowed to live there, is the property pet friendly, do you permit smoking, etc.
- Make sure your advertising is on point!
Applicants can self-select when looking through listings. Make sure that your photos are high quality with lots of natural light, and that their sequence gives a good impression of the layout of your property. High quality listings generate more interest and attract higher quality applicants, giving you the best odds of a good long term tenant. If the property doesn’t look like a good fit for them, applicants won’t even bother calling or emailing you about it. Reduce the amount of screening that you do by putting together a good listing.
- Start screening early
Before you even book a viewing appointment, you can begin the screening process. If possible, conduct a preliminary screening over the phone or via email. Ask your potential applicants about themselves and whomever will be living there with them, and ask about your screening policy criteria as well. If they don’t meet the criteria, don’t book a viewing appointment.
If they initially sound like a good fit, let them know that you also complete a reference and background check, as well as ID verification before approving new tenants, and that once they move in, that you will regularly do walk-through inspections. This alone is usually enough to deter any bad tenants or even fraudulent applications – they don’t want to bother with an active landlord.
- Verify Employment and Income
Once you’ve met a few interested parties, collect applications and do your due diligence. Confirm that tenants are employed and earning enough to cover the rent; this can be done by asking for proof of employment and income, such as pay stubs or a letter from their employer. You can pull a credit report, landlord references and a verify their government ID(s) match with the names on the application. Even better – you can use a tool like our Tenant Verification Report (TVR) that will do all of this in one go. No matter how you do it though – do not skip this crucial step.
It’s worth the work!
While following a process like this might be a bit more work upfront, it is well worth it in the longer term. Securing a high-quality tenant will mean your property stays in good repair, rent will be paid in full and on time, you’ll have fewer issues with neighbours and you’ll have reduced turnover – meaning you don’t have to do this process as often. The peace of mind it brings is worth the effort, keeping your properties profitable and well-managed for years to come.
